Title 24, Title 24: Municipal and County Government

§ 833. Approval; record; evidence On the approval of crime insurance coverage or a bond required by section 832 of this title, the selectboard of a town shall file the same in the office of the town clerk to be recorded by such clerk in a book kept for that purpose. Copies thereo…

§ 834. Neglect of clerk or constable; indemnity A town shall make good the pecuniary damages which may accrue to a person by the neglect or default of the town clerk or constable of such town, to be recovered in a civil action on this statute.

§ 835. Payment of premiums Bonds or crime insurance coverage required of officers of a municipality shall be paid for by the municipality requiring the same. (Amended 2021, No. 179 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. July 1, 2022.)

§ 871. Organization of selectboard; appointments (a) Forthwith after its election and qualification, the selectboard shall organize and elect a chair and, if so voted, a clerk from among its number, and file a certificate of such election for record in the office of the town cler…

§ 872. Selectboard; general powers and duties (a) The selectboard shall have the general supervision of the affairs of the town and shall cause to be performed all duties required of towns and town school districts not committed by law to the care of any particular officer. (b) T…

§ 901. Actions by or against town officers (a) Where an action is given to any appointed or elected municipal officer or town school district officer, the action shall be brought in the name of the town in which the officer serves and in the case of a town school district officer…

§ 901a. Tort claims against municipal employees (a) As used in this section, “municipal employee” means any person employed for a wage or salary by a municipality; a volunteer whose services have been requested by the legislative body of a municipality; a volunteer whose services…

§ 902. Penalty Unless otherwise provided, a town officer who fails or neglects to perform a duty imposed upon him or her by law shall be fined not more than $100.00.

§ 903. Nonliability of municipal officers for money paid out An action shall not be maintained against a person for money paid out by him or her as an officer of a municipal corporation in accordance with a vote of such corporation, whether such vote was valid or not.

§ 931. Claims for personal services Claims for personal services, except where compensation is fixed by law or by vote of the town or town school district, shall not be allowed to a town or town school district officer, but the auditors shall report claims and the nature and exte…

§ 932. Town may vote compensation A town may vote to compensate any or all town officers for their official services. Such town in annual meeting may fix the compensation of such officers and of town employees.

§ 933. Selectboard may fix; when When a town does not fix the amount of the compensation to be paid such officers and town employees, the selectboard shall fix and determine the same except as to their own pay which shall be fixed by the auditors at the time of the annual town au…

§ 934. Selectboard to adjudicate claims The selectboard shall audit and in its discretion may allow claims against the town and draft orders therefor.

§ 961. Vacancy or suspension of officer’s duties (a) When a municipal officer resigns the officer’s office, has been removed from the office, dies, becomes unable to perform the officer’s duties due to a mental condition or psychiatric disability, or removes from town, the office…

§ 962. Special meeting A town at a special meeting may fill a vacancy in a town office.

§ 963. Duties of selectboard; special meeting (a) When a vacancy occurs in any town office, the selectboard forthwith by appointment in writing shall fill such vacancy until an election is had; except that in the event of vacancies in a majority of the selectboard at the same tim…

§ 991. Records to be delivered to successor When a town or town school district office becomes vacant by expiration of the term of office of the incumbent, or otherwise, and a successor is elected or appointed, on demand, he or she shall be entitled to receive from the last incum…

§ 992. Annual settlements; penalty Not less than 25 days before each annual town meeting, all officials and other persons authorized to receive or disburse money belonging to a town shall settle their accounts with the auditors of such town, and the treasurer shall include in suc…

§ 993. Money to be paid over; penalty When a person who has served as a town or a town school district officer does not at the expiration of his or her term of office forthwith pay to the proper treasurer all money in his or her hands belonging to the town or town school district…

§ 1151. Certificate of election; oath A town clerk shall file with the county clerk a certificate of his or her election or appointment and a copy of his or her official oath on or before six days after election or appointment. The moderator shall sign the certificate if the cler…

§ 1152. Record of proceedings of meetings The clerk shall record all proceedings of all town meetings and his or her record shall be deemed to be the true and official record of all action taken at that meeting provided it has been approved and attested by any two of the followin…

§ 1153. Card indices All general indices required by law to be kept by a town or city clerk may be kept by the card index system, with the consent and approval of the selectboard or board of aldermen. When so kept, such card index shall provide as full and complete information as…

§ 1154. Records; copies (a) A town clerk shall record in the land records, at length or by accurate, legible copy, in books to be furnished by the town: (1) deeds; (2) instruments or evidences respecting real estate; (3) writs of execution, other writs or the substance thereof, a…

§ 1154a. Records; return postage Whenever an instrument listed in section 1154 of this chapter is filed or left for record with the town clerk, the town shall bear the costs of returning the original copy of the instrument to the person who filed or left the instrument for record…

