Title 24APPENDIX, Title 24APPENDIX: Municipal Charters

§ 41. Definitions (a) “Board” or “Selectboard” means the duly elected members of the Selectboard of the Town acting as a group and in their official capacity. (b) A “vacancy” in any office is deemed to exist if the holder of the office resigns, dies, is removed from office, moves…

§ 42. Residency The Town Manager and the department heads are not required to be residents of the Town. (Amended 1999, No. M-12 (Adj. Sess.), § 18, eff. May 9, 2000; 2005, No. M-13 (Adj. Sess.), § 12, eff. May 17, 2006.)

§ 6. Conduct (a) The Moderator shall preside at all Town meetings, but in the Moderator’s absence, the Town Clerk shall call the meeting to order, and the first order of business shall be the election of a Moderator Pro Tempore to preside for the duration of the meeting. The Mode…

§ 7. Reconsideration of actions taken A question considered at any Town meeting or election may not be submitted to the voters for reconsideration or rescission except at a subsequent annual or special meeting or election, specifically warned for the purpose and called by the Sel…

§ 9. Nomination of candidates All Town elections shall be nonpartisan and no party designation or slogan shall be printed on any Town ballot or petition. (Amended 2005, No. M-13 (Adj. Sess.), § 9, eff. May 17, 2006.)

§ 1. Statement of purpose Under the authority granted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont, this charter establishes certain guidelines with respect to organization and functioning of local town government in the Town of Woodford, Vermont. The voters of the Town of Woo…

§ 10. Recall of elected officials (a) Any elected official may be removed from office for just cause as follows: A petition signed by not less than 30 percent of the registered voters shall be filed with the Selectboard requesting a vote on whether the elected officer shall be re…

§ 11. Appointed officers (a) The Selectboard may appoint, recommend, or approve the appointment of any Town officers, for a term of one year or longer from date of such appointment unless otherwise specified below, following such notice and warning as required by this charter, to…

§ 12. Relationship between and among Town officers All Town officers, whether elected or appointed, shall exercise their duties and responsibilities independently according to general law, this charter, the Woodford personnel policy, and the job description for the officer’s posi…

§ 13. Terms of office Each officer so appointed shall serve from the date he or she is appointed and qualified until the end of his or her term. Each officer shall hold over until his or her successor is appointed and qualified. Each appointed officer may succeed himself or herse…

§ 14. General prohibition No elected or appointed Town officer or employee of the Town shall be beneficially interested in any matter requiring the discharge of his or her public office. The purpose of this section is to prohibit the use of public office for financial or other ad…

§ 15. Specific conflicts A Town officer shall be disqualified from any proceeding in which his or her impartiality might reasonably be questioned, including instances where: (1) the Town officer, near relative, or business associate has a property or financial interest that might…

§ 16. Specific prohibitions A Town officer who is disqualified by virtue of a conflict of interest shall not vote upon, participate in the discussion of, or otherwise sit as a member of any board, commission, or committee upon the matter from which he or she is disqualified. He o…

§ 17. Announcing a conflict If a Town officer recognizes that he or she might have a conflict of interest or if another person raises an objection to the participation of any Town officer, the Town officer or the other person shall state the nature of the conflict as soon as poss…

§ 18. Determination of conflict by other than the Town officer If undeniable reason for an officer to disqualify himself or herself is brought to the attention of any board, commission, or committee by any party or person or by another board, commission, or committee member and t…

§ 19. Appointment of alternate officers The Selectboard may appoint an alternate Town officer to serve in place of a Town officer during a stated period of disqualification or unavailability. (Added 2013, No. M-8, § 2, eff. May 23, 2013.)

§ 2. Authority of citizens All governmental authority of the Town of Woodford rests with the citizens of the Town of Woodford, who exercise their powers at Town meeting and to whom elected and appointed officers of the Town are ultimately responsible. (Added 2013, No. M-8, § 2, e…

§ 20. Notice of vacancy during an expired or unexpired term (a) In order to inform citizens of the Town and to afford them the opportunity to participate or serve in Town government, public notice shall be given of municipal vacancies resulting from an expired term, resignation, …

§ 21. Newspaper publication The Selectboard may publish notices of vacancies in a newspaper of general circulation in the Town. (Added 2013, No. M-8, § 2, eff. May 23, 2013.)

§ 22. Separability If any provision of this charter is held invalid, the other provisions of the charter shall not be affected thereby. If the application of the charter or any of its provisions to any person or circumstances is held invalid, the application of this charter and i…

§ 23. Amendment This charter may be amended as set forth by State law under 17 V.S.A. § 2645. (Added 2013, No. M-8, § 2, eff. May 23, 2013.)

