There shall be a Board of Selectmen consisting of the First Selectman and six (6) others, hereinafter referred to as the Board of Selectmen, who shall be elected at each biennial election of the town. With the exception of the First Selectman, the Board of Selectmen shall serve without compensation except for reimbursement of actual expenses incurred in the performance of official duties, as authorized by said Board of Selectmen. The First Selectman may appoint members of the Board of Selectmen to serve as ex-officio, non-voting members of the several regular and special town boards, commissions, and agencies. Notification of any such appointment shall be filed in writing with any such board, commission or agency. Said ex-officio members shall be given reasonable notice to all meetings of the several regular and special town boards, commissions, and agencies by their chairmen or secretaries. No member of the Board of Selectmen, including the First Selectman, during the term of office for which elected and for one (1) year thereafter, shall be eligible for appointment to any salaried office or position of profit with the town.
With the First Selectman presiding, the Board of Selectmen shall meet on the first Monday in December 1993 and biennially thereafter on the first Monday in December for purposes of organization. At said organizational meeting the Board of Selectmen shall elect, from among their own members, a Deputy First Selectman who shall serve as acting First Selectman in accordance with the provisions of Section 803 of this Charter. The First Selectman shall preside over all meetings of the Board of Selectmen and perform such other duties consistent with his or her office as may be imposed by the Board of Selectmen. The Board of Selectmen may, at least once a year, call a general meeting of the chairmen of all town boards, agencies, commissions, and all other town officers. The purpose of these meetings shall be to coordinate the activities of all town officers, boards, agencies and commissions. At these meetings the chairmen of the various boards, agencies, and commissions, and town officers shall present a report of the activities of their board, agency, commission, or office. [Amended 11-5-2002]
At the first meeting of the Board of Selectmen following each biennial town election said Board of Selectmen shall fix the time and place of their regular meetings and provide a method for calling of special meetings, all such meetings to be held in accordance with the provisions of Section 1-21 of the General Statutes, as amended.[1] The Board of Selectmen shall, by resolution, determine its own rules of procedure. All meetings of the Board of Selectmen for the transaction of business shall be open to the public and shall afford to the electors of the town an opportunity to address to the Board of Selectmen with suggestions, petitions, and complaints. The votes of all meetings shall be recorded as prescribed by Section 1-21 of the General Statutes, as amended. Four (4) members of the Board of Selectmen shall constitute a quorum. Emergency ordinances, resolutions, or votes shall be adopted by affirmative vote of a majority of those members present. The Board of Selectmen shall appoint a qualified person who is not a member of the Board of Selectmen to serve as secretary of said board. Said secretary shall keep a public record of all proceedings of the Board of Selectmen, including all roll call votes, which shall be the official record of its proceedings. The record so kept shall be authenticated for each meeting by the signature of either the First Selectman or the Deputy First Selectman and said public record shall be kept in the office of the Board of Selectmen. The Board of Selectmen shall appoint an Auditing Committee consisting of not less than three (3) of their members whose duty it shall be to oversee and review all claims and charges against the town except those incurred by the Board of Education.
[1]
Editor's Note: See now C.G.S. § 1-225.
Except as otherwise specifically provided in this Charter, the Board of Selectmen shall have the powers and duties conferred by the Constitution and general laws of the state. The Board of Selectmen may recommend to the town meeting the creation, consolidation, or abolition of boards, commissions, departments, and offices and may recommend to a special town meeting the adoption of a proposed ordinance or the repeal of an existing ordinance. The Board of Selectmen may appoint, by resolution, special and temporary boards, commissions, and committees as it may deem necessary and appropriate; said special and temporary boards, commissions and committees shall terminate not later than one (1) year after their creation. Except as otherwise provided in this Charter, the Board of Selectmen may contract for services (Section 7-194 of the General Statutes, as amended). Said Board of Selectmen may regulate the internal operation of boards, commissions, and offices, which it fills by appointment, provided such regulatory resolutions are in accordance with the state statutes, including prescribing the manner in which minutes are filed, and notices of meetings and agendas are published. Said Board of Selectmen may fix the charges to be made for services rendered by the town. Said Board of Selectmen shall make all rules and regulations relating to purchasing and bidding procedures. Said Board of Selectmen shall present to the Board of Finance a program concerning municipal improvements of proposed capital projects for the ensuing fiscal year and for five (5) fiscal years thereafter. Estimates of the costs of such projects shall be submitted to the Board of Selectmen by each department, office, and agency annually by December 1, in the manner prescribed by the Board of Selectmen. No later than the last Tuesday in February in each year the Board of Selectmen shall recommend at a Board of Finance Meeting those projects to be undertaken during the ensuing fiscal year and a method of financing the same. The Board of Selectmen shall have the authority to accept, on behalf of the town, deeds conveying to the town interests in real estate for which the town pays consideration less than forty thousand dollars ($40,000), deeds for roads which have been approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission as part of a subdivision plan, and may accept and grant deeds for the purpose of establishing accurate road boundary lines or for the realignment of existing town roads. The Board of Selectmen shall determine and set all policies of the operation of the town not specifically granted to another board or commission by statute or this Charter and shall develop and shall annually review and modify as needed, goals to be accomplished over the next five (5) years. [Amended 11-5-2002; 11-6-2007]
Except as otherwise specifically provided in this Charter, no ordinance shall be acted upon by the Board of Selectmen pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, or by the town meeting pursuant to the provisions of Chapter VII of this Charter, until and unless one public hearing on such ordinance shall have been held by said Board of Selectmen. Notice of such public hearing shall be given at least seven (7) days in advance by publication in a newspaper having general circulation in said town and by posting a notice in a public place. Copies of such proposed ordinance shall be made available for public inspection at the Town Clerk's office at least seven (7) days in advance of said public hearing. If substantive changes, as determined by the Town Attorney, are made in any such proposed ordinance subsequent to the public hearing required under the provisions of this section, a second public hearing shall be held on such proposed ordinance prior to final action by the town meeting. Every ordinance, after passage, shall be filed with the Town Clerk, and recorded, compiled, and published by him or her as required by law. Within ten (10) days after final passage the Town Clerk shall publish a legal notice in a newspaper, having general circulation within the town, announcing that the ordinance passed and that a copy of the full text is on file in the Town Clerk's office. Each ordinance, unless it shall specify a later date, shall become effective on the twenty-first day after such publication following its passage. [Amended 11-5-2002]
For the purpose of meeting a public emergency threatening the lives, health, or property of persons, the Board of Selectmen may enact emergency ordinances stating the facts constituting such public emergency which ordinances shall become effective immediately; and such ordinances shall be promulgated forthwith. No public hearing or notice of public hearing shall be required for any public emergency ordinance. Every such emergency ordinance, including any amendments thereto, shall automatically stand repealed at the termination of the sixty-first (61st) day following final passage of said ordinance, provided, however, that if action has been initiated on the same subject matter providing for a permanent ordinance under Section 605 of this chapter prior to such sixty-first (61st) day, then such emergency ordinance shall remain in full force and effect until final action is taken on said permanent ordinance.
The Board of Selectmen shall