§ 1155. Record of trust mortgage Trust mortgages may be recorded by furnishing the clerk with a printed copy thereof on not smaller than 8 1/4 by 10 3/4 nor larger than 10 1/2 by 16 ledger paper of good quality with good cloth binding which volume after being duly compared with t…

§ 1156. Chattel mortgages; conditional sales; discharge of lien Within 15 days after a chattel mortgage, a sufficient memorandum of a conditional vendor’s lien, or a memorandum of a discharge of such mortgage or lien has been delivered to a town clerk for recording, accompanied b…

§ 1157. Duties of town clerk as to chattel mortgages A town clerk shall procure and keep a book of records for mortgages of personal property and shall keep an alphabetical index of mortgagors and mortgagees. The record and index shall be open to public inspection. The clerk shal…

§ 1158. Assignment or discharge of mortgage or judgment lien An assignment or discharge of a mortgage or judgment lien shall be duly recorded in the records of the town. A mortgage or judgment lien may be discharged by the mortgagee, judgment creditor, or assignee of such mortgag…

§ 1159. Indorsement of time of receiving instruments (a) An instrument shall be deemed recorded when the town clerk: (1) receives the instrument, the recording fee provided in 32 V.S.A. § 1671, and all supporting documents required by statute; and (2) indorses a certificate of th…

§ 1160. Acknowledgements; oath (a) A town clerk, commissioned as a notary public pursuant to 26 V.S.A. chapter 103, may take acknowledgements of deeds and other instruments throughout his or her county. (b) In his or her county, he or she may administer oaths in all cases where a…

§ 1161. General index (a)(1) A town clerk shall keep a general index of transactions affecting the title to real estate wherein he or she shall enter in one column, in alphabetical order, the name of the grantor to the grantee and, in a parallel column, the name of the grantee fr…

§ 1162. Indices; liability of clerk and town A town clerk who neglects to keep in his or her office the indices required by law to be kept by him or her shall be fined $20.00 for each six months’ neglect. A town which, upon such neglect of its town clerk, delays for six months to…

§ 1163. Index of attachments A town clerk shall keep a book in which shall be alphabetically indexed all attachments of personal property lodged in his or her office. Such index shall show the names of the parties to the action in which the attachment is made, the court and date …

§ 1164. Certified copies; form (a) A town clerk shall furnish certified copies of any instrument on record in his or her office, or any instrument or paper filed in his or her office pursuant to law, on the tender of fees therefor, and his or her attestation shall be a sufficient…

§ 1165. Files and records available; when The files and records in the office of the clerk shall be available for inspection upon proper request at all reasonable hours.

§ 1166. Return of name of town treasurer to State Treasurer Annually, on or before July 1, a town clerk shall transmit to the State Treasurer the name of the town treasurer.

§ 1167. Certification of votes When at an annual or special meeting a town votes to raise a tax, to borrow money, or to make any appropriation of money, the clerk of such town, within five days thereafter, shall certify such vote to the treasurer of the town and to the chair of t…

§ 1168. Return of names of listers to Director of the Division of Property Valuation and Review After each annual meeting, a town clerk shall report forthwith electronically to the Director of the Division of Property Valuation and Review the name of each lister in the town, his …

§ 1169. Name and address of first constable to county clerk After each annual meeting, a town clerk shall certify forthwith to the county clerk the name and post office address of the person elected first constable at such meeting.

§ 1170. Appointment of assistant clerk After his or her election, a town clerk shall forthwith appoint one or more assistant clerks, for whose official acts he or she shall be responsible, who shall hold office during his or her term of office, or until such appointment is revoke…

§ 1171. Duties of assistant clerk (a) The assistant clerk shall be sworn and is authorized to perform the recording and filing duties of the town clerk, to issue licenses and certified copies of records, and, in the absence, death, or disability of the town clerk, is further auth…

§ 1172. Assistant clerk; record to county clerk Such assistant clerk shall deposit with the county clerk a copy of the record of his or her appointment, duly certified by the town clerk making such appointment, and shall also deposit a copy of his or her official oath signed by h…

§ 1173. Town or village reports The clerk of a municipality shall supply annually each library in such municipality with two copies of the municipal report, upon its publication. The clerk shall also send to the Vermont State Archives and Records Administration one copy thereof i…

§ 1174. Town file Such clerk shall keep on file in his or her office two or more sets of the annual report of the auditors, which at suitable intervals he or she shall bind in book form.

§ 1175. Permanent service records Town clerks shall record the honorable discharges or certificates of service of all members of the Armed Forces of the United States, by photographic copy or on forms approved by the Adjutant General of a size and with a margin to permit binding.…

§ 1176. Manuscripts All books and manuscripts belonging to a town or a town school district, except town histories, published under the authority of a town, shall be kept in the office of the town clerk, unless otherwise provided and shall not be sold or disposed of. (Amended 196…