Title 9, Cities and Towns

A. The corporate powers of a town incorporated under section 9-101 shall be vested in a common council. The first common council shall be appointed by the board of supervisors, on declaring the town incorporated, and the members shall continue in office until their successors are…

A. A person shall not be a member of a city or town council unless, at the time of the election, the person is eighteen years old, is a qualified elector residing within the city or town and has resided in the city or town for at least one year next preceding the election, or if …

The common council may by ordinance or resolution prescribe a daily compensation or salary to be paid the mayor, councilmen and administrative board members for the performance of official duties.

The common council may, by majority vote of the qualified electors of the town voting thereon, provide for four-year staggered terms for members of the town council in the manner provided in section 9-272, with respect to cities. In the event the common council consists of five m…

The common council may, by a majority vote of the qualified electors of the town voting thereon either at a regular or special election, provide by ordinance that the mayor shall be directly elected by the electors rather than selected by the common council.

A. The common council, by a majority vote of the qualified electors of the town who vote on that issue, may elect to be governed by a district system of municipal government. In accordance with that election, the common council by a majority vote shall adopt a resolution or ordin…

A. By majority vote of the qualified electors of the town voting on the initiative, the qualified electors may by initiative: 1. Enact term limits on the number of terms a member of the common council or mayor may serve. 2. Enforce term limits on the number of terms a member of t…

The common council shall, by ordinance, fix the time and place of holding stated meetings, and the council may be convened at any time by the mayor. A majority of the councilmen shall constitute a quorum for transacting business but a lesser number may adjourn from time to time a…

A. The common council shall judge the elections, qualifications and returns of its members. It may prescribe rules for the government of its proceedings, may punish any member or other person for disorderly conduct at any meeting of the council by a fine not exceeding twenty doll…

A. The council shall fill a vacancy that may occur by appointment until the next regularly scheduled council election if the vacancy occurs more than thirty days before the nomination petition deadline, otherwise the appointment is for the unexpired term. If the city or town by o…

The mayor of the common council shall be the chief executive officer of the town, and shall perform such duties as may be prescribed by law and ordinance. In case of the absence of the mayor the council may appoint one of their number to act in his stead.

In addition to the common council, the officers of every town shall be a town clerk, town marshal, town engineer and other officers deemed necessary by the common council, who shall be appointed as provided by ordinance of the town.

A. The town clerk shall also be treasurer of the town. The town marshal shall be collector of all taxes of the town. The town engineer shall have charge of the town streets, sewers and water works, and in towns of three thousand or more inhabitants, shall be a competent engineer.…

A. The common council may prescribe the duties and compensation of all officers of the town, and provide, by ordinance, the manner of filling vacancies in such offices. The council may appoint, from time to time, officers and agents of the town whose appointment is not provided f…

A. The common council shall have control of the finances and property of the corporation. B. The common council shall also have power within the limits of the town: 1. To erect, purchase or lease necessary buildings for the purposes of the corporation. 2. To appropriate money and…

A. The corporation may purchase, receive, hold, lease and convey property, real and personal, necessary or proper to carry out the purposes of the corporation, within or without its limits. B. Every conveyance of real property to the corporation shall be in its corporate name. Co…

A. The corporation may own, operate and control hospitals in the interest of the general welfare. B. The council may lease a hospital to a nonprofit association or corporation organized under state law, on such terms and conditions, and for such consideration, as the council may …

A. The common council may require the proprietor of any block, lot or part of a lot within the town to construct a sidewalk in front thereof of a width and type of construction as it may direct, and may by ordinance provide that upon failure of the proprietor to construct the sid…

A. The common council may levy and collect annually, upon the assessed value of the real and personal property within the town, as shown by the equalized assessment roll of the current year, except such as is, or may be, exempt from taxation under the laws of the state, property …

The common council shall, at least ten days before the biennial election, publish in a newspaper published in the town, or if there is none, then post in three or more public places in the town, a full and correct statement of all monies received into the treasury of the town sin…

When a town organized under this article is indebted on an account, the official having power to audit and allow claims against the town shall draw a warrant, substitute check or voucher upon the treasurer for the amount due. The official shall not draw more than one warrant, sub…

No warrant, substitute check or voucher drawn on the treasurer of any town shall be drawn in favor of a person other than the one to whom it is due. The warrant, substitute check or voucher shall be in the form prescribed by ordinance.

