Title 24APPENDIX, Title 24APPENDIX: Municipal Charters

§ 14. Covered bridges; increased penalty for violation of legal limits resulting in damage Notwithstanding 23 V.S.A. § 1434(c), the Town may adopt an ordinance governing operator damage to covered bridges that provides for a civil penalty of not more than $10,000.00 or an amount …

§ 15. Record book of ordinances The Town Clerk shall prepare and keep in the Clerk’s office and in the Cobleigh Library a single book of ordinances that shall contain each ordinance, together with an index of the ordinances arranged according to subject matter. The Clerk’s failur…

§ 16. Nonapplicability to zoning and subdivision regulations Sections 12 and 13 of this charter shall not apply to the enactment, amendment, or repeal of any zoning or subdivision bylaw nor to the enactment, amendment, or repeal of any municipal plan or vote on a comprehensive re…

§ 2. Applicability of general law Except when changed, enlarged, or modified by the provisions of this charter, or by any lawful regulation or ordinance of the Town, all provisions of the statutes of the State of Vermont relating to municipalities, as the same may be amended from…

§ 21. General The officers of the Town of Lyndon shall be those provided by law, except as otherwise provided in this charter. Town officers shall have all of the powers and duties necessary to carry out the provisions of this charter as well as those provided by law. (Added 2023…

§ 22. Elected officers The municipal officers elected by the Town shall be: (1) five members of the Selectboard; (2) one Moderator; (3) five Trustees of the Cobleigh Library; (4) three, four, or five listers, as determined by the Selectboard; (5) one Town Agent; (6) one Town Cler…

§ 23. Qualifications of officers All elected officers shall be legally qualified voters of the Town, with the exception that one of the five Trustees of the Cobleigh Library may live outside the Town. All elected officers shall hold office for the terms specified in this charter …

§ 24. Election of officers by Australian ballot All officers identified in section 22 of this charter shall be elected by Australian ballot. (Added 2023, No. M-14, § 2, eff. July 1, 2023.)

§ 25. Vacancies in Town offices When an elected officer identified in section 22 of this charter resigns, moves the officer’s residence outside the Town, dies, or becomes incapacitated, that office shall become vacant. In addition, if a member of the Selectboard fails to attend a…

§ 26. Selectboard; terms of office (a) Each member of the Selectboard shall be elected for a term of three years. In the first election after this charter is approved by the General Assembly, two members of the Selectboard shall be elected for terms of three years, two members sh…

§ 27. Other elected Town officers; terms of office (a) Moderator. The Moderator shall be elected annually and shall perform those duties prescribed by State law. (b) Cobleigh Library Trustees. The Trustees of the Cobleigh Library shall be elected and shall have the powers identif…

§ 28. Recall of elected officers (a) Any elected officer identified in section 22 of this charter may be removed from office by recall according to the following procedure: (1) A petition signed by not less than 15 percent of the Town’s registered voters requesting a vote on whet…

§ 29. Bonding of officers All Town officers required to be bonded by State law shall be bonded at the expense of the Town. The Selectboard may require that other Town officers be bonded at the expense of the Town. (Added 2023, No. M-14, § 2, eff. July 1, 2023.)

§ 3. Powers of the Town (a) The Town shall have all of the powers granted to towns by the Constitution and laws of the State of Vermont and this charter, together with all of the implied powers necessary to carry out all of the powers expressly so granted. The Town may enact any …

§ 31. Selectboard; powers and duties (a) The Selectboard shall constitute the legislative and administrative body of the Town for all purposes and shall have all powers and authority given to, and perform all duties required of, municipal legislative bodies under the Vermont Cons…

§ 32. Selectboard; organization (a) Immediately after the annual Town meeting, the Selectboard shall elect a chair and a vice chair by vote of the majority of the entire Selectboard. (b) The Chair, or in the Chair’s absence the Vice Chair, shall preside at all meetings of the Sel…

§ 33. Selectboard meetings (a) As soon as possible after the election of the Chair and Vice Chair, the Selectboard shall fix the time and place of its regular meetings. The Selectboard shall meet at least twice each month, except when the Selectboard determines that the then-pend…

§ 34. Record of Selectboard meetings (a) The Selectboard shall keep an official written record of all of its meetings, which shall be open for public inspection at the Town Clerk’s office at all times during normal business hours. (b) The minutes of each meeting shall be approved…

§ 35. Compensation of Town officers The Selectboard shall fix the compensation of all elected officers, except the Town Clerk, and all officers appointed by the Selectboard. (Added 2023, No. M-14, § 2, eff. July 1, 2023.)

§ 36. Budget The Selectboard shall submit a proposed budget to the voters to be voted on at the annual Town meeting as provided in subchapter 7 of this charter. The vote of the Town shall constitute the approval of the total amount of the budget. The Selectboard may reallocate th…

§ 41. Town meetings and elections; application of general law Those provisions of State law relating to voter qualification, warnings, method of voting, the duties of Town officers at Town meetings and elections, and all other matters relating to preparation for, conducting, and …

§ 42. Town meetings (a) An annual Town meeting for the consideration of the budget, election of officers, and other Town business shall be held according to State law. Special meetings may be called by the Selectboard to consider any business for which State law requires, or for …

§ 43. Eligible voters Subject to the requirements of Title 17 of the Vermont Statutes Annotated, the Board of Civil Authority shall establish and enforce the method for identifying the voters eligible to vote at a Town meeting and all elections. (Added 2023, No. M-14, § 2, eff. J…

