All elected Officers, Boards and Commissions shall have the
powers and duties prescribed by the General Statutes and the Charter.
|
(a) Elected Officers
|
Term
(in years)
| |
|---|---|---|
|
First Selectman
|
2
| |
|
Town Clerk
|
4
| |
|
Two Registrars of Voters (one Democrat and one Republican)
|
2
|
|
(b) Elected Boards and Commissions
|
Number of Members
|
Term
(in years)
| |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Board of Assessment Appeals
|
3
|
4
| |
|
Board of Education
|
7
|
4
| |
|
Board of Finance
|
7
|
6 but see Section 6.4
| |
|
Board of Police Commissioners
|
7
|
4
| |
|
Board of Selectmen(including the First Selectman)
|
3
|
2
| |
|
Planning and Zoning Commission
|
7
|
4
| |
|
Zoning Board of Appeals
|
5
|
4 (plus 3 alternates)
|
(a)
All terms of office for elected Officers, Boards and Commissions
shall commence on the Tuesday following the date of election, except
that the term of office for Registrars of Voters shall commence on
the Wednesday following the first Monday of the January following
their election. The Board of Selectmen-elect shall, from the date
of its election, exclusively have all powers of the Board of Selectmen
to make appointments and fill vacancies in offices and memberships
on Boards, Commissions and Town committees.
(b)
Except as otherwise provided by law, a Chairman and Vice-Chairman
of each elected Board or Commission shall be elected each year by
the membership of that Board or Commission during the month of January;
provided, however, that the Board of Education may elect its Chairman
and Vice-Chairman not later than January 1. At no time shall any person
be eligible to be elected as Chairman of an elected Board or Commission
who has served in that office for eight or more successive years.
This Section 6.3(b) shall not apply to the Board of Selectmen.
(c)
The meetings of elected Boards and Commissions shall be conducted,
and notice and minutes thereof shall be made available, in accordance
with the provisions of the State Freedom of Information Act and otherwise
in accordance with the General Statutes.
No more than a bare majority of any elected Board or Commission
shall consist of members of the same political party. For example,
no more than two of the three Selectmen can be members of the same
political party. In addition, no more than a bare majority of alternate
members of any elected Board or Commission may be members of the same
political party. Terms for members of Boards and Commissions shall
continue to be staggered in the same manner as on the effective date
of this amended and restated Charter; provided however, that commencing
with the Town elections that occur in 2017, the terms of the members
of the Board of Finance elected on and after that date shall be reduced
to four years, and the staggering of terms shall be as follows: four
members will be elected in 2017 and three members will be elected
in 2019, and so on.
(a)
The salary of the First Selectman shall be recommended by the Board
of Selectmen, acting without the First Selectman's vote, and
the salary, if any, to be paid to other elected Officers shall be
as recommended by the Board of Selectmen, in both instances subject
to the normal budgetary approval processes.
(b)
The salary of the First Selectman shall not be changed during the
First Selectman's term.
(c)
If approved in advance by the First Selectman (or the First Selectman's
designee), necessary non-budgeted expenses incurred by an elected
Officer or a member of an elected Board or Commission in connection
with the performance of such Officer's or member's duties
shall be paid by the Town upon the requisition of such Officer, Board
or Commission in writing and approval of the Board of Selectmen.
(d)
All fees, fines and levies of every kind paid to or on behalf of
any elected Officer, Board or Commission shall, to the extent not
otherwise provided by General Statutes, applicable Special Acts, ordinances
and resolutions, promptly be remitted to the Town's Treasurer
and added to the General Fund of the Town.
(a)
As permitted by the General Statutes, Resident Electors may vote
for the number of members to be elected to the Board of Education,
and the persons receiving the greatest number of votes shall be elected,
subject to the minority representation provisions of Section 6.4.
(b)
The Board of Police Commissioners shall have the power to appoint
the Town's Chief of Police.
(c)
Not less than five percent of Qualified Voters may at any time file
with the Town Clerk a petition that conforms to the requirements of
Section 7-9 and 7-9a of the General Statutes requesting that a machine
ballot be held to determine whether the position of Town Clerk should
become an appointed position under the Charter. If, however, such
proposed action has been voted upon by machine ballot within the preceding
three years, the Board of Selectmen, in its sole discretion, may reject
such petition and not hold a machine ballot on this issue.
Unless the petition has been rejected pursuant to the foregoing provisions of this Section 6.6(c), the Board of Selectmen shall call a Special Town Meeting, to be held not less than ten nor more than thirty days after the date the petition was filed with the Town Clerk. After adequate discussion of this issue, the moderator shall adjourn the Town Meeting and the question of whether the Town Clerk shall be an appointed position shall be submitted to the Qualified Voters, not less than seven days nor more than fourteen days thereafter, for a "yes" or "no" vote on the voting machines during the hours permitted by Section 7-7 of the General Statutes. If a majority of those voting vote "yes," the position of Town Clerk shall become an appointed position, with a four-year term commencing upon the expiration of the term of office of the then Town Clerk, and the position of Town Clerk shall otherwise be subject to the provisions of Article 8 applicable to appointed Officers, without further action of the Board of Selectmen; otherwise the position of Town Clerk shall remain an elected office.
