(a)
Mayor, Qualifications - The chief executive
officer of the town shall be a mayor, elected by and from the voters
of the town at large. Any voter shall be eligible to hold the office
of mayor. The mayor shall devote full time to the office and shall
not hold any other elective public office, nor shall the mayor be
engaged in any other business, occupation or profession during the
period of service as mayor.
(b)
Term of Office - The term of office
of the mayor shall be four years beginning on the first business day
of January following the biennial town election at which chosen and
until a successor is qualified.
(c)
Compensation - The town council shall,
by ordinance, establish an annual salary for the mayor. No ordinance
altering the salary of the mayor shall be effective unless it shall
have been adopted in the first eighteen months of the term for which
councillors are elected and it provides that such salary is to become
effective in January of the year following the next biennial town
election.
(d)
Expenses - Subject to appropriation,
the mayor shall be entitled to reimbursement of the actual and necessary
expenses incurred in the performance of the duties of the office.
(e)
Prohibitions - The mayor shall hold
no other town office or town employment for which a salary or other
emolument is payable from the town treasury. No former mayor shall
hold any compensated appointed town office or town employment until
one year following the date on which such former mayor's town
service has terminated. This provision shall not prevent a town officer
or other town employee who has taken a leave of absence in order to
serve as mayor from returning to the same office or other position
of town employment held at the time such leave of absence commenced;
provided, however, no such person shall be eligible for any other
municipal position until at least one year following the termination
of service as mayor.
The executive powers of the town shall be vested solely in the
mayor, and may be exercised by the mayor either personally or through
the several town agencies under the general supervision and control
of the office of the mayor. The mayor shall cause the charter, the
laws, the ordinances and other orders for the government of the town
to be enforced, and shall cause a record of all official acts of the
executive branch of the town government to be kept.
The mayor shall exercise a general supervision and direction
over all town agencies, unless otherwise provided by law, by the charter
or by ordinance. Each town agency shall furnish to the mayor, forthwith
upon request, any information, materials or otherwise as the mayor
may request and as the needs of the office of mayor and the interest
of the town may require.
The mayor shall supervise, direct and be responsible for the
efficient administration of all town activities and functions placed
under the control of the mayor by law, by this charter, by ordinance
or otherwise. The mayor shall be responsible for the efficient and
effective coordination of the activities of all agencies of the town
of Weymouth and for this purpose shall have authority consistent with
law, to call together for consultation, conference and discussion
at reasonable times all persons serving the town, whether elected
directly by the voters, chosen by persons elected directly by the
voters, or otherwise.
The mayor shall be, by virtue of the office, a member of every
multiple member body of the town. The mayor shall have a right, as
such ex officio member, to attend any meeting of any multiple member
body of the town, at any time, including, so called, executive sessions,
to participate in the discussions, to make motions and to exercise
every other right of a regular member of such body, but not including
the right to vote.
The mayor shall appoint, subject to the review of such appointments by the town council as provided in section 2-10, all town officers, department heads and the members of multiple-member bodies for whom no other method of appointment or selection is provided by the charter, excepting only persons serving under the school committee, and persons serving under the town council. Except as may otherwise be required by the civil service law, appointments made by the mayor shall be for indefinite terms. All persons categorized as department heads shall, subject to the consent of the mayor, appoint all assistants, subordinates and other employees of the agency for which such person is responsible.
All appointments and promotions made by the mayor shall be made
on the basis of merit and fitness demonstrated by examination, past
performance, or by other evidence of competence and suitability. Each
person appointed to fill an office or position shall be a person especially
fitted by education, training and previous work experience to perform
the duties of the office or position for which chosen.
(a)
Town Officers and Department Heads - The mayor may, in writing, remove or suspend any town officer, or
the head of any town department appointed by the mayor by filing a
written statement, with the town clerk, setting forth in precise detail
the specific reasons for such removal or suspension. A copy of the
written statement shall be delivered in hand, or mailed by certified
mail, postage prepaid, to the last known address of the said town
officer, or head of a department. The said town officer, or head of
a department may make a written reply by filing such a reply statement,
with the town clerk, within ten days following the date the statement
of the mayor has been filed; but, such reply shall have no effect
upon the removal or suspension unless the mayor shall so determine.
The decision of the mayor in suspending or removing a town officer
or a department head shall be final, it being the intention of this
provision to vest all authority and to fix all responsibility for
such suspension or removal solely in the mayor. The removal shall
take effect on the thirtieth day following the date of filing in the
office of the town clerk the notice of removal by the mayor.
(b)
Other Town Employees - Unless some
other procedure is specified in a collective bargaining agreement
or by the provisions of the civil service law, a department head may
suspend or remove any assistant, subordinate or other employee of
the agency for which such person is responsible in accordance with
the procedures established for suspension and removal in the personnel
ordinance.[1] The decision of the department head to suspend or remove
any assistant, subordinate or other employee shall be subject to review
by the mayor. A person for whom a department head has determined a
suspension or removal is appropriate may seek review of such determination
by the mayor by filing a petition for review, in the office of the
mayor, in writing, within ten days following receipt of notice of
such determination. The review by the mayor shall follow the procedures
established for suspension and removal in the personnel ordinance.
The decision of the mayor shall be final, it being the intention of
this provision to vest all authority and to fix all responsibility
for such suspension or removal solely in the mayor. Nothing in this
section shall be construed to be a bar to any other review as may
be provided by law.
Whenever a vacancy, either temporary or permanent, occurs in
a town office and the needs of the town require that such office be
filled, the mayor may designate the head of another town agency or
a town officer or town employee, or some other person to perform the
duties of the office on a temporary basis until such time as the position
can be filled as otherwise provided by law, by the charter or by ordinance.
