[HISTORY: Adopted as indicated in article histories. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
[Adopted as Ch. III of the Town Bylaws]
[Amended 5-22-2021 ATM by Art. 1]
The Select Board shall have the general direction and management
of the property and affairs of the Town in all matters not otherwise
provided for by law or these bylaws.
It shall be the duty of the Town Clerk immediately after every
Town Meeting to notify in writing all members of committees who may
be elected or appointed at such meeting, stating the business upon
which they are to act and the names of the persons composing the committee;
and also to notify all officers, boards and committees of all votes
passed at such meeting in any way affecting them.
Whenever it shall be necessary to execute any deed conveying
land, or any other instrument required to carry into effect any vote
of the Town, the same shall be executed by the Treasurer in behalf
of the Town, unless the Town shall have vote otherwise.
[Amended 4-6-1992 TM, Art. 10; 4-9-2002 STM, Art. 3; 5-17-2016 ATM, Art. 21; 5-22-2021 ATM by Art. 1]
All Town officers, boards and committees appointed by the Town
shall make their annual reports to the Select Board on or before the
first day of February each year. The reports shall address activities
during the Town's fiscal year from July 1 to June 30. The Select Board
shall cause these reports, together with such other information as
they deem necessary, to be published in one volume as the Annual Town
Report and available for distribution to the voters of the Town on
or before May 31 of the same year.
All official letters received, and copies of all letters written,
shall be placed on file.
[[1] Amended 5-22-2021 ATM by Art. 1
No Town officer and no salaried employee of the Town, or any
agent of such officer or employee, shall receive any compensation
or commission for work done by him for the Town, except his official
salary and fees allowed by law, without the permission of the Select
Board expressed in a vote which shall appear on its records with the
reasons therefor.
[1]
Editor's Note: This section was originally enacted as Section
2 of Ch. V of the Town Bylaws, and moved to this article in conjunction
with the 2002 recodification.
[Amended 5-22-2021 ATM by Art. 1]
It shall be the duty of the Select Board to annually appraise
the property of the Town and include such appraisement in its report.[1]
[[1]Amended 5-22-2021 ATM by Art. 1]
The Select Board, or other appointing authority, may remove
any public official from an appointed board, committee or commission
due to the failure of an appointed official to attend public meetings
of said board, committee or commission on a regular basis, without
reasonable cause. Action to remove an appointed official shall be
initiated by a majority vote of said board, committee or commission
at a duly posted public meeting. Upon receiving a written recommendation
from said board, committee or commission, the Select Board, or other
appointing authority, shall conduct a public hearing within 14 days
to consider the official's removal. Notice of this hearing shall be
mailed to the affected individual. The decision to remove shall become
final upon majority vote of the Select Board, or other appointing
authority, and by filing a letter with the Town Clerk which states
the same.
[Adopted 4-12-1993 ATM, Art. 22, as Ch. XXV of the Town Bylaws]
Any holder of an elected office in the Town of Hopedale may
be recalled therefrom by registered voters of the Town as hereinafter
provided.
[Amended 5-22-2021 ATM by Art. 1]
Any 10 registered voters of the Town of Hopedale may initiate
a recall petition by filing an affidavit with the Town Clerk. The
affidavit shall contain the name of the officer sought to be recalled
and a statement of the grounds of recall. The Town Clerk shall provide
a sufficient number of copies of petition blanks demanding such recall
(printed forms of which shall be kept on hand) to the voters who made
the affidavit. The blanks shall be issued by the Town Clerk and bear
his signature and Official Seal; they shall be dated and addressed
to the Select Board and shall contain the names of all persons to
whom issued, the number of blanks so issued, the names of all persons
to whom issued, the name of the person sought to be recalled, the
grounds of recall as stated in the affidavit, and shall demand the
election of a successor to such office. Such blanks must be provided
within five business days. Said recall petition shall be returned
and filed with the Town Clerk on or before 5:00 p.m. on the 21st day
after the filing of the affidavit. In the event the 21st day is a
Saturday, Sunday or holiday, the petition may be filed on the next
business day. The petition shall be signed by 15% of the registered
voters before being returned and filed. Every signature must be accompanied
by the signer's place of residence, giving the street and number.
The Registrar shall forthwith certify the number of signatures.
[Amended 5-22-2021 ATM by Art. 1]
If the petition shall be found and certified by said Town Clerk
to be sufficient, he shall submit the same with his certificate to
the Select Board without delay and the Select Board shall immediately
give written notice to the officer of the receipt of the certificate
and shall, if the officer sought to be recalled does not resign within
five days thereafter, thereupon order an election to be held on a
date fixed by them, not less than 60 days and not more than 90 days
after the date of the Town Clerk's certificate that a sufficient petition
is filed; provided, however, that if any other Town election is to
occur with 100 days after the date of said certificate, said Select
Board may, in its discretion, postpone the holding of said recall
election to the date of such other election. If a vacancy occurs in
said office after a recall election has been so ordered, the election
shall nevertheless proceed as in this section provided.
Any officer sought to be recalled may not be a candidate to
succeed himself. The nomination of other candidates, the publication
of the warrant for the recall election, and the conduct of the same
shall all be in accordance with the provisions of law relating to
elections, unless otherwise provided by this act.
The incumbent shall continue to perform the duties of his office
until the recall election. If the officer is not recalled he shall
continue in the office for the remainder of his unexpired term, subject
to recall as before, except as provided in this act. If the officer
is recalled in the recall election, he shall be deemed removed upon
the election of his successor fails to take office within five days
after receiving notification of his election, the incumbent shall
thereupon be deemed removed and the office vacant.
Ballots used in a recall election shall submit the following
propositions in the order indicated: For the recall of (name of officer).
Against the recall of (name of officer). Immediately at the right
of each proposition, there shall be a square in which the voter, by
making a cross mark (X), may vote for either of the said propositions.
Under the propositions shall appear the word "Candidates," the directions
to voters required by MGL c. 54, § 42, beneath this the
names of candidates nominated as hereinbefore provided. If a majority
of the votes casts upon the question of recall is in the affirmative,
the candidate receiving the highest number of votes shall be declared
elected provided that at least 25% of those registered to vote do
so in the election. If a majority of votes on the question is in the
negative, the ballot for candidates need not be counted.
No recall petition shall be filed against an officer within
six months after he takes office, nor, in the case of an officer subject
to a recall election and not recalled thereby, until at least six
months after the election at which his recall was submitted to the
voters. No person who has been removed from an office or who has resigned
from office while recall proceedings were pending against him shall
be appointed to any Town office within two years after such removal
or such resignation.
