The Council shall consist of ten (10) members,
one to be elected from each of the ten (10) districts established
as herein provided, all of whom shall serve for a term of two (2)
years commencing on the second Monday of December following their
election and terminating upon qualification of their several successors.
Each Council Member shall be an elector and each district Council
Member shall be registered on the list of electors in the district
from which he or she is elected. If a Council Member removes his or
her residence from the district from which he or she is elected he
or she shall be deemed to have vacated his or her office. No Council
Member shall hold any other Town office or employment.
[Amended 11-4-2008]
The Council shall be the judge of the election
and qualification of its members, subject to review by the courts.
Any Council Member who, during his/her term of office, is convicted
of a felony shall thereby forfeit his or her office.
[Amended 11-4-2008]
At eight o'clock p.m., on the second Monday
of December following the regular Town election, the Council shall
meet at the usual place for holding meetings, at which time the newly
elected Council Members shall be sworn and shall assume the duties
of their office. Thereafter the Council shall meet in regular session
at least monthly at such time and place as may be prescribed by ordinance.
Special meetings may be called by the Mayor, Council Chairman or at
the written request of any six (6) Council Members. Written notice
of such special meeting shall be delivered to each Council Member,
or left at his or her usual place of abode no less than 24 hours before
the time of such special meeting. Such notice shall state the purpose
of the meeting and the time and place thereof, provided that notice
of any special meeting of the Council may be waived by a writing signed
by nine (9) Council Members or by oral statement read into the record
at any such special meeting. No business other than that set forth
in such notice shall be transacted at a special meeting. The meetings
of the Council and all sessions of the committees of the Council shall
be public, except as otherwise permitted by law.
[Amended 11-4-2008]
The Council may determine its rules of procedure,
may punish its members for misconduct and may compel attendance of
its members. Six (6) Council Members shall constitute a quorum to
do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from time to time.
The Council shall choose one of its members
to act as Council Chairman, but this office shall not deprive such
Chairman of his or her vote on any question.
The Council Chairman shall preside at all meetings
of the Council and shall perform such other duties consistent with
his or her office as may be imposed by the Council. The Chairman shall
appoint the Chairman of all Committees of the Council. Membership
on committees shall be appointed by a majority vote of six Council
Members. The Council shall also choose one of its members to act as
Council Chairman Pro Tempore.
The Council Chairman Pro Tempore shall preside
at all meetings in the absence of the Council Chairman. In the event
the Council Chairman has vacated his office, the Chairman Pro Tempore
shall serve as Chairman until the next regularly scheduled Town Council
meeting, at which time the Council shall choose a new Council Chairman. [Amended 11-4-2008]
The members of the Council and the Council Chairman
shall serve without compensation, except for the reimbursement of
actual expenses incurred in the performance of his or her official
duties with prior authorization and approval of expenses, either by
receipt or written explanation of the Town Council or a designated
Council Committee.
Any vacancy in the office of a district Council
Member occurring less than one (1) year prior to the next regular
municipal election shall be filled by the Council for the unexpired
portion of the term from the electors of the district in which the
vacancy occurred and from the same political party as the Council
Member whose office is vacated. If any district Council Member shall
not be affiliated with a political party and shall vacate his or her
office within the time period mentioned above, such vacancy shall
be filled for the unexpired term by majority vote of the remaining
Council Members from the list of unaffiliated voters of the Town or
of a particular district.
If any vacancy occurs in the office of a district
Council Member one (1) or more years prior to the next regular municipal
election, a special election shall be convened by the Council to fill
such vacancy in conformity with the laws of the State of Connecticut. [Amended 11-4-2008]
[Amended 11-4-2008]
The Council shall have the power to make, alter
and repeal resolutions and ordinances (a) relative to the regulation
of the various departments; (b) relative to the acquisition of real
or personal property, within and without the Town, by purchase, gift,
devise, condemnation, lease, contract or otherwise; (c) relative to
the sale, leasing, management, improvement and control of such property;
(d) relative to the levy and collection of assessments for local improvements
upon property benefited thereby; (e) relative to the appropriation
of Town funds, including the transfer of funds between departments;
(f) relative to the making and enforcement of police, sanitary and
other similar regulations; (g) relative to the definition, abatement,
suppression and prevention within the Town of all nuisances and causes
thereof, and all things detrimental to the health, morals, safety,
convenience and welfare of its inhabitants; (h) relative to the preservation
of the public peace and good order and the suppression of vice and
crime within the Town; (i) relative to licenses and license fees for,
and the prohibition or regulation of, peddling or vending of merchandise
or any article of trade within the streets and other public places
of the Town; j) relative to the regulation of animals through the
streets; (k) relative to the regulation of the construction, reconstruction,
materials, location, height, maintenance, use and occupancy of buildings;
