Sør-Odal

Sør-Odal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Odalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Skarnes. Other villages in Sør-Odal include Disenå and Sander.

The 517 km2 municipality is the 207th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Sør-Odal is the 132nd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 8,069. The municipality's population density is 16.8 PD/km2 and its population has increased by 3.4% over the previous 10-year period.

General information
The parish of Søndre Odalen was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). The borders of the municipality have not changed since that time.

Name
The municipality was originally named Søndre Odalen (later Sør-Odal), after the valley in which it is located. The first element in the name is the word or, both of which mean "southern". The last element of the name is the old district name Odalen (Ódalr). The first part of this is which is an alternate form of the word  which means "river" or "creek" (here it's referring to the Glåma river). The last part of this is which means "valley" or "dale". The prefix "Søndre" was added when the old Odalen parish was divided in 1819 into Nordre Odalen in the north and Søndre Odalen in the south. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Sør-Odal, using an alternate word for "south" and removing the definite form ending -en.

Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 10 January 1992. The official blazon is "Gules, three keys Or in pall" (I rødt tre gull nøkler stilt i trepass). This means the arms have a red field (background) and the charge is three keys aligned in pall. The charge has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The keys symbolize justice, knowledge, and positive ideals. The design was chosen to represent the three parishes of Oppstad, Strøm, and Ullern and the three local bodies of water: Glomma, Oppstadåa, and Storsjøen. The arms were designed by Harald Hallstensen, a graphical designer. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Churches
The Church of Norway has three parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Sør-Odal. It is part of the Solør, Vinger og Odal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Hamar.

Geography
The municipality is a rural area in the Odalen valley that is located along the river Glåma and around the southern side of the lake Storsjøen. It is bordered by the municipalities of Eidskog in the south, by Kongsvinger in the east, and by Nord-Odal and Grue in the north. The terrain is dominated by rolling hills, lakes, and pine forests.

Government
Sør-Odal Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Romerike og Glåmdal District Court and the Eidsivating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Sør-Odal is made up of 27 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors
The mayors (ordfører) of Sør-Odal (incomplete list):


 * 1958-1975: Arne Broen
 * 1975-2007: Henning Myrvang (Ap)
 * 2007-2011: Knut Hvithammer (Ap)
 * 2011-2015: Anne-Mette Øvrum (H)
 * 2015-present: Knut Hvithammer (Ap)

Economy
The economy is based on a mix of manufacturing, farming, and services. Skarnes has a train connection to Oslo via the Kongsvingerbanen railway line.

Notable people

 * Hans Glad Bloch (1791 in Sør-Odal – 1865), a Norwegian military officer and government official
 * Peder Sather (1810 in Odal – 1886), an American banker and philanthropist; eponym of the Sather Tower & Sather Gate at UC Berkeley
 * Magnhild Haalke (1885–1984), a Norwegian novelist and teacher for 30 years in Sør-Odal
 * Kåre Tveter (1922 in Sør-Odal – 2012), a Norwegian painter and illustrator
 * Ole A. Stang Jr. (1923 in Sør-Odal – 1998), a businessman who owned and ran Maarud AS
 * Øystein Sunde (born 1947), a folk singer, guitarist, and songwriter who was brought up in Skarnes
 * Martin Linnes (born 1991 in Sander), a footballer with over 240 club caps and 27 for Norway
 * Kent Håvard Eriksen (born 1991 in Skarnes), a footballer with over 250 club caps
 * Magnus Gullerud (born 1991 in Skarnes), a handball player for Kolstad Håndball and the Norwegian national team.

Sister cities
Sør-Odal has sister city agreements with the following places:
 * 🇫🇮 Viitasaari, Länsi-Suomi, Finland