§ 45 — Changing date of annual election, number and terms of office of vestrymen and terms of office of churchwardens in Protestant Episcopal ch...

§ 45. Changing date of annual election, number and terms of office of\nvestrymen and terms of office of churchwardens in Protestant Episcopal\nchurches heretofore incorporated. If the vestry of a Protestant\nEpiscopal parish, heretofore incorporated, shall by resolution,\nrecommend that the date of the annual election be changed to another\nday, either a Sunday or a secular day, or that the number of vestrymen\nbe changed to three, six, nine, twelve, fifteen, eighteen, twenty-one or\ntwenty-four, and that the terms of office of the churchwardens be\nchanged so that one warden shall be elected annually, notice of such\nrecommendation shall be included in the notice of the next annual\nelection of such parish, or in the notice of a special meeting to be\nheld not less than six months before the time fixed for holding the next\nannual election thereafter, and be submitted to such annual or special\nmeeting. If such recommendation be ratified by such meeting, the\npresiding officer thereof and at least two qualified voters present\nthereat, shall execute and acknowledge a certificate setting forth such\nresolution of the vestry; the fact that notice thereof had been given\nwith the notice of the annual election, or with the notice of the\nspecial meeting, as the case may be; that such meeting had ratified the\nsame; the date determined upon for the annual election of the parish;\nthe number of vestrymen so decided on; and the fact that the meeting\ndetermined to thereafter elect churchwardens, so that the term of one\nwarden shall expire annually. Such certificate shall be filed in the\noffice of the clerk of the county in which the original certificate of\nincorporation is filed and recorded. If the meeting determine to change\nthe date of the annual election, the next annual election shall be held\non the day determined on at such meeting, and the terms of the vestrymen\nand churchwardens which, pursuant to law, would expire at the next\nannual election shall expire and their successors shall be elected on\nsuch day. If the meeting determine to change the number of vestrymen and\nmanner of electing wardens and vestrymen, there shall be elected at the\nfirst annual election thereafter, one-third of the number of vestrymen\nso determined on, to hold office for three years; one-third thereof to\nhold office for two years; and one-third thereof to hold office for one\nyear; and one churchwarden to hold office for one year, and one to hold\nfor two years; and thereafter at the annual election there shall be\nelected one-third of the number of vestrymen determined on at such\nmeeting and one churchwarden. Any Protestant Episcopal parish,\nheretofore incorporated, which has changed the number of its vestrymen\nand the manner of electing wardens and vestrymen pursuant to the\nprovisions of this section, may make further changes in the number of\nits vestrymen in the manner provided in section forty-four of this\nchapter.\n