Title 24APPENDIX, MUNICIPAL CHARTERS

§ 1001. Creation of Department There shall be established a Department of Assessment headed by a professionally qualified real estate appraiser, who shall be appointed by the Manager with the approval of the Selectboard. (Renumbered from 24A V.S.A. § 117-501 by 2023, No. M-19 (Ad…

§ 1002. Purpose The purpose of the Department of Assessment is to provide for appointment of a qualified real estate appraiser rather than the election of listers. The Town shall be governed by, and each taxpayer shall have rights granted by the applicable Vermont Statutes Annota…

§ 1003. Appraisal of property The Department of Assessment shall appraise all real property for the purpose of establishing the grand list. Appraisals shall be reviewed periodically and kept up to date. Technically qualified individuals or firms may be employed as needed. The Dep…

§ 1004. Appraisal of business personal property for tax purposes Appraisal of business personal property shall be in accordance with the provisions of 32 V.S.A. § 3618, as the same may from time to time be amended, provided that all business personal property acquired by a taxpay…

§ 1005. Powers and duties The Department of Assessment shall have the same power, discharge the same duties, proceed in the discharge of duties in the same manner, and be subject to the same liabilities as listers pursuant to the Vermont Statutes Annotated and this charter. (Renu…

§ 101. Corporate existence retained The inhabitants of the Town of Essex, within the corporate limits as now established, shall continue to be a municipal corporation by the name of the Town of Essex. Notwithstanding the provisions of any other municipal charters, territory withi…

§ 102. General law, application Except as modified by the provisions of this charter, or by any lawful regulation or ordinance of the Town of Essex, all provisions of the Vermont Statutes Annotated applicable to towns shall apply to the Town of Essex. (Amended 2025, No. M-6 (Adj.…

§ 103. Powers of the Town (a) The Town shall have all of the powers granted to towns and municipal corporations by the Constitution and laws of this State; it may enact ordinances, bylaws, and regulations not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the State of Vermont or …

§ 105. Reservation of powers to the Town Nothing in this charter shall be so construed as in any way to limit the powers and functions conferred upon the Town of Essex and the Selectboard of the Town by general or special enactments in force or effect or hereafter enacted; and th…

§ 106. Ordinances — Method of adoption and enforcement (a) The Selectboard may provide penalties for the breach of any ordinance authorized by general law or this charter, may prosecute any person violating the same through the Town Grand Juror or police officers who for such pur…

§ 107. License fees In addition to powers otherwise conferred upon the Town by law and this charter, the Town is authorized to adopt and enforce ordinances for the purpose of regulating, licensing, and fixing reasonable and necessary fees for the following: (1) places of public r…

§ 108. Filing [Renumbered] (Renumbered to 24A V.S.A. § 117-303 by 2023, No. M-19 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. Mar. 29, 2024.)

§ 109. Annual Town report [Renumbered] (Renumbered to 24A V.S.A. § 117-602 by 2023, No. M-19 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. Mar. 29, 2024.)

§ 110. Reservation of powers to the Town [Renumbered] (Renumbered to 24A V.S.A. § 117-105 by 2023, No. M-19 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. Mar. 29, 2024.)

§ 1101. Laws governing This charter may be amended in accordance with the procedure provided for by the Vermont Statutes Annotated for amendment of municipal charters. (Renumbered from 24A V.S.A. § 117-1001 by 2023, No. M-19 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. Mar. 29, 2024; amended 2025, No…

§ 1201. Severability The provisions of this charter are declared to be severable. If any provisions of this charter are for any reason invalid, such invalidity shall not affect the remaining provisions that can be given effect without the invalid provision. (Renumbered from 24A V…

§ 201. Officers generally The elected officers of the Town of Essex shall be Selectboard members and Moderator. These officers shall have all the powers and duties necessary to carry out the provisions of this charter as well as those provided by law. The terms of the officers sh…

§ 202. Selectboard — Number, terms of office, election (a) There shall be a Selectboard consisting of five members. (b) The terms of office of Selectboard members shall be for three years. (c) Unless necessary to fill a vacancy, no more than two Selectboard members shall be elect…

§ 203. Compensation of Selectboard; appointees (a) Compensation paid to the Selectboard members shall be set by the voters at the annual meeting, with a minimum of $500.00 a year each. Selectboard members’ salaries must be set forth as a separate item in the annual budget present…

§ 204. Organization (a) As soon as practicable after the first day of the month following annual Town meeting, the Selectboard shall organize and elect a Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, and Clerk by a majority vote of the entire Selectboard and shall file a certificate of the elec…

§ 205. Meetings (a) As soon as possible after the election of the Chairperson and Vice Chairperson, the Selectboard shall fix the time and place of its regular meetings and such meetings shall be held at least once a month. (b) The Selectboard shall determine its own rules and or…

§ 206. Record of proceedings (a) An official record of the proceedings of the Selectboard shall be kept by its Clerk, who need not be a member of the Selectboard, which shall be kept in the office of the Town Clerk and shall be open for public inspection. The Town Clerk shall kee…

§ 207. Powers and duties (a) The members of the Selectboard shall constitute the legislative body of the Town of Essex for all purposes required by statute and shall have all powers and authority given to and perform all duties required of town legislative bodies or selectboards …

