All by-laws, ordinances, resolutions, town meeting
votes, and rules and regulations of the town which are in force at
the time the charter is adopted, not inconsistent with the provisions
of the charter, shall continue in force until amended or repealed.
All town agencies shall continue to perform
their duties until reappointed, re-elected, or until successors to
their respective positions are duly appointed or elected or their
duties have been transferred.
Any person holding an office or position in
the administrative service of the town, or any person serving in the
employment of the town shall retain such office or position and shall
continue to perform his duties until provisions shall have been made
in accordance with the charter for the performance of the said duties
by another person or agency; provided, however, that no person in
the permanent full-time service of employment of the town shall forfeit his pay grade or
time in service. All such persons shall be retained in a capacity
as similar to their former capacity as it is practical so to do.
All records, property, and equipment whatsoever
of any town agency or part thereof, the powers and duties of which
are assigned in whole or part to another town agency shall be transferred
forthwith to the town agency to which such powers and duties are assigned.
All official bonds, recognizances, obligations,
contracts and other instruments entered into or executed by or to
the town before its adoption of the charter, and all taxes, special
assessments, fines, penalties, forfeitures incurred or imposed, due
or owing to the town, shall be enforced and collected, and all writs,
prosecutions, actions and causes of action, except as herein otherwise
provided, shall continue without abatement and remain unaffected by
the charter; and no legal act done by or in favor of the town shall
be rendered invalid by its adoption of the charter.
The salary to be paid to each member of the town council elected at the first election held under the charter shall be $500.00 per annum. This salary shall continue until changed by ordinance under the provisions of section
2-3 of the charter.
This charter shall become fully effective on
the second January 1st which occurs following its adoption by the
voters, but it shall take partial effect in accordance with the following
schedule:
(a) As soon as practicable after the charter is adopted
the board of selectmen, with the advice and assistance of the board
of registrars of voters, shall prepare and shall cause to be published
before April, 1, in the year following the year in which the charter
is adopted, new boundaries for the six precincts of the town. The
precincts shall be as nearly equal in number of inhabitants as it
is possible to achieve based on compact and contiguous territory,
bounded insofar as possible by the center line of known streets or
ways or by other well defined limits.
(b) A special election shall be held on the first Tuesday
following the first Monday in June for the purpose of electing members
of the town council and of the school committee. All of the provisions
of the charter which relate to the conduct of regular town elections
shall apply to this special election. Any incumbent official of the
town may be a candidate for any office to be filled at this election.
(c) The school committee elected at the said special election
shall assume their office on the first secular day of July following
their election and all of the provisions of the charter with respect
to the school committee shall on that date become fully effective.
The incumbent school committee in office when the special election
takes place shall serve until their successors have been qualified.
(d) The town council elected at the said special election
shall meet to organize and shall assume their office on the first
secular day of July following their election. The powers and duties
of the town council, however, shall not become fully effective until
the first secular day of January next following, and in the meantime,
the town council shall prepare for the transition to the new form
of town government as follows:
1. They shall establish qualifications and procedures
to follow in the selection of a mayor to serve under the charter.
The appointment of a mayor shall be effective on the second Monday
of September following their election.
2. They shall cause to be prepared and shall adopt rules
and regulations governing the conduct of council business. They shall
cause to be prepared and shall adopt any necessary ordinances to be
effective and to replace the existing bylaws of the town, for the
orderly and convenient exercise of the administrative affairs of the
town.
(e) The mayor appointed in September following the election
at which the charter is adopted shall assist the town council in the
establishment of the new charter as they may request him to do.
(f) The board of selectmen in office at the time of the
special election shall continue to serve in that office until December
31 of that year. They shall be responsible for the general operation
of the government and shall continue to perform all of the powers,
duties and functions of their office as though this, the charter,
had not been adopted; except that they shall coordinate all of their
long-range plans with the members of the town council.
(g) All legislative business necessary for the orderly
conduct of the town during the transitional year shall continue to
be conducted by the representative town meeting until the full powers
of the town council become operative on the first secular day of January
next following their election. On the said first secular day of January
the terms of office of all members of the representative town meeting
shall be terminated and the said representative town meeting shall
thereafter cease to exist.