§ 44. Polling places In any annual or special Town meeting held to elect officers and vote on all questions to be decided by Australian ballot, the Board of Civil Authority shall establish polling places as it determines are required. (Added 2023, No. M-14, § 2, eff. July 1, 2023…

§ 45. Postponing and combining Town meetings (a) The Selectboard may postpone the vote on any question to be voted at a special Town meeting to the following annual meeting or a November general election if the special meeting is scheduled to occur within 75 days of the annual me…

§ 46. Voting on questions by Australian ballot The Selectboard may cause any question to be voted by Australian ballot at any annual meeting, or special town meeting called on the Selectboard’s motion or by petition, provided that the warning for the vote states that the vote wil…

§ 51. Zoning officer; appointment The Town Zoning Officer, the “administrative officer” as described in 24 V.S.A. § 4448, shall be appointed by the Selectboard and shall serve in that office for three years and until a successor is appointed and qualified. The Zoning Officer may …

§ 52. Applicability of State law to municipal land use matters All matters pertaining to zoning, land subdivision, and municipal or regional plans shall be exclusively controlled by State law, except as otherwise specifically provided in this charter, the Town Plan, or the Town’s…

§ 53. Continuation of existing land use regulations (a) The zoning ordinance adopted by the Town of Lyndon on August 20, 1964, and as thereafter amended from time to time through and including July 1, 2023, is hereby ratified and approved as the zoning ordinance of the Town of Ly…

§ 54. Development Review Board and Planning Commission; meeting minutes Copies of the minutes of the Development Review Board and of the Planning Commission shall be filed and kept in the Town Clerk’s office in separate books provided for that purpose, and they shall be available…

§ 61. Fiscal year The Town’s fiscal year shall commence on the first day of January. (Added 2023, No. M-14, § 2, eff. July 1, 2023.)

§ 62. Preparation and submission of budget At least 30 days before the date of the annual Town meeting, the Selectboard shall adopt a proposed budget. The budget shall contain: (1) an estimate of the financial condition of the Town as of the end of the fiscal year and as of the d…

§ 64. Publication of notice of proposed budget At least 10 days before the annual Town meeting, the Selectboard shall publish a notice in a newspaper of general circulation in the Town stating the amount of money that the Town anticipates must be raised by taxes and to be voted a…

§ 65. Printing the budget and warning for town meeting The proposed budget in its final form and the warning for the annual Town meeting shall be printed and made available to the legal voters of the Town not less than 10 days prior to the meeting. (Added 2023, No. M-14, § 2, eff…

§ 66. Savings clause The failure to perform any of the duties specified in this subchapter, or the failure to perform any of the duties within the time limits specified in this subchapter, shall not invalidate any action taken at a properly warned annual Town meeting. (Added 2023…

§ 67. Amount to be raised by property taxes After passage of the budget at the annual Town meeting, the Selectboard shall determine the amount of money to be raised by property taxes. That amount shall constitute the amount of the levy for the purposes of the Town in the correspo…

§ 68. Borrowing money (a) The incurring of bonded debt, the issuing of bonds, the making of temporary loans in anticipation of bond sales, and all other matters pertaining to bonded indebtedness shall be controlled by 24 V.S.A. chapter 53 or other applicable State law. (b) The Se…

§ 69. Taxes (a) Taxes on real property shall be paid at the times and in the installments, if any, that are voted at the annual Town meeting. (b) Interest and penalties on unpaid taxes shall be levied in the maximum amounts allowed under State law. (Added 2023, No. M-14, § 2, eff…

§ 70. Investment of Town funds (a) The Town may invest money that has been raised in a current year for the payment of that current year’s operating expenses in the following identified instruments and in no other instruments whatsoever: (1) obligations of the United States, its …

§ 81. Lyndon Electric Department; composition (a) There shall be established the Town of Lyndon Electric Department, which shall initially serve the same area as the Village of Lyndonville Electric Department. (b) The Board of Electric Commissioners shall be composed of three com…

§ 82. Board of Electric Commissioners; authority (a) The Lyndon Electric Commissioners shall serve as electric commissioners under 30 V.S.A. §§ 2915 and 2916. (b) The Board of Electric Commissioners shall have authority to construct, operate, maintain, and remove an electric ligh…

§ 83. Board of Electric Commissioners; duties (a) The Board of Electric Commissioners shall administer its responsibilities in the Town of Lyndon Electric Department. The Town of Lyndon Electric Department shall have its own professional management, staff, plan, equipment, and en…

§ 84. Electric department; assets, finances, and indebtedness (a) The Town of Lyndon Electric Department shall inherit all of the assets, accounts, and liabilities of the Village of Lyndonville Electric Department, subject to the management of the Board of Electric Commissioners …

§ 91. Separability If any provision of this charter is determined to be invalid, no other provision of this charter shall be affected by that determination. If the particular application of any of the provisions of this charter to any person or set of circumstances is determined …

§ 92. Continuation in office or employment Except as may expressly or implicitly be otherwise provided by this charter, at the time this charter takes effect all officers of the Town of Lyndon and all employees of the Town and the former Village of Lyndonville shall continue in s…

§ 93. Pending matters All past, present, and future rights, claims, actions, orders, contracts, and legal or administrative proceedings, now in progress or that arise in the future, choate and inchoate, that involve or affect the Town of Lyndon or the former Village of Lyndonvill…