Town of Wilton, CT Article III The Town Meeting

§ C-4 The Town Meeting.

The Town Meeting shall consist of the electors of the Town and all others entitled to vote at a meeting of the Town Meeting pursuant to the General Statutes, acting as the legislative body of the Town.

§ C-5 General powers.

A. All powers of the Town shall be vested in and exercised by the Town Meeting except:

(1) Powers otherwise allocated by this Charter;

(2) Powers otherwise allocated by the General Statutes and applicable Special Acts and not vested in the Town Meeting by this Charter; and

(3) Powers delegated by ordinance so long as the same shall remain in effect.

B. The Town Meeting shall have the power pursuant to § C-9 to adopt, amend and repeal ordinances. An ordinance may be amended or repealed only by the adoption of another ordinance.

C. Without limiting the generality of Subsections A and B of this section, the Town Meeting shall have the power by resolution to:

(1) Contribute financial support to organizations engaged in public health, recreation, education, safety or welfare activities within the Town, provided that organizations receiving financial support from the Town shall, unless otherwise authorized by the Town Meeting:

(a) Annually make public an audit of the books and accounts of the organization by an independent public accountant;

(b) Annually make public the proposed budgets for the ensuing fiscal year of the organization;

(c) Admit to their Boards of Directors as ex officio members without power to vote the First Selectman or one or more persons appointed by the First Selectman who shall be electors of the Town; and

(d) Enter into an agreement with the Town to insure the proper oversight of the Town's contribution.

(2) Take such other actions only as are appropriate to a Town Meeting.

§ C-6 Legislative body.

A. The legislative body of the Town shall be the Town Meeting with respect to the following matters:

(1) The adoption of an annual budget.

(2) The authorization of bonds and all other forms of financing, the terms of which are in excess of one year.

(3) Any appropriation supplemental to those provided in the annual budget other than those which may be authorized by the Board of Finance pursuant to § C-32 or by the Board of Selectmen pursuant to § C-16.

(4) Authorization of any sale of real estate involving a sales price in excess of 1% of the total annual budget for the then current fiscal year.

(5) Real estate leases and/or lease options to which the Town is a party:

(a) Which involve a term (including any renewal options) in excess of 10 years;

(b) Where the fair market sales value of the leased property is in excess of 2% of the total annual budget for the then current fiscal year; or

(c) Where the total lease payments called for under the entire term of the lease (including any renewal options) exceed 2% of the annual budget for the then current fiscal year.

(6) Authorization of condemnation of real property.

(7) The creation, alteration or dissolution of any Board.

(8) Proposals for municipal improvements disapproved by the Planning and Zoning Commission pursuant to the provisions of § 8-24 of the General Statutes.

(9) Items which the Board of Selectmen shall have resolved to bring for consideration to a Special Town Meeting.

(10) Items which have been proposed to be brought to the Town Meeting by petition pursuant to § C-9.

B. In all other matters, the Board of Selectmen shall be deemed the legislative body of the Town.

§ C-7 Call and notice.

A. All meetings of the Town Meeting shall be called by the Board of Selectmen. The Board of Selectmen shall fix the date of every meeting of the Town Meeting in conformity with this Charter and other law. The business of a meeting of the Town Meeting shall be limited to the matters contained in the notice thereof.

B. A meeting of the Town Meeting shall be called by giving notice thereof in accordance with the provisions of this subsection. Notice of any meeting of the Town Meeting shall be given not less than 10 nor more than 20 days in advance of the date set for such meeting by publication in a newspaper having general circulation in the Town. The notice shall designate:

(1) In general terms the purpose or purposes of the meeting;

(2) The date, time and place of the meeting;

(3) Whether there will be machine voting following the adjournment of the meeting; and

(4) The date, time and place of any Adjourned Town Meeting.

C. In the case of a Special Town Meeting called upon receipt of a petition, the Board of Selectmen shall include in the notice all matters specified in the petition as matters on which action is desired. The Board of Selectmen may, in its discretion, add other matters to such notice.

D. A Special Town Meeting or any reconvened session thereof may be continued not more than 30 days to a time certain by majority vote of those voting. Whenever a meeting shall have been so continued, notice of such continuation shall be given in the manner provided above, except that only seven days' notice shall be required.

E. For a Reconvened Annual Town Meeting, the Board of Selectmen shall set a place, time, and date within 25 days of the adjournment of the previous Adjourned Town Meeting. At least five days in advance of such Reconvened Meeting, a notice shall be published in the local newspaper together with the reconsidered budget, in summary form, and the reconsidered rate of taxation.

§ C-8 Annual Town Meeting.

The Annual Town Meeting shall be held during the first seven days in May on a day and at a time specified annually no later than February 1 by the Board of Selectmen, or if, in the opinion of the Board of Selectmen, extraordinary circumstances make the meeting on such a date impracticable, as soon thereafter as, in the judgment of the Board of Selectmen, such circumstances permit. At the conclusion of the meeting, the vote on the annual budget shall be held in accordance with procedures set forth in Article VII.

§ C-9 Special Town Meeting: options and duties of Board of Selectmen; power of initiative; the petition process.

A. The Board of Selectmen shall call a Special Town Meeting whenever:

(1) It is requested to do so by petition signed by at least 2% of the electors of the Town and filed with the Town Clerk pursuant to Subsection C below;

(2) The Board of Selectmen deems it necessary or desirable; or

(3) A meeting of the Town Meeting is required pursuant to Article VI or Article VII of this Charter.