A. The treasurer of a city or town shall not pay any warrant, substitute check or voucher unless presented for payment by the person in whose favor it is drawn or the person's assignee, executor or administrator. When a warrant, substitute check or voucher on the treasurer is pro…

An officer of a town who violates any provision of sections 9-247, 9-248 or 9-249 is guilty of a petty offense.

When a town is laid out, the proprietors of the town shall cause to be made an accurate plat or map thereof, setting forth: 1. Streets, alleys, avenues and highways and the width thereof. 2. Parks, squares and other grounds reserved for other uses, with the boundaries and dimensi…

The maps required by section 9-251 shall be acknowledged by the proprietor, or some person for him duly authorized by deed, and a copy thereof, so acknowledged, shall be filed in the office of the county recorder, and also in the office of the clerk of the town.

A. The county recorder shall record the plats in a book to be kept for that purpose, and, when necessary, may reduce the scale of the plat, and upon each record in the book, shall endorse his certificate that the plat is recorded from the original plat filed in his office. B. The…

Upon filing a map or plat, the fee of the streets, alleys, avenues, highways, parks and other parcels of ground reserved therein to the use of the public vests in the town, in trust, for the uses therein expressed. If the town is not incorporated, then the fee vests in the county…

A member of the common council of a town incorporated under the provisions of this article shall not be personally liable in damages or otherwise for an unlawful act of an officer or employee of the town, unless the act is committed by the authority of the member, or he has notic…

A. When a town has acquired a population of three thousand or over and the council shall by resolution so declare, the town may by majority vote of the qualified electors voting thereon assume a city organization having and exercising all rights, powers, authority, duties and pri…

A. The common council may, by a majority vote of the qualified electors of the city voting thereon, provide by ordinance or resolution, that the members of the council be divided by lot into two classes. The first class shall consist of three councilmen and the second class of fo…

The common council may, by a majority vote of the qualified electors of the city voting thereon either at a regular or special election, provide by ordinance that the mayor shall be directly elected by the electors rather than selected by the common council.

A. Upon the change from town to city government, the city, by a majority vote of the qualified electors, may elect to be governed by a district system of municipal government, and in accordance with the election the common council by a majority vote shall adopt such resolution or…

A. When the change from town to city government is made, the council of the city may: 1. Appoint and remove city officers, board members and employees not expressly made elective in accordance with civil service regulations, or in absence of such regulations, as the council deems…

A. The provisions of sections 9-271 to 9-274, inclusive, shall not apply to a city operating under a special act or special charter or which has been organized prior to June 12, 1929 and is operating under the provisions of article 1, chapter 2 of this title, or any other state l…

A. In addition to the powers already vested in cities by their respective charters and by general law, cities and their governing bodies may: 1. Lay out and establish, regulate the use, open, vacate, alter, widen, extend, grade, pave, plant trees or otherwise improve streets, all…

A. A city containing a population of more than three thousand five hundred inhabitants may frame a charter for its own government consistent with the constitution and the laws of the state, by causing a board of freeholders, composed of fourteen qualified electors of the city, to…

A. The board shall, within ninety days after the election, prepare and propose a charter for the city. The proposed charter shall be approved and signed in duplicate by the members of the board, or a majority of them, who shall file one copy with the chief executive officer of th…

A. On approval the charter shall become the organic law of the city and supersede any charter then existing and all ordinances inconsistent with the new charter. B. A copy of the charter, certified by the chief executive officer of the city, and authenticated by the seal of the c…

A. When the charter has been framed, adopted and approved, and any of its provisions are in conflict with any law relating to cities containing a population of more than three thousand five hundred inhabitants in force at the time of the adoption and approval of the charter, the …

When a city has adopted a charter under the provisions of this article, the chief executive and the legislative authority of the city may provide for the payment of the expenses of the board of freeholders necessarily incurred in the framing of the charter, including clerical ass…