N.D. Cent. Code § 40-22-15

After the engineer's report required by section 40-22-10 has been filed and approved, the governing body of the municipality, by resolution, shall declare that it is necessary to make the improvements described therein. However, a resolution is not required if the improvement constitutes a water or sewer improvement as described in subsection 1 of section 40-22-01, nor if the governing body determines by resolution that a written petition for the improvement, signed by the owners of a majority of the area of the property included within the district, has been received. The resolution must refer intelligibly to the engineer's report and include a map of the municipality showing the proposed improvement districts. The resolution must then be published once each week for two consecutive weeks in the official newspaper of the municipality.