[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Meeting of the Town of Mansfield 5-19-2015 ATM by Art. 21. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Reports — See Ch. 49.
A.
The warrant
for the Annual Town Meeting shall be closed on the first day of March
preceding the Town Meeting. Warrants for Special Town Meetings will
be closed at the discretion of the Select Board. The warrants for
Town elections shall specify that the polls will be open from 7:00
a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
B.
A quorum
at a Town Meeting shall consist of 200 registered voters, present
in the meeting room, to open a Town Meeting, 100 registered voters,
present in the meeting room, to open any adjourned session thereof,
and 50 registered voters thereafter to continue the business of the
Town Meeting, except such parts as are devoted exclusively to the
election of Town officers, but a lesser number may organize and adjourn
to some future time.
C.
No person
whose name does not appear upon the List of Registered Voters shall
be admitted to the hall where a Town Meeting is being held, except
with the permission of the Moderator. The Moderator shall require
that any nonvoter admitted thusly sit apart from the voters.
A.
Unless otherwise ordered by the Town Meeting, all votes shall be
made by show of hands. If the hand vote is immediately questioned
by seven or more voters, a count shall be made by tellers, who shall
be appointed by the Moderator.
B.
When an article requires a two-thirds vote, if they deems it obvious,
the Moderator may declare a two-thirds vote without taking a standing
count.
C.
The Town Moderator, when required by law, or at their discretion,
shall appoint tellers in a number necessary to provide for the required
vote counts, should they be needed.
No action shall be taken at any Town Meeting on the report of
any committee chosen at a previous meeting, other than to receive
the report as one of information only, unless the subject of the report
is specifically mentioned in the warrant for said meeting.
On questions involving special appropriations of $10,000 or
more, a secret vote shall be taken and the checklist used, provided
it is so moved previously to taking the vote and is supported by 25%
of those present and voting.
No motion or proposition shall be admitted as an amendment unless
germane to the subject under consideration.
[Amended 4-12-2016 ATM
by Art. 19]
Except as otherwise procedurally voted by Town Meeting, the
order of all articles in the Town Warrant shall be taken as printed
in the warrant, which will be determined by the Select Board prior
to Town Meeting.
All articles must be reconsidered in the same session of the
Town Meeting in which they were voted upon. An article shall not be
reconsidered until after the completion of three subsequent articles,
or until the completion of a set of grouped related articles, if the
group is more than three articles. In the case of a session ending
prior to the completion of three articles, the Moderator must call
for reconsideration prior to entertaining a motion to adjourn.
The Moderator may entertain motions without being seconded whenever
in their judgment such procedure is consistent with good order and
the proper transaction of business.
The Moderator may decline to put motions obviously frivolous
or tending to disorder.
A.
Whenever a question is under debate, the following motions shall
have precedence in the order herein given:
The Town Meeting warrant, for all Town Meetings, shall be available
to Town voters, at no cost, as soon as the warrant is closed, but
not later than 10 business days prior to the Town Meeting. Copies
of the warrant shall also be posted at a minimum of five public access
locations in Town, including the Town Hall and library, and made available
on the Town of Mansfield website. Preliminary budget figures must
be made available at this time if final figures are not available.
At any Town Meeting, no warrant article not already on the floor
shall be brought before the Town Meeting for consideration or deliberation
after 11:00 p.m. Discussion and action may continue on any warrant
article properly brought before the Town Meeting prior to 11:00 p.m.
unless said Town Meeting, by a two-thirds vote, determines otherwise.
All requested amendments to warrant articles must be in writing,
if the Moderator so directs. In order not to delay the Town Meeting
process, the Moderator may request to postpone action on the amended
article and proceed to the next warrant article to allow time for
the written amendment to be served.
Town Meeting presentations of warrant articles shall not exceed
15 minutes unless Town Meeting by majority vote decides otherwise.
