§ 201 — Town meeting

(a) Town and School District meeting. All governmental authority for the Town and the School District not vested by law in a particular Town or Town School District officer ultimately rests with Town voters who vote at Town meeting or by Australian ballot. In this tradition, the Hartford annual Town meeting will combine and consider Town and School District matters, and the warnings, meetings, and elections shall be combined.
(b) School and Town Meeting Committee.
(1) To augment the statutory responsibilities for the annual Town and School District meetings that are specified to the Town and the School District and their respective officers, there shall be a School and Town Meeting Committee that shall organize, arrange, and provide for the comfort, presentation, publicity, program, refreshments, entertainment, and other nonstatutory aspects of the Town meeting cycle, such as the Warrant Information Night and School District Day meeting.
(2) The Selectboard shall appoint one member for a two-year term and one member for a three-year term. The School Board shall appoint one member for a two-year term and one member for a three-year term. No School Board member, Selectboard member, or Town Clerk may serve on the School and Town Meeting Committee. Each appointing body shall have the power to remove any incumbent member of the School and Town Meeting Committee appointed by that body and shall have the power to appoint a replacement member to serve the unexpired term of any person who is removed or who resigns.
(c) The method for identification and designation of eligible voters in the Town and School District shall be established by the Board of Civil Authority.
(d) Polling places. Locations of annual or special Town or School District meetings for the purpose of election of officers and voting all questions to be decided by Australian ballot shall be established by the Board of Civil Authority.
(e) Meetings; dates; times; votes; ballot.
(1) Warrant Information Night; “Information Night” Meeting. Prior to Budget and Candidates Night, the Town and School Meeting Committee may call a meeting for the purpose of providing presentations and discussion of items that may be placed on the warrants for Voting Day.
(2) Budget and Candidates Night meeting. On the Monday night in February eight days prior to Voting Day, a Town and School District budget discussion and Candidates Night meeting shall be called for the purpose of:
(A) presentation, explanation of, and citizen comment upon Town and School District budgets;
(B) introduction of candidates, presentations by candidates, and opportunity for citizen questioning of candidates;
(C) any other appropriate informational matters.
(3) Town and School District Meeting Day. The annual Town and School District floor meetings shall be called and held on the Saturday preceding Voting Day held under subdivision (4) of this subsection, subject to change as provided by general law. The floor meetings shall:
(A) be the venue for any public hearing to be held in advance of Voting Day;
(B) receive the reports of Town and School District officers;
(C) determine the compensation to be paid Town and School District officers for the ensuing year;
(D) serve as the public informational hearing for matters to be considered by Australian ballot; and
(E) conduct other business not determined at Australian ballot election.
(4) Voting Day. Voting Day shall be on Vermont Town Meeting Day, the first Tuesday in March, at which time any business, budgets, and candidate election involving Australian ballots will be transacted beginning at 7 a.m. until closing at 7 p.m. The Town budget as warned by the Selectboard and the School District budget as warned by the School Board shall be submitted to the electorate at this Town election. A majority vote shall be a simple majority of votes cast in this election. All public questions and all matters relating to the adoption of the Town and School District budgets shall be considered by Australian ballot under this subdivision.
(f) Special Town and School District meetings. A special Town or School District meeting may be called at any time by a majority of the applicable board or by the Town Clerk upon receipt of a petition signed by no fewer than 350 registered voters. A special Town or School District meeting shall be called and warned in accordance with State statute.
(g) Warnings. Warnings for Town and School District meetings shall be posted on the Town and School District websites, printed in area newspapers, posted on social media, and posted in at least 12 public places in the Town under a schedule that is in accordance with State statute. The warning shall be signed and recorded by the Town Clerk before it is posted. Budgets and other applicable reports shall be available not later than 10 days prior to the budget informational meeting as established under subdivision (e) (2) of this section.
(h) Presiding officials.
(1) A Moderator shall preside at all Town meeting cycle events, such as Budget and Candidates Night, Town and School District Meeting Day, and any special Town or School District meetings. In the Moderator’s absence, the Town Clerk shall appoint a Moderator Pro Tempore to preside for the duration of the meeting.
(2) Town and School District meetings shall be conducted in accordance with State statute, this charter, and Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised.
(3) The Town Clerk shall be the presiding official at all Australian ballot elections and, in cooperation with the Board of Civil Authority, shall ensure that all laws related to elections are faithfully observed.
(4) In the absence or a disability of the Town Clerk, should it occur before an election, the Board of Civil Authority shall designate a presiding official for the duration of the election. Should the absence or disability occur on election day, the Board of Civil Authority shall designate an on-site temporary officer to preside for the duration of the election. (Added 2009, No. M-5, § 2, eff. April 29, 2009; amended 2011, No. M-16 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. May 7, 2012; 2017, No. M-4, § 2, eff. May 17, 2017; 2023, No. M-26 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. May 29, 2024.)