Vatne (municipality)

Vatne is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1902 until its dissolution in 1965. The 139 km2 municipality included land and islands surrounding the Midfjorden and Vatnefjorden in what is now part of Ålesund Municipality and Molde Municipality. The administrative centre was the village of Vatne where Vatne Church is located.

History
On 1 January 1902, the northern part of Skodje Municipality was split off to form the new Vatne Municipality. Vatne had an initial population of 1,547. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, Vatne Municipality was dissolved. The island of Dryna and the western part of the island of Midøya (population: 334) were merged with Sør-Aukra Municipality to create the new Midsund Municipality. The remainder of Vatne (population: 2,260) was incorporated into Haram Municipality. Since 2020, the area has been part of Ålesund and Molde municipalities.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Vatne farm (Vatnar) since the first Vatne Church was built there. The name is the plural form of which means "water" or "lake" since the farm is located next to a lake.

Government
While it existed, this municipality was responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment, social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Heradsstyre) of Vatne was made up of 17 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

Mayors
The mayors of Vatne:


 * 1902–1910: Rasmus Christian Hagen
 * 1911–1934: Bernt K. Fagerli
 * 1935–1937: Ivar Sollid
 * 1938–1939: Amund K. Fylling
 * 1939–1942: Jon P. Slyngstad
 * 1942–1945: Carl J. Haugen (NS)
 * 1945–1947: Jon P. Slyngstad
 * 1948–1951: Ludvik Krogsæter
 * 1952–1955: Johannes Fanneløp
 * 1956–1963: Øyvind Sæter
 * 1963–1965: Mads Skaar