[HISTORY: Sections 2-1 to 2-13 of the 1967 Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Amended 3-14-1974 ATM by Art. 67; 5-6-2013 ATM by Art. 38; 5-6-2019 ATM by Art. 38; 5-1-2023 ATM by Art. 38]
The Annual Town Meeting shall be held on the first Monday of May at 7:00 p.m. in each year at a place designated by the Select Board. The annual election for Town officers shall be held on the second Tuesday after the first Monday in June each year. The Select Board, in the warrant for the election of Town officers, shall specify when the polls will be opened and when the polls will be closed in accordance with the provisions of Section 64 of Chapter 54 of the General Laws and amendments thereto.
The warrant for each Town Meeting shall be served by posting an attested copy thereof at Abbot Hall and 10 other conspicuous places in the Town at the time as prescribed in this chapter of Town By-Laws.
The Select Board shall give at least 14 days' public notice of their intention to issue a warrant for a Special Town Meeting unless in their judgment public interest would suffer by such a delay.
The warrant for the Annual Town Meeting shall be closed at least 60 days before the time of holding said meeting and the warrant for the Annual Town Meeting shall be served not later than 30 days after being closed. The warrant for a Special Town Meeting shall be served not later than 10 days after the warrant is closed. Copies of all articles involving the expenditure of money contained in a warrant for any Town Meeting shall immediately upon the closing of such warrant be forwarded by the Select Board to the Finance Committee for consideration.
The number of voters necessary to constitute a quorum shall be 300 except at a meeting devoted exclusively to the election of Town officers, but when there is not a quorum present at a Town Meeting, other than a meeting for the election of Town officers as aforesaid, a lesser number may adjourn such meeting from time to time to a date certain without the necessity of notice of such adjournment other than announcement thereof at the meeting at which the adjournment is voted.
A. 
The Select Board shall at every Annual Town Meeting and adjourned sessions thereof and at every Special Town Meeting and adjourned sessions thereof, held for the transaction of Town business, other than the election of Town officers by official ballot, cause voting lists to be used and the name of every person, before being admitted to the said meeting, shall be checked thereon by tellers appointed for the purpose by the Select Board, except as hereinafter provided.
B. 
The tellers shall be sworn before entering upon their official duties by the Town Clerk or any officer qualified to administer oaths.
C. 
The moderator may permit persons, other than qualified voters, to attend said meetings when, in the moderator's discretion, there is ample seating capacity in the hall where meeting is held, provided that such persons who are not qualified voters shall be seated apart and separate from persons qualified to vote.
D. 
Presiding officer. The moderator, while occupying the chair, shall not participate in any discussion before the meeting.
A. 
Every voter speaking upon a subject in any meeting shall confine their remarks to the question before the meeting, avoid personalities, and be seated when they have finished.
B. 
Any voter speaking on behalf of another person, firm or corporation, and receiving compensation for so speaking, upon a subject in any meeting shall first state to the meeting that they are doing so. Notwithstanding the foregoing provision, noncompliance therewith shall not affect the validity of any Town Meeting or vote thereat.
[Added 5-10-1971 STM by Art. 8]
No voter rising to move a question shall proceed to speak thereon until the motion has been distinctly stated to the meeting by the moderator, and no person speaking shall be interrupted by another, but by rising to state a question of order.
When called to order by the moderator, the person having the floor shall be seated until the point of order is decided, and if the decision be that the point of order is not well taken, the original speaker shall immediately be given the floor.
A. 
Upon taking the question, if the decision of the moderator is doubted, or a division of the house called for, the moderator shall appoint tellers. The question shall then be distinctly stated, and those in the affirmative and negative, respectively, shall be requested to vote in the usual manner until they are counted by the tellers, who shall carefully count each side, and make report thereof to the moderator.
B. 
Upon the request of at least nine voters present at a meeting, made to the moderator from the floor, the vote shall be taken by written unsigned ballots in form approved by the moderator, which shall be distributed to all voters present at the meeting for their use in voting on the question, and shall be collected by the tellers from all the voters who wish to vote on the question, and the tellers, after the ballots are marked and collected, shall carefully count the votes so cast and make report thereof to the moderator.
C. 
The Moderator may determine that electronic counting devices may be used for the meeting. Said devices shall be provided to each voter at the meeting. In the event electronic counting devices are used for a meeting, Subsections A and B above shall not apply.
[Added 5-1-2023 ATM by Art. 36]
When a question is before the meeting, the following motions, namely: to adjourn; to lay on the table; to postpone to a certain time; to commit; to recommit or refer; to amend; to postpone indefinitely, shall be received and shall have precedence in the foregoing order; and the first two shall be decided without debate.
No motion to dissolve a Town Meeting shall be in order until every article in the warrant therefor has been duly considered and acted upon, except that when there is not a quorum present, a motion may be entertained to adjourn sine die, or to a date as provided in § 174-5 of this chapter.
A. 
The motion to reconsider will be in order on the same day the vote to be reconsidered was taken, or on the following day if previous notice was given to the meeting on the day of the vote, and in both of these cases a two-thirds vote shall be required. Otherwise no reconsideration shall be permitted except by a nine-tenths vote.
B. 
The one offering the motion "to reconsider" must have voted with the prevailing side on the vote they wish to be reconsidered.
C. 
A question may be reconsidered but once whether or not any change resulted from the first reconsideration, and if a motion to reconsider is lost, it will not be in order a second time.
D. 
Under no consideration shall reconsideration be permitted of a vote taken by written ballot.
E. 
Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions reconsideration may be voted any time by unanimous consent.