B. The electors of the Town shall have the power of initiative to call a Special Town Meeting pursuant to Subsection C below:

(1) To consider any item or proposal permitted under § C-6A(3) through (7);

(2) To consider a proposed ordinance, an amendment to an existing ordinance or a proposal to repeal an existing ordinance;

(3) To overrule any legislative action of the Board of Selectmen; or

(4) To propose any other legislative action.

C. The power of initiative is to be implemented in the following manner:

(1) A petition to call a Special Town Meeting may be filed by any elector of the Town with the Town Clerk, and except as otherwise provided herein, such petition shall conform to the requirements of §§ 7-9 and 7-9a of the General Statutes.

(2) The petition shall contain the full text of the proposal to be considered by the Town Meeting and shall be signed in ink by at least 2% of the electors of the Town.

(3) The Town Clerk shall determine whether the petition contains the required number of valid signatures as prescribed by this Charter within 10 days of receipt of such petition and shall so certify to the Board of Selectmen.

(4) Special Town Meeting to consider proposal.

(a) If the Board of Selectmen fails to or does not have the power to adopt the proposal brought forth by petition without any substantive change within 35 days after a petition making such a proposal shall have been certified to the Board of Selectmen, the Board of Selectmen shall, within the time limits prescribed in Subsection E below, call a Special Town Meeting to consider the petition proposal and any modification of the proposal the Board of Selectmen deems advisable. Such proposal and proposed modification, if any, shall be included in the call of the Special Town Meeting. An Adjourned Town Meeting shall be scheduled to take place after each Special Town Meeting called to consider a petition proposal.

(b) Should an ordinance or an amendment to an ordinance be amended at the Special Town Meeting, the scheduled Adjourned Town Meeting shall be canceled. The Board of Selectmen shall within 21 days of such Special Town Meeting call another Special Town Meeting to consider the ordinance as amended. An Adjourned Town Meeting shall take place following this second Special Town Meeting.

(c) An Adjourned Town Meeting to take place after a Special Town Meeting is not mandatory unless such Special Town Meeting is called by petition pursuant to Subsection A(1) of this section.

(5) A petition proposal initiated by electors shall be approved by a majority of those electors voting thereon, provided that the number voting on said petition proposal shall equal at least 15% of the total electors of the Town. Notwithstanding the foregoing, petition proposals which are supplemental appropriations shall be acted upon pursuant to § C-32.

(6) No ordinance or legislative action which shall have been adopted or repealed at a Special Town Meeting called by petition may be repealed, amended or reenacted by the Board of Selectmen unless such action is necessary so that such ordinance or legislative action conforms to the General Statutes or other law.

D. Subject to such time limitations as may appear elsewhere in this Charter, the Board of Selectmen shall determine the time, date and place of any Special Town Meeting and any Adjourned Town Meeting.

E. Time limitations.

(1) Unless a petition request proposes an ordinance, requests a supplemental appropriation or involves a matter which by this Charter or other law requires referral to another Board, the Board of Selectmen, within 35 days after certification by the Town Clerk of a valid petition, shall fix the date and place of such meeting and issue and publish a legal notice calling the Special Town Meeting as provided in § C-7B.

(2) If the proposed action is required by this Charter or by other law to be referred to another Board, such time limit to hold a Special Town Meeting may be extended as reasonably necessary to allow for such referral, provided that not more than 120 days elapse between the request for a Special Town Meeting under this § C-9 and the date of such meeting.

F. If a Special Town Meeting is requested by petition to authorize a supplemental appropriation, such request shall be referred to the Board of Finance by the Board of Selectmen at its next meeting following verification by the Town Clerk that a valid petition has been filed. All further action on such request, whether by petition or motion, shall be taken in accordance with § C-32 concerning supplemental appropriations.

G. If a Special Town Meeting is requested by petition to adopt an ordinance, all further action on such proposal shall be taken in accordance with Article VI concerning ordinances.

§ C-10 Organization of the Town Meeting.

Unless otherwise provided by ordinance or other law, the members present at each meeting of the Town Meeting shall elect a Moderator, who shall be the presiding officer and a member of the Town Meeting. The Moderator shall appoint at each meeting a Parliamentarian to serve the Town Meeting.

§ C-11 Conduct of meetings of the Town Meeting.

A. Those members present at the opening of the Annual Town Meeting shall constitute a quorum thereof. The quorum required for the opening of any other meeting of the Town Meeting shall be 50 members, the attendance to be determined by the presiding officer. Whether or not a quorum is present, a Special Town Meeting or any reconvened session thereof may be continued not more than 30 days to a time certain by majority vote of those voting. Whenever a meeting shall have been so continued, notice of such continuation shall be given in the manner provided in § C-7B, except that only seven days' notice shall be required.

B. In the case of a Special Town Meeting called by petition, the matters specified in the petition shall be the first order of business unless the members present shall vote to change the sequence of business.

C. The affirmative vote of a majority of those members present and voting in respect to the matter at a meeting of the Town Meeting duly opened shall be the act of the Town Meeting unless a greater vote is required in respect to such matter by this Charter or by other law.

D. The Town Meeting may by resolution adopt or amend the procedures for the orderly and efficient conduct of any meeting of the Town Meeting. In the event that the Town Meeting shall fail to adopt or amend such procedures, such meeting shall be conducted in conformity with Robert's Rules of Order, except to the extent otherwise provided by this Charter or by other law.