The mayor shall file a certificate in substantially the following
form, with the town clerk, whenever a person is designated under this
section:
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I designate (name of person) to perform the duties of the office
of (designate office in which vacancy exists) on a temporary basis
until the office can be filled by (here set out the regular procedure
for filling the vacancy, or when the regular officer shall return).
I certify that said person is qualified to perform the duties which
will be required and that I make this designation solely in the interests
of the town of Weymouth.
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(signed) Mayor
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Persons serving as temporary officers under the authority of
this section shall have only those powers of the office indispensably
essential to the performance of the duties of the office during the
period of such temporary appointment and no others. No temporary appointment
shall be for more than ninety days, provided, however, not more than
one thirty day extension of a temporary appointment may be made when
a permanent vacancy exists in the office.
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(a)
Communications to the Town Council - Within twelve weeks following the start of each fiscal year the
mayor shall submit to the town council, and make available for public
distribution, a complete report on the financial and administrative
activities of the town for the preceding fiscal year. The mayor shall,
from time to time throughout the year, by written communications,
recommend to the town council for its consideration such measures
as, in the judgment of the mayor, the needs of the town require. The
mayor shall, from time to time throughout the year by written communications,
keep the town council fully informed of the financial and administrative
condition of the town and shall specifically indicate in any such
reports any fiscal, financial or administrative problems of the town.
(b)
Special Meetings of the Town Council - The mayor may at any time call a special meeting of the town council,
for any purpose, by causing a notice of such meeting to be delivered
in hand or to the place of business or residence of each member of
the town council. Such notice shall, except in an emergency of which
the mayor shall be the sole judge, be delivered at least forty-eight
weekday hours in advance of the time set and shall specify the purpose
or purposes for which the meeting is to be held. A copy of each such
notice shall, forthwith, be posted on the town bulletin board.
Every order, ordinance, resolution or vote adopted or passed
by the town council relative to the affairs of the town, except memorial
resolutions, the selection of town officers by the town council and
any matters relating to the internal affairs of the town council,
shall be presented to the mayor for approval. If the mayor approves
of the measure the mayor shall sign it; if the mayor disapproves of
the measure the mayor shall return the measure, with the specific
reason or reasons for such disapproval attached thereto, in writing,
to the town council. The town council shall enter the objections of
the mayor on its records, and not sooner than ten days, nor after
thirty days from the date of its return to the town council, shall
again consider the same measure. If the town council, notwithstanding
such disapproval, by the mayor, shall again pass the order, ordinance,
resolution or vote by a two-thirds vote of the full council, it shall
then be deemed in force, notwithstanding the failure of the mayor
to approve the same. If the mayor has neither signed a measure nor
returned it to the town council within ten days following the date
it was presented to the mayor, the measure shall be deemed approved
and in force.
(a)
Acting Mayor - Whenever, by reason
of sickness, absence from the town or other cause, the mayor shall
be unable to perform the duties of the office for a period of more
than ten successive working days, the president of the town council
shall be the acting mayor. In the event of the absence or disability
of the president of the town council, the vice-president of the town
council shall serve as acting mayor.
The mayor shall, by a letter filed with the town council and
a copy filed with the town clerk, designate a qualified town officer
or town employee to serve as acting mayor during the temporary absence
of the mayor for periods of ten days or less and to serve only when
the needs of the town require and only to the extent necessary under
the then circumstances.
(b)
Powers of Acting Mayor - The acting
mayor shall have only those powers of the mayor as are indispensably
essential to the conduct of the business of the town in an orderly
and efficient manner and on which action may not be delayed. The acting
mayor shall have no authority to make any permanent appointment or
removal from town service unless the disability of the mayor shall
extend beyond sixty days nor shall an acting mayor approve or disapprove
of any measure adopted by the town council unless the time within
which the mayor must act would expire before the return of the mayor.
During any period in which any member of the town council is serving
as acting mayor, such councillor shall not vote as a member of the
town council.
The mayor may authorize any subordinate officer or employee
of the town to exercise any power or perform any function or any duty
which is assigned by this charter, or otherwise, to the mayor and
the mayor may rescind or revoke any such authorizations previously
made, provided, however, that all acts performed under any such delegation
of authority during such period of authorization shall be and remain
the acts of the mayor. Nothing in this section shall be construed
to authorize a mayor to delegate the power of appointment to town
office or employment or to sign or return measures approved by the
town council.
(a)
Special Election - If a vacancy in the office of mayor occurs during the first three years of the term for which the mayor is elected, whether by reason of death, resignation, removal from office, incapacity, or otherwise, the town council shall forthwith, in the manner provided in section 7-1, order a special election to be held within ninety days following the date the vacancy is created, to fill such vacancy for the balance of the then unexpired term. If a regular town election is to be held within one hundred and twenty days following the date the vacancy is created a special election need not be held and the position shall be filled by vote at such regular election.
(b)
Council Election - If a vacancy in the office of mayor occurs in the fourth year of the term for which the mayor is elected, whether by reason of death, resignation, removal from office, or otherwise, the president of the town council shall become the mayor. Upon the qualification of the president of the town council as the mayor, under this section, a vacancy shall exist in that council seat on the town council which shall be filled in the manner provided in section 2-11. A council president serving as mayor under this sub-section shall not be subject to the restrictions contained in the third sentence of section 3-1(a), nor shall such person be entitled to have the words "candidate for re-election" printed against their name on the election ballot.
(c)
Powers, Term of Office - The mayor elected under Section 3-9(a) or (b) shall have all the powers of the mayor. A person elected pursuant to subsection (a), above, shall serve for the balance of the term unexpired at the time of election to the office. A person chosen pursuant to subsection (b), above, shall serve until the time of the next regular election at which time the person elected to fill the office for the ensuing term of office shall serve, in addition, for the balance of the then unexpired term.