(l) relative to public entertainments and amusement for the people
of the Town; (m) relative to establishing, laying out, constructing,
widening, straightening, extending, grading, improving, maintaining
and vacating streets, alleys and other public ways and to the establishment,
improvement, maintenance and vacating of parks, public places and
grounds of all kinds; (n) relative to the establishment of building
lines on the lands abutting on any street, highway or public place
between which lines and any street, highway or public place no building
or part thereof shall be erected; (o) relative to the creation, provision
for, construction, regulation and maintenance of all things in the
nature of public works and improvements; (p) relative to the making
of regulations concerning wharfs, channels, docks, wharf lines, bulkhead
lines and the anchorage and mooring of vessels; (q) relative to the
establishment of public bathhouses and bathing beaches; (r) relative
to the regulation or prohibition of the excavation, alteration or
opening up of streets, sidewalks, highways, public places and grounds
and the leaving upon, above or under the surface thereof, whether
temporarily or permanently, any work, material or things, and the
regulation or prohibition of the removal of buildings upon or through
the streets or other public places of the Town; (s) relative to the
requirement of owners of land adjacent to any sidewalk or public work
to remove rubbish, snow, ice or sleet therefrom, and upon their failure
to do so, to causing such rubbish, snow, ice or sleet to be removed
and the expenses thereof to be made a debt to the Town and added to
the tax bill of the owner of such land next to be made out and to
holding such land for the payment thereof in the same manner as for
the remainder of such tax bill; (t) relative to making owners or tenants
of lands adjacent to any sidewalk liable to reimburse the Town for
any money expended by the Town in paying damages for personal injuries
or injury to property caused by a defect in such sidewalk arising
by reason of any rubbish thereon, or the failure of such tenant and
property owner, or either, to properly remove any snow, ice or sleet
from such sidewalk or to use reasonable care in protecting the public
from suffering injuries or damages thereon by reason of any such rubbish,
snow, ice or sleet and (u) relative to the naming of all public streets,
highways, and lanes.
[Amended 11-4-2008]
If the Mayor shall veto the annual budget appropriation
ordinance, or any portion thereof, the Council may, within fourteen
(14) days following said veto, override the Mayor’s veto by
the affirmative vote of seven (7) members. If the Mayor shall veto
any other ordinance, the Council may, at any time from the date of
the veto, up to and including the close of business at its next regular
meeting following said veto, override the Mayor's veto by the affirmative
vote of seven (7) members of the Council.
The Council shall have the power to establish
by ordinance special funds for such specified purpose as may be set
forth in the Town plan for long term financing, such funds to be included
in the Annual Budget and the moneys therefor to be raised by taxation
or by bequest, gift or transfer, as provided in this Charter. No provision
shall be made in the budget for any such special funds, unless such
funds shall have been previously created by ordinance and all ordinances
creating such funds shall be subject to the initiative and referendum
provisions as provided in this Charter.
No ordinance providing for the issue of bonds
shall be passed without public notice at least two (2) weeks before
final action by the Council and either the approval of seven (7) members
of the Council or submission to the electors of the Town at a regular
or special election and the approval of a majority of those voting
thereon.
Every issue of bonds shall be payable within
a term of years not to exceed the estimated period of utility of the
improvement for which they are issued and in no case exceed thirty
(30) years, and shall be payable, with the exception of the last annual
installment, in equal annual serial installments.
Every ordinance for the issue of bonds shall
provide for a tax levy for each year to meet the annual serial installments
of principal and interest, and such amounts shall be included in a
tax levy for each year until said bonds shall have been paid in full.
[Amended 11-4-2008]
The Council shall fix the salaries of the Mayor
and of all Council or Mayoral appointees. Prior to the first day of
July during the year in which the regular election of the Mayor is
held, the Council shall approve by ordinance a salary for the Mayor,
to be effective with the commencement of the Mayoral term next following
the election. The Mayor’s salary shall not be subject to any
further interim increase or decrease during said term of office. The
Council shall further have the power to approve or disapprove wage
and salary schedules recommended by the Mayor for administrative department
employees.
The Council by ordinance may create, change,
and abolish offices, departments and agencies, other than the offices,
departments and agencies established by this Charter. The Council
by ordinance may assign additional functions or duties to offices,
departments or agencies established by this Charter, but may not discontinue
or assign to any other office, department or agency any function or
duty assigned by this Charter to a particular office, department or
agency.
The Council shall act only by ordinance or resolution,
and all ordinances or resolutions, except ordinances making appropriations,
shall be confined to one subject, which shall be clearly expressed
in the title. Any ordinance making appropriations shall be confined
to the subject of appropriations.
No ordinance shall be passed until it has been
read at two (2) separate meetings or unless such readings are dispensed
with by a vote of seven (7) members of the Council. The final reading
shall be in full, unless the measure shall have been printed or typewritten
and a copy thereof furnished to each member prior to such reading.
