[1]
Editor's Note: See also the Charter, Art.
II.
The Annual Town Meeting for the election of
Town officers shall be held on the first Monday of April of each year.
[Amended by 9-20-1982 STM, Art. 3; 4-24-1995 by ATM, Art.
12]
All business of the Annual Town Meeting, except
the election of such officers and the determination of such matters
as are required by law to be elected or to be determined by ballot,
shall be considered on the last Tuesday in May at 7:30 p.m. in the
Municipal Center or some other suitable designated place. If there
is unfinished business, subsequent adjourned meetings shall be held
on the following consecutive weekday evenings, Tuesday, Wednesday
and Thursday at 7:30 p.m. until final adjournment. This will be known
as "Town Meeting Week." All boards, committees, officials and department
heads are hereby directed to refrain from holding meetings during
Town Meeting Week or during a Special Town Meeting, unless otherwise
provided for under Massachusetts General Laws.
[Amended by 5-25-1999 ATM, Art. 23]
The polls shall be opened at 7:00 a.m. and shall
remain open until 8:00 p.m.
[Amended by 6-25-1979 STM, Art. 7; 4-24-1982 ATM, Art. 24]
A.
Notice of every Annual Town Meeting shall be given
by posting attested copies of the warrant in at least one public place
in each precinct in the Town. The availability of said warrant for
public distribution in the office of the Town Clerk, shall be published
one time in that newspaper having the largest circulation in the Town.
A notice of said posting and publication shall be not less than seven
days before the day fixed for such meeting.
B.
Notice of every Special Town Meeting shall be given
by posting attested copies of the warrant in at least one public place
in each precinct in the Town. The availability of said warrant for
public distribution in the office of the Town Clerk, shall be published
one time in that newspaper having the largest circulation in the Town.
A notice of said posting and publication shall be not less than 14
days before the day fixed for such meeting.
At least five days before the day fixed in the
warrant for the Annual Town Meeting, the Selectmen shall make available
at the Town Hall, at no charge, copies of the Town Reports, to all
residents of Blackstone.
The number of voters necessary to constitute
a quorum at any Town Meeting shall be 50 voters: provided, however,
that a number less than a quorum may from time to time adjourn the
same. This section shall not apply to parts of meetings which are
devoted exclusively to the election of Town officers.
Copies of the warrant and of the report of the
Finance Committee thereon shall be made available to the voters of
the Town at all Town Meetings.
The Moderator shall appoint an adequate number
of tellers who by use of the voting list shall permit only registered
voters to actively participate in any Town Meeting.
The Moderator shall preside over all Town Meetings,
regulate the proceedings thereof, decide all questions of order and
make public declaration of all votes. All nonregistered voters shall
be seated in sections of the hall under the direction of the Moderator.
In all matters not otherwise specifically provided
for herein, Town Meeting procedure shall be determined by reference
to Robert's Rules of Order or revised editions of Rules of Order.
Articles of the warrant shall be acted upon
in the order in which they appear unless otherwise determined by vote
of the meeting.
All motions having to do with the expenditures
of money shall be presented to the Moderator in writing. Other motions
shall be in writing if so directed by the Moderator.
If a motion is susceptible of division, it shall
be divided, and the question shall be put separately upon each part
thereof, if 10 voters so request.
A.
When a question is before the meeting, the following
motions shall be received and shall have precedence in the foregoing
order, and the first three motions shall be decided without debate:
B.
On proposed amendments involving sums of money, the
larger or largest amounts shall be put to question first, and an affirmative
vote thereon shall be a negative vote on any smaller amount.
[Amended 2-13-1989 STM, Art. IV; 11-9-2021 STM by Art. 10]
When a question is put, the sense of the meeting
shall be determined by electronic voting, or, as the Moderator may
deem necessary, by the voices of the voters, and the Moderator shall
declare the vote as it appears to him. If the Moderator is unable
to decide the vote by electronic voting, sound by the volume of the
voices, or if his decision is immediately questioned by seven or more
voters rising in their places for that purpose, the Moderator shall
determine the vote either by ordering a show of hands or by a standing
vote and he shall appoint tellers to make and return the count, or
the meeting itself may specifically order, by proper motion in due
order, that the vote on any motion shall be taken by a "yes" and "no"
written ballot which shall be prepared by the Clerk in printed or
mimeographed form in two divisible sections, one section with the
word "yes" and the other with the word "no." The section showing the
desired vote shall be detached by the voter and handed to the teller,
and the unused section shall be retained by the voter.
No person shall speak for more than 10 minutes
on any question unless his time shall be extended by vote of the meeting.
When a motion for reconsideration is once declared,
that decision shall not be reconsidered, that is, no question shall
be reconsidered more than once except after the affirmative vote of
2/3 of the voters present and voting on the motion to reconsider such
vote, nor shall any vote ever be reconsidered on a motion to adjourn,
to lay on the table or for the previous question.
No motion, the effect of which would be to dissolve
the meeting shall be in order until every article in the warrant therefor
has been duly considered and acted upon. This shall not preclude the
postponement of consideration of any article to an adjournment of
the meeting to a stated time and place.
At all Special Town Meetings a two-thirds vote
shall be required to pass any article involving the raising, appropriating
or the transferring of funds.
