There shall be a Town Council consisting of the Mayor and ten (10) other Councilors. The compensation of members of the Town Council, if any, and reimbursement for expenses incurred in the performance of their duties shall be established by ordinance.
Except as otherwise provided in this Charter, the Mayor shall have no executive or administrative authority, but shall serve as the official representative of the Town for all ceremonial purposes. With effective input from Town Council members if it is timely provided, the Mayor shall, with the Town Manager, prepare the agendas for all regular and special Council meetings. If present, the Mayor shall be the presiding officer of any such Council meeting Should the mayoral position become vacant prior to the next election, the Town Council vacancy left by the Mayor shall be filled pursuant to Article III-7 of this Charter.
Except as otherwise provided in this Charter, the Town Council shall have the powers and duties conferred by law on town councils, boards of selectmen and town meetings. Except as otherwise provided in this Charter, the legislative power of the Town shall be vested in the Town Council. The Town Council shall have the power to (a) enact, amend or repeal ordinances and resolutions not inconsistent with this Charter or the General Statutes providing for the preservation of good order, peace, health, safety and welfare of the Town and its inhabitants; (b) create or abolish by ordinance boards, authorities, commissions, departments or offices except those established by Sections VII-4, VII-5, VII-6, VII-7, VII-8 and VII-9 of this Charter and the elected offices established by Article IV of this Charter; (c) establish by resolution such study, advisory or consulting committees and such employment positions as the Board may determine to be necessary or appropriate for the general welfare of the Town, (d) establish by resolution the salaries, if any, and the provisions for reimbursable expenses of all appointive officials, and (e) ratify contracts of all recognized labor unions. The Town Council may contract for services and the use of facilities of the United States or any federal agency, the State of Connecticut and any political subdivision thereof, or may, by agreement, join with such political subdivision to provide services and facilities. The Town Council shall determine the amount of general revenue provided by the State of Connecticut to the Town pursuant to the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) program and any other similar funds that shall be allocated to the taxing district(s) by the Town.
The Town Council shall fix the time and place of its regular meetings and provide a method for the calling of special meetings. It shall determine its own rules of procedure provided that the Mayor shall chair all such meetings if present and shall have the power to vote on any matter. The Town Council shall designate a chairperson, pro tempore, to serve when the Mayor is absent. The presence of seven (7) members, not including any members who reasonably recuse themselves on the matter before the Council shall constitute a quorum; however, and notwithstanding any provision to the contrary or to any reference to "majority vote," no motion, ordinance, resolution or otherwise, except to adjourn or to fix the time and place of its meeting, shall be adopted by less than five (5) affirmative votes. The Town Council shall keep for public inspection a record of all its proceedings, including all votes.
All ordinances shall be confined to one subject which shall be clearly stated in the title. The Town Council is authorized in adopting ordinances to incorporate any nationally recognized code, rules and regulations that have been printed in book form, or any code officially adopted by any administrative agency of the State, or any portion thereof, by reference thereto in such ordinances; provided, upon adoption of any such ordinance wherein any such code, rules, any regulations or portions thereof have been incorporated by reference there shall be maintained two copies of such code, rules and regulation in the office of the Town Clerk for examination by the public. At least one (1) public hearing shall be held by the Town Council on any proposed ordinance before any ordinance shall be passed.
Notice of the public hearing shall be given at least five (5) days in advance by posting the notice in a public place and by publishing the notices in a newspaper having a substantial circulation in the Town. The notice shall contain a summary of the proposed ordinance and the Town Clerk shall make a copy of such proposed ordinance available for public inspection and shall, upon request, mail a copy at no charge to any person requesting a copy. Every ordinance, after passage, shall be filed with the Town Clerk, and recorded and compiled as required by law.
Within ten (10) days after passage a summary of the ordinance as adopted shall be published once in a newspaper having a substantial circulation in the Town. Every ordinance, unless it shall specify a later date, shall become effective on the twenty-first (21st) day after such publication.
All ordinances adopted by the Town Council, except emergency ordinances adopted in accordance with Section V-8, shall be subject to repeal by referendum. Within twenty (20) days after the publication of a summary of the ordinance, any elector of the Town may file with the Town Clerk a petition which conforms with the requirements of Section 7-9 of the General Statutes, as amended, except as provided herein, and requests that such ordinance be either repealed or submitted to referendum. The petition shall be signed in ink or indelible pencil by qualified electors of the Town numbering at least two hundred (200) or ten percent (10%) of the electors voting in the last regular Town election, whichever is less. Each page of the petition shall contain the signed statement of each circulator as provided in said Section 7-9. The filing of such a petition shall suspend the effective date of the ordinance. The Town Clerk shall, within five (5) days after receipt of a petition, certify the petition to the Town Council if the Town Clerk determines that the petition complies with the provision of this Charter. If the Town Council fails to repeal such ordinance within thirty (30) days after receipt of such certification, the Council shall schedule a referendum to be held within forty-five (45) days of the end of the period in which the Town Council has to reconsider such ordinance. All electors of the Town shall be eligible to vote. Notice of the referendum, including the text of the ordinance subject to repeal, shall be published in a newspaper which has a substantial circulation in the Town at least thirty (30) days before the referendum. An ordinance submitted to referendum shall be repealed and of no effect if (1) a majority of those electors voting thereon vote to repeal the ordinance, and (2) the number of electors who vote in the referendum is one thousand (1,000) or more. If the ordinance is not repealed, it shall take effect on the day following the referendum.
Any elector of the Town may file with the Town Clerk a petition which conforms with the requirements of Section 7-9 of the General Statutes, as amended, except as provided herein, and requests that a proposed ordinance be adopted. The petition shall be signed in ink or indelible pencil by qualified electors of the Town numbering at least two hundred (200) or ten percent (10%) of the electors voting in the last regular Town election, whichever is less. The petition shall contain the full text of the proposed ordinance and the proposed ordinance shall not be contrary to law. Each page of the petition shall contain the signed statement of each circulator as provided in said Section 7-9. The Town Clerk shall, within five (5) days after receipt of a petition, certify the petition to the Town Council if the Town Clerk determines that the petition complies with the provisions of this Charter. If the Town fails to adopt the proposed ordinance, without any substantial change, within thirt (30) days after receipt of such certification, the Town Council shall schedule a referendum to be held within forty-five (45) days of the end of the period in which the Town Council has to adopt such proposed ordinance. All electors of the Town shall be eligible to vote. Notice of the referendum, including the text of the proposed ordinance, shall be published in a newspaper which has a substantial circulation in the Town at least thirty (30) days before the referendum. The proposed ordinance shall take effect on the day following the referendum, unless a later date is specified, if (1) a majority of those electors voting thereon vote to approve the proposed ordinance, and (2) the number of electors who vote in the referendum is one thousand (1,000) or more. No ordinance which shall have been adopted by referendum in accordance with the provisions of this Section may be repealed or amended during a period of five years from its adoption, except by a subsequent referendum vote following the procedures outlined in this Section (except that the Town Council may initiate such a referendum vote without a petition being filed).
An ordinance stated to be a public emergency measure and stating the facts constituting such public emergency shall become effective immediately after publication thereof as required in Section V-5 of this Charter, and no public hearing or notice of public hearing shall be required for any public emergency ordinance. Every such public emergency ordinance including any amendments thereto, shall automatically stand repealed at the termination of the sixty-first day following final passage of such an ordinance.
The Town Council may, at its discretion, convene any or all town officials, boards, authorities, commissions or committees to review, plan or coordinate activities and operations of the town government, and may require reports to be submitted to it from all elected and appointed officials, boards, authorities, commissions and committees.
The Town Council and Board of Finance shall have the power to investigate any and all offices and agencies of the Town including the Department of Education, and for such purposes the Council shall have the power necessary to subpoena or call witnesses to appear before the Council to testify on any matter under investigation, and the Board of Finance shall have the authority to call witnesses to appear before it to testify on any matter under investigation.
Upon receipt of the results of the decennial census from the Bureau of the Census, the Town Clerk shall report to the Mayor and the Town Council the relative percentiles of residents residing in the Windham Voting District and the Willimantic Voting District. The Town Clerk shall determine the total percentile of the population of the Town of Windham residing in each voting district and report said number to the Mayor and the Town Council as well as to the Secretary of the State and the Town Attorney.
Upon receipt of said certified percentiles, for all subsequent municipal elections, until the result of the next decennial census is certified, the ratio of Councilors to be elected to represent only one of the two voting districts rather than the town at-large, as set forth in Article IV-3(b), above, shall as accurately and as practically possible reflect the percentage ratio of the population of one voting district to the other in accordance with the legal principles set forth in the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533 (1964), as determined by the Town Attorney, and certified to and by the Town Clerk. In the event that said results are not available and certified to the Mayor, Town Council and Secretary of the State and Town Attorney within six months prior to the next scheduled municipal election, said reapportionment shall not become effective until the next subsequent municipal election