The yeas and nays shall be taken upon the passage
of all ordinances or resolutions and entered upon the record of the
proceedings of the Council, and every ordinance or resolution shall
require, for final passage, the affirmative vote of six (6) Council
Members or, in the event of a tie vote of 5-5, the affirmative vote
of five (5) Council members and the Mayor. No member shall be excused
from voting, except on matters involving a conflict of interest. Provisions
may be made for the printing and publication in full of every ordinance
within ten (10) days after its final passage. The Town Clerk shall
preserve as a public record, open to the inspection of the public
at all reasonable times a true copy of each ordinance and resolution
so passed. [Amended 11-4-2008]
[Amended 11-4-2008]
Resolutions passed by the Council shall become effective immediately upon passage unless an effective date is specifically stated herein but no ordinance shall go into effect until thirty (30) days after its approval unless it be declared an emergency measure on the ground of an urgent public need for the preservation of peace, health, safety or property the facts showing such urgency and need being specifically stated in the ordinance itself and the ordinance being passed by an affirmative vote of not less than seven (7) members of the Council, except that an ordinance approved pursuant to §§ 6.2.2 and 6.2.6 of this Charter shall be effective on July 1st next following the adoption and approval of the ordinances unless such ordinances are adopted after July 1st then such ordinances shall be effective on the date the Mayor approves the ordinances, or the day following the expiration of the Mayor’s right to veto said ordinances, or upon the override of the Mayor’s veto by the Town Council, whichever is earlier. Failure of the Mayor to sign or veto any ordinance within such time as is required by this Charter shall constitute an approval of such ordinance. No ordinance shall go into effect unless signed by the Mayor, deemed approved pursuant to the provisions of this Section, or passed over his or her veto by an affirmative vote of not less than seven (7) members of the Council.
Measures passed as emergency measures shall
be subject to referendum like other measures, except that they shall
not be suspended from going into effect while the referendum proceedings
are pending. If, when submitted to a vote of the electors, an emergency
measure be not approved by a majority of those voting thereon, it
shall be considered repealed, as regards any further action thereunder
and all rights and privileges conferred by it shall be null and void,
provided such measure so repealed shall be deemed sufficient authority
for any payment made or expense incurred in accordance with the measure
previous to the referendum vote thereon.
[Amended 11-4-2008]
The Council shall appoint a Council Clerk, a
Board of Assessment Appeals, and shall fill by appointment all vacancies
arising in the membership of the Library Board other than life memberships.
The Council shall make all other such appointments to boards, authorities,
agencies, committees and offices as may be required by Charter, ordinance,
resolution or General Statutes, except as otherwise provided by this
Charter.
All such appointments shall be made on the basis
of the candidates' general experience and qualifications. The nominator
of any such candidate for appointment shall state the experience and
qualifications of the nominee at the time of the nomination.
[Amended 11-4-2008]
Unless otherwise expressly provided in this
Charter, the Council may remove an appointee only for misfeasance
or nonfeasance in the performance of the official duties of his or
her office. In such event the Council must state in writing the reasons
for removal and must afford the member a public hearing before the
Council and such removal shall be effective only if approved by an
affirmative vote of seven (7) members of the Council.
The power to appoint persons to employment,
granted to the Mayor by this Charter, shall be exercised solely and
exclusively by him or her. Neither the Council nor any of its members,
either publicly or privately, shall dictate, or attempt to dictate,
the appointment of any person to employment, the power to appoint
which is granted to the Mayor. [Amended 11-4-2008]
Any violation of this section by a Council Member
shall be cause for his or her removal from office after a hearing
before the Council and the affirmative vote of eight (8) members of
the Council.
Nothing herein shall be construed to deny to
the Council or its members the right to make inquiries of the Mayor
or his or her subordinates.
[Amended 11-4-2008]
The Council shall have the power to investigate
town affairs. In exercising this power, the Council shall have the
power to require any town elected or appointed official, officer,
director, department head, or employee to furnish the Council or its
designee all information, contracts, reports, papers, documents, records,
or other material which is in the possession of the elected or appointed
official, officer, director, department head, or employee, and which,
in the opinion of the Council is necessary to enable the Council to
discharge the duties imposed upon it by this Charter, or to properly
and completely investigate town affairs. It is hereby made a duty
and obligation of all town elected or appointed officials, officers,
directors, department heads, and employees to provide the Council
with the requested information, contracts, reports, papers, documents,
records, or other material when so required by the Council. Notwithstanding
any other provision of this Charter, the Council shall have the right
to appropriate funds, either by way of the budget or by special appropriation,
to fund any costs and expenses which may, in the opinion of the Council,
be necessary, proper and required to conduct the investigation or
to procure any information, contracts, reports, papers, documents,
records, or other material.
The Council shall appoint a Council Clerk who
shall hold office at the pleasure of the Council. The Council Clerk
shall keep a record of all Council actions and the minutes of all
Council meetings. Such records shall be filed in the Town Clerk's
office as a public record and the Town Clerk is authorized to issue
certified copies thereof. Each Council may by resolution prescribe
the procedures and duties of the Council Clerk not inconsistent with
this Charter.