§ 208. Appointments by Selectboard (a) The Selectboard shall appoint the members of the following permanent Commissions and positions: (1) [Repealed.] (2) Planning Commission; (3) Town Attorney; (4) Town Manager; (5) Development Review Board; and (6) Cemetery Commission. (b) The …

§ 209. Jurisdiction over other officers or employees Neither the Selectboard nor any of its members shall direct or request the appointment, by any other officer or employee of the Town, of any person to office or employment, or his or her suspension or removal therefrom, or in a…

§ 210. Recall of Selectboard members (a) A petition signed by 15 percent of the registered voters of the municipality, based upon the total number of registered voters at the last preceding municipal election, demanding the recall of the Selectboard member or members cited in the…

§ 301. Introduction; first and second readings; public hearing (a) Every ordinance shall be introduced in writing. The enacting clause of all ordinances shall be “The Selectboard of the Town of Essex hereby ordains . . . ”. If the Selectboard passes the proposed ordinance upon fi…

§ 302. Effective date Every ordinance shall become effective upon passage unless otherwise specified. (Renumbered from 24A V.S.A. § 117-107 by 2023, No. M-19 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. Mar. 29, 2024.)

§ 303. Filing The Town Clerk shall prepare and keep in the Town Clerk’s office a book of ordinances that shall contain each ordinance finally passed by the Selectboard, together that a complete index of the ordinances according to subject matter. (Renumbered from 24A V.S.A. § 117…

§ 304. Rescission of ordinances All ordinances shall be subject to rescission by a special or annual Town meeting, as follows: If, within 44 days after final passage by the Selectboard of any such ordinance, a petition signed by voters of the Town not less in number than five per…

§ 305. Petition for enactment of ordinance; special meeting (a) Subject to the provisions of section 304 of this charter, voters of the Town may at any time petition in the same manner as in section 304 for the enactment of any proposed lawful ordinance by filing the petition, in…

§ 401. Appointment of Manager The Selectboard shall appoint a Town Manager under and in accordance with the Vermont Statutes Annotated, as amended from time to time hereafter. The Manager shall have all the powers and duties as set forth in that chapter and in this charter. (Renu…

§ 402. Officials appointed by Manager The Town Manager shall appoint, with the approval of the Selectboard, Town Clerk, Town Treasurer, Assistant Town Clerk, constables, Director of Public Works, Police Chief, Fire Chief, a Town Agent if the Town Attorney is not a resident of the…

§ 501. Appointment and removal All Town employees not elected by the voters shall be appointed, supervised, and removed by the Town Manager unless otherwise specified by this charter. There shall be no discrimination in employment on account of race, religion, sex, or political o…

§ 502. Personnel rules and regulations (a) The Town Manager or the Town Manager’s appointee shall be the Personnel Director. The Town Manager shall maintain personnel rules and regulations protecting the interests of the Town and of the employees. These rules and regulations must…

§ 503. Prohibitions No person in the service of the Town shall either directly or indirectly give, render, pay, or receive any service or other valuable thing for or on account of or in connection with any appointment, proposed appointment, promotion, or proposed promotion. (Renu…

§ 504. Duties of Department [Renumbered] (Renumbered to 24A V.S.A. § 117-1005 by 2023, No. M-19 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. Mar. 29, 2024.)

§ 505. Purpose [Renumbered] (Renumbered to 24A V.S.A. § 117-1002 by 2023, No. M-19 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. Mar. 29, 2024.)

§ 601. Application of general law Provisions of the laws of the State of Vermont relating to the qualifications of voters, the manner of voting, the duties of election officers, and all other particulars respective to preparation for, conducting, and management of elections, so f…

§ 602. Annual Town report (a) The Town Selectboard shall employ by contract a public accountant to examine the financial statements of the funds of the Town. The Annual Auditor’s Report shall be made available to the voters of the Town not later than 30 days prior to the annual m…

§ 604. Time of holding (a) The annual meeting shall be warned and held as specified in 17 V.S.A. § 2680. (b) The election of officers and the voting on all questions to be decided, including the budget, by Australian ballot or voting required by law to be by ballot shall take pla…

§ 701. Fiscal year The fiscal year of the Town shall begin on the first day of July of each calendar year. The fiscal year shall constitute the budget and accounting year as used in this charter. (Amended 2023, No. M-19 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. Mar. 29, 2024.)

§ 702. Preparation and submission (a) The Town Manager, at least 50 days before annual Town meeting, or at such previous time as the Town Manager may be directed by the Selectboard, shall submit to the Selectboard a budget containing: (1) An estimate of the financial condition of…

§ 703. Budget An annual budget shall be adopted at Town meeting by the vote of a majority of those eligible to vote present at the meeting. If, after the total budget has been appropriated, the Selectboard finds additional appropriations necessary, the appropriations shall be mad…

§ 704. Appropriation From the effective date of the budget, the several amounts stated therein, as approved by the annual town meeting, become appropriated to the several agencies and purposes therein named.

§ 705. Amount to be raised by taxation Upon passage of the budget by the annual Town meeting, the amounts stated therein as the amount to be raised by taxes shall constitute a determination of the amount of the levy for the purposes of the Town in the corresponding tax year and t…