A.
A Town Meeting of not more than two hundred and fifty two (252) members
shall be elected for three year overlapping terms as determined by
Chapter 349 of the Acts of 1935 and any amendments thereto.
[Amended ATE 5-19-2020, Question 3; ATE 5-19-2020,
Question 4]
B.
Any registered voter of the Town shall be eligible for election to
Town Meeting membership.
C.
Town Meeting members shall serve without compensation or monetary
allowance.
A.
Town Meeting shall be held twice annually: in April, on a date chosen
by the Select Board, and in the fall on a date chosen by the Select
Board.
[Amended ATE 5-17-2022, Question 4]
B.
Town Meeting will consider and act upon, as required, with or without
amendments, all proposed operating and capital improvement budgets,
appropriations, borrowings, and all other issues that may properly
come before it.
[Amended ATE 5-19-2020, Question 3; ATE 5-17-2022, Question 4]
C.
The standing and powers of both of these Meetings shall be those
of an Annual Town Meeting.
D.
The quorum necessary for the conduct of any business shall be one-half
(1/2) plus one (1) of the number of Town Meeting members established
by bylaw. A smaller number than the established quorum, however, shall
adjourn any Meeting forthwith, to a stated date, time and place.
E.
The Town Meeting shall always operate in open session.
A record of those in attendance shall be kept by the Town Clerk.
Such record shall remain open until the end of each session to enable
latecomers to be recorded as present. The attendance record shall
be a public record, shall be posted in the Town Hall, and published
in the Annual Town Report and published in a newspaper of general
circulation within the Town.
A.
The Town Meeting shall establish a system of recorded votes whereby,
upon the request of twenty (20) Town Meeting members, the ayes and
nays of members shall be ascertained and recorded. A standing vote
or a vote by an electronic vote counting and recording system shall
be taken whenever a voice vote is not sufficient as determined by
the Moderator.
[Amended ATE 5-16-2017, Question 3]
B.
The results of all such recorded votes shall be included in the Town
Meeting minutes.
B.
The Moderator shall preside at all sessions of the Town Meeting and
shall have no vote unless the members present and voting are equally
divided.
C.
The Moderator shall establish and promulgate written procedures for
the orientation of new Town Meeting members and shall conduct an annual
meeting at which time said orientation shall take place.
D.
The Moderator, in consultation with the Town Clerk, shall prepare
simplified rules of parliamentary procedure, which shall be made available
to all elected Town Meeting members.
[Added ATE 5-17-2022, Question 5]
E.
The Moderator shall appoint ad hoc committees of the Town Meeting as provided in § C2-12B.
[Added ATE 5-17-2022, Question 5]
F.
The Moderator shall preside at any public hearings to discuss the
suspension or removal of the Town Manager.
[Added ATE 5-17-2022, Question 5]
The Town shall be divided into voting precincts which shall
contain, as nearly as may be, an equal number of inhabitants and which
shall be composed of compact and contiguous territory, as prescribed
by General Laws.
Registered voters, residents and taxpayers of the Town may speak
on any article in the warrant. Persons who are not voters, residents
or taxpayers of the Town may address the Meeting only with the consent
of a majority of those present.
A.
All appointed Town officers, the Town Manager, department heads,
chairs of governmental bodies or their designated representatives
shall attend Town Meeting sessions when the warrant includes articles
relating to their office or function.
[Amended ATE 5-15-2007, Question 12]
B.
Such persons shall have all the privileges of Town Meeting members,
except the power to vote unless they have been elected to the office
of Town Meeting member. The absence of any such person shall not invalidate
the actions of the Town Meeting.
Town Meeting members shall attend all sessions of the Town Meeting.
A.
A vacancy in the office of Town Meeting member shall result from
the resignation, death or removal of any member from the Town. Any
Town Meeting member moving to a new place of residence in another
precinct within the Town shall continue to serve as Town Meeting member
until the next annual election.
B.
A Town Meeting member may resign by filing a written resignation
with the Town Clerk. Such resignation shall take effect on the date
of filing.
C.
If an elected Town Meeting member fails to attend more than one-half
(1/2) of all sessions of the Town Meetings held in an eighteen-month
period beginning on June 1, without a reasonable excuse filed with
the Town Clerk, the office of that member shall thereupon be declared
vacant. The Town Clerk shall be the sole judge of what constitutes
a reasonable excuse.
D.
Vacancies in the office of s member shall be filled until the next
annual election by the unsuccessful candidate for Town Meeting in
that precinct receiving the largest number of votes at the most recent
election. If no such unsuccessful candidate exists, the remaining
precinct members shall be called together by the Town Clerk, by written
notice, before the next Town Meeting. The Town Clerk shall conduct
an election, having first publicized any vacancy in accordance with
C7-1. The remaining members shall fill any vacancy by choosing a registered
voter residing in the precinct in which the vacancy exists.
[Amended ATE 5-21-2013]
[Amended ATE 5-21-2013; ATE 5-19-2020, Question
3]
A.
Motions intended to establish ad hoc or temporary governmental bodies
shall include the name of the governmental body and its charge or
mandate, its size and composition, whether it shall be elected or
appointed, and by what methods, and a date by which said governmental
body is expected to present a progress or final report.
B.
Unless the motion establishing any such governmental body shall name
the members, provide for their election or provide for a different
appointive authority, all such governmental bodies shall be appointed
by the Moderator.
C.
The Moderator shall establish a standing governmental body, the Rules
and Procedures Committee, of Town Meeting members, to review Town
Meeting rules, procedures and related Town bylaws and submit recommendations
to Town Meeting.
A.
The Town Clerk shall serve as the Clerk of Town Meeting and as an
ex-officio member of the Rules and Procedures Committee. The Town
Clerk shall cause notice of Town Meeting to be posted in the Town
office building and a public place in each precinct and shall mail
copies of the notice, citing the date, place and time of Town Meeting
to all Town Meeting members at least ten (10) days before the date
of each meeting. The Town Clerk may comply with this section by mailing
within the prescribed time the Finance Committee report containing
the complete warrant with recommendations and explanations as required
by § C8 – 4B of this Charter.
[Amended ATE 5-21-2013]
B.
The Town Clerk shall keep a detailed journal of all Town Meeting
procedures.
[Amended ATE 5-15-2007, Question 13; ATE 5-21-2013; ATE 5-19-2020, Question
3]
The Moderator, or a person designated by the Moderator, shall
act as Watcher of the Warrant and shall present a written progress
report on each passed action article of Town Meeting to be printed
in the Annual Town Report.
[Added ATE 5-19-2020,
Question 5]
A.
The Finance
Committee shall consist of fifteen (15) members, who shall be nominated
by the Town Moderator and from the floor of Town Meeting, and elected
by Town Meeting for three year overlapping terms at the Annual Town
Meeting in the spring of each year.
B.
No member
of the Finance Committee shall be an employee of the Town or hold
any other elected or appointed Town office, except the office of Town
Meeting member.
C.
Any vacancy
in the membership of the Finance Committee shall be filled as follows:
replacement members shall be nominated by the Town Moderator and from
the floor of Town Meeting and elected by Town Meeting to complete
the term of the departed member at any Annual or Special Town Meeting.
D.
The Finance
Committee may consider such questions with reference to the conduct
of the Town Affairs as it may deem advisable and may consult with
any and all officers and governmental bodies of the Town with reference
to matters under its supervision. It shall consider the various articles
calling for expenditure or appropriations of funds and may consider
any other articles in the warrant for any Annual or Special Meeting
called during its tenure of office and shall make a report of its
doings and recommendations to the Town.
