Modalen is a municipality in the Nordhordland district in the central part of Vestland county in Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Mo. The other main village in the municipality is Øvre Helland. Most of the residents of Modalen Municipality live in the main Modalen valley which extends eastwards from the end of the Romarheimsfjorden.
The municipality is the 236th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Modalen Municipality is the 356th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 392 (making it the second smallest municipality in Norway after Utsira Municipality). The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 3.2% over the previous 10-year period.
The small population, combined with a large income from hydro-electric power production, has given the municipality the ability to give all its residents free wireless internet access in the municipality. They also were the first Norwegian municipality to buy a computer for all students in the municipality in 1993.
General information
thumb|left|View of the village of Mo
thumb|left|Another view of Mo
The parish of Modalen was established on 1 January 1910 when the old Hosanger Municipality was divided. The northeastern part of municipality (population: 821) became the new Modalen Municipality and the rest of the municipality (population: 2,524) remained as a smaller Hosanger Municipality.
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the middle part of the Eksingedalen valley (population: 151) was transferred from Modalen Municipality to the neighboring of Vaksdal Municipality. Also on that date, the Nipo, Dyrkolbotn, and Eitrdalen farm areas (population: 12), located north of the village of Romarheim, were transferred from Modalen Municipality to the neighboring Lindås Municipality.
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Mo farm () since the first Mo Church was built there in the Middle Ages. The first element is which means "heath" or "moor". The last element, , was added later and it is derived from the old word which means "valley" or "dale".
Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 2 November 1984. The official blazon is "Vert, three spades palewise two and one argent" (). This means the arms have a green field (background) and the charge is a set of three spades aligned vertically with the center one sitting lower than the others. The charge has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The spades are a symbol for the agriculture and sand digging in the municipality, which historically were of great importance. The arms were designed by Egil Korsnes. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.
Churches
The Church of Norway has one parish () within Modalen Municipality. It is part of the Nordhordland prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ style="font-size:medium"|Churches in Modalen Municipality
!Parish ()!!Church name!!Location of the church!!Year built
|-
|Mo||Mo Church||Mo||1883
|}
History
The Modalen project
In 2001, Modalen Municipality got a 2-megabit broadband connection. The idea was to make Modalen the world's first fully-connected wireless broadband community. The municipality was the first in Norway to undergo an all-broadband project as part of an effort by the Norwegian government to achieve full broadband coverage nationwide by 2004.
Government
Modalen 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 Nordhordland District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.
Municipal council
The municipal council () of Modalen Municipality is made up of 13 representatives that are elected every four years. Modalen is the only municipality in Norway that has a non-partisan council, so all representatives run on local lists rather than by party. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council.