[HISTORY: Sections 2-1 to 2-13 of the 1967
Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Amended 3-14-1974 ATM by Art. 67; 5-6-2013 ATM by Art. 38; 5-6-2019 ATM by Art. 38]
The Annual Town Meeting shall be held on the
first Monday of May at 7:00 p.m. in each year at a place designated
by the Board of Selectmen. The annual election for Town officers shall
be held on the third Tuesday after the first Monday in June each year.
The Board of Selectmen in the warrant for the election of Town officers
shall specify when the polls will be opened and when the polls will
be closed in accordance with the provisions of Section 64 of Chapter
54 of the General Laws and amendments thereto.
The warrant for each Town Meeting shall be served
by posting an attested copy thereof at Abbot Hall and 10 other conspicuous
places in the Town at the time as prescribed in this chapter of Town
By-Laws.
The Selectmen shall give at least 14 days' public
notice of their intention to issue a warrant for a Special Town Meeting
unless in their judgment public interest would suffer by such a delay.
The warrant for the Annual Town Meeting shall
be closed at least 60 days before the time of holding said meeting
and the warrant for the Annual Town Meeting shall be served not later
than 30 days after being closed. The warrant for a Special Town Meeting
shall be served not later than 10 days after the warrant is closed.
Copies of all articles involving the expenditure of money contained
in a warrant for any Town Meeting shall immediately upon the closing
of such warrant be forwarded by the Board of Selectmen to the Finance
Committee for consideration.
The number of voters necessary to constitute
a quorum shall be 300 except at a meeting devoted exclusively to the
election of Town officers, but when there is not a quorum present
at a Town Meeting, other than a meeting for the election of Town officers
as aforesaid, a lesser number may adjourn such meeting from time to
time to a date certain without the necessity of notice of such adjournment
other than announcement thereof at the meeting at which the adjournment
is voted.
A.
The Board of Selectmen shall at every Annual Town
Meeting and adjourned sessions thereof and at every Special Town Meeting
and adjourned sessions thereof, held for the transaction of Town business,
other than the election of Town officers by official ballot, cause
voting lists to be used and the name of every person, before being
admitted to the said meeting, shall be checked thereon by tellers
appointed for the purpose by the Board of Selectmen, except as hereinafter
provided.
B.
The tellers shall be sworn before entering upon their
official duties by the Town Clerk or any officer qualified to administer
oaths.
C.
The moderator may permit persons, other than qualified
voters, to attend said meetings when, in his discretion, there is
ample seating capacity in the hall where meeting is held, provided
that such persons who are not qualified voters shall be seated apart
and separate from persons qualified to vote.
D.
Presiding officer. The moderator, while occupying
the chair, shall not participate in any discussion before the meeting.
A.
Every voter speaking upon a subject in any meeting
shall confine his remarks to the question before the meeting, avoid
personalities, and be seated when he has finished.
B.
Any voter speaking on behalf of another person, firm
or corporation, and receiving compensation for so speaking, upon a
subject in any meeting shall first state to the meeting that he is
doing so. Notwithstanding the foregoing provision, noncompliance therewith
shall not affect the validity of any Town Meeting or vote thereat.
[Added 5-10-1971 STM by Art. 8]
No voter rising to move a question shall proceed
to speak thereon until the motion has been distinctly stated to the
meeting by the moderator, and no person speaking shall be interrupted
by another, but by rising to state a question of order.
When called to order by the moderator, the person
having the floor shall be seated until the point of order is decided,
and if the decision be that the point of order is not well taken,
the original speaker shall immediately be given the floor.
A.
Upon taking the question, if the decision of the moderator
is doubted, or a division of the house called for, the moderator shall
appoint tellers. The question shall then be distinctly stated, and
those in the affirmative and negative, respectively, shall be requested
to vote in the usual manner until they are counted by the tellers,
who shall carefully count each side, and make report thereof to the
moderator.
B.
Upon the request of at least nine voters present at
a meeting, made to the moderator from the floor, the vote shall be
taken by written unsigned ballots in form approved by the moderator,
which shall be distributed to all voters present at the meeting for
their use in voting on the question, and shall be collected by the
tellers from all the voters who wish to vote on the question, and
the tellers, after the ballots are marked and collected, shall carefully
count the votes so cast and make report thereof to the moderator.
When a question is before the meeting, the following
motions, namely: to adjourn; to lay on the table; to postpone to a
certain time; to commit; to recommit or refer; to amend; to postpone
indefinitely, shall be received and shall have precedence in the foregoing
order; and the first two shall be decided without debate.
No motion to dissolve a Town Meeting shall be
in order until every article in the warrant therefor has been duly
considered and acted upon, except that when there is not a quorum
present, a motion may be entertained to adjourn sine die, or to a
date as provided in § 274-5 of this chapter.
A.
The motion to reconsider will be in order on the same
day the vote to be reconsidered was taken, or on the following day
if previous notice was given to the meeting on the day of the vote,
and in both of these cases a two-thirds vote shall be required. Otherwise
no reconsideration shall be permitted except by a nine-tenths vote.
B.
The one offering the motion "to reconsider" must have
voted with the prevailing side on the vote he wishes to be reconsidered.
C.
A question may be reconsidered but once whether or
not any change resulted from the first reconsideration, and if a motion
to reconsider is lost, it will not be in order a second time.
D.
Under no consideration shall reconsideration be permitted
of a vote taken by written ballot.
E.
Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions reconsideration
may be voted any time by unanimous consent.
[Added 5-5-2014 ATM by
Art. 1]
Each session of Town Meeting shall begin with the recitation
of the United States Pledge of Allegiance.