§ 24. Ordinances; adoption by Selectboard (a) If the Selectboard desires to adopt an ordinance, it shall cause the ordinance to be entered in the official record kept of the Board’s proceedings, and, thereafter, the Board shall adopt the ordinance subject to final approval after …

§ 25. Referendum All Town ordinances, except as specified, may be repealed by vote of the Town as follows: A petition signed by not less than five percent of the registered voters shall be filed with the Town Clerk requesting a vote on a question of repealing the ordinance. The S…

§ 26. Initiative Any lawful ordinance may be enacted by vote of the Town as follows: A petition signed by not less than five percent of the registered voters shall be filed with the Town Clerk requesting enactment of the ordinance and accompanied by the text thereof. The Selectbo…

§ 27. Compensation of Selectboard members; appointees (a) Compensation to the Selectboard members shall be set by the voters at the annual meeting, with a minimum of $1,000.00 a year each. Selectboard members’ salaries (stipends) must be set forth as a separate item in the annual…

§ 28. Nonapplicability to zoning and subdivision (a) The provisions of this charter shall not apply to the enactment, amendment, or repeal of any zoning ordinance or zoning bylaw; any land subdivision ordinance or land subdivision bylaw; the enactment, amendment, or repeal of any…

§ 29. Bonding of officers All officers of the Town required to be bonded by State law shall be bonded. The amount of bonding insurance shall be determined by the Selectboard. (Added 2013, No. M-8, § 2, eff. May 23, 2013.)

§ 3. General law; application Except as altered, enlarged, or modified by the provisions of this charter or by any current or future lawful ordinance or regulation of the Town of Woodford, all provisions of the statutes of the State of Vermont relating to municipalities shall app…

§ 30. Application of general law Provisions of the laws of the State of Vermont relating to voter qualification, warning, method of voting, the duties of town officers at town meetings and elections, and all other particulars relating to preparation for conducting and managing to…

§ 31. Fiscal year The fiscal year shall commence on the first day of January and end on the last day of December unless the Town at its annual meeting shall determine otherwise. If the Town votes another fiscal year, it shall specify the procedure for transition, including the me…

§ 32. Amount to be raised by taxation Upon passage of the budget by the Annual Town meeting, the amount stated therein as the amount to be raised by property taxes shall constitute a determination of the amount of the levy for the purposes of the Town in the corresponding tax yea…

§ 33. Budget limitations; borrowing (a) The incurring of bonded indebtedness, 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 such statutes as…

§ 4. Powers of the Town (a) The Town of Woodford shall have all the powers granted to towns and municipal corporations by the Constitution and laws of the State and by this charter, together with all the implied powers necessary to carry into execution all the powers granted. The…

§ 5. Reservation of powers to the Town Nothing in this charter shall be construed to limit in any way the powers and functions conferred on the Town of Woodford, the Selectboard of the Town, the Town Clerk, the Town Treasurer, or its elected and appointed officials by general or …

§ 6. Open meetings Meetings of all Town boards, commissions, and their committees shall be open and held in accordance with the general law of this State relating to public meetings. The record of all official proceedings shall be available for public inspection and copying as pr…

§ 7. Officers generally (a) The officers of the Town of Woodford shall be those provided by law for towns, except as otherwise provided by this charter. Such officers shall have all the powers and duties necessary to carry out the provisions of this charter as well as those provi…

§ 8. Elected officers (a) The following officers of the Town and such other Town officers as are provided by law and previous vote of the electorate as to number, length of term, and manner of election at an annual meeting shall be elected by Australian (secret) ballot, unless ot…

§ 9. Duties of elective officers (a) The Board of Listers shall perform duties established by law. (b) The auditors shall perform duties as established in 24 V.S.A. §§ 1681-1691. (c) The Town Moderator shall perform duties as prescribed by law and shall preside at all Town meetin…

§ 101. Boundaries and corporate existence All that portion of the Town of Alburgh in the County of Grand Isle that is embraced within the following limits: beginning at a point that marks the intersection of the southern boundary of the Lamoille Valley extension of the Central Ve…

§ 201. Annual and special meetings The annual meeting of the Village shall be held on the first Tuesday in May of each year at such hour as the notice mentioned in this section shall state, in the Town Hall in said Village or at such other time and place as the Village shall here…

§ 301. Election and appointment of officers (a) Elected officers. At each annual meeting of said Village there shall be elected the following officers: (1) one trustee; (2) one Collector; and (3) one auditor. (b) Terms. The elections shall be by ballot if called for, the terms of…

§ 302. Terms of officers The term of office of officers elected at the annual meeting shall commence at the time of their election and continue for one year, and until their successors are chosen and qualified, provided the term of office of trustees shall be five years except as…

§ 303. Vacancies The trustees shall fill a vacancy occurring in a Village office, and such person so appointed shall serve for the unexpired term unless superseded. But the Village may, at any time before the expiration of such term, supersede such appointment by a new election a…

§ 304. Presiding officer The senior member of the Board of Trustees shall preside at Village meetings. The presiding officer in a Village meeting shall have the same power and duties as a moderator in town meetings. (Amended 2001, No. M-10 (Adj. Sess.), § 3.)

§ 305. Board of Trustees The Board of Trustees shall have the management of the affairs of the Village and the necessary powers for that purpose.

§ 306. Clerk The Clerk shall keep a record of the proceedings of said corporation and shall have power to certify copies of the same. The Clerk shall also have the usual powers and duties incident to clerks of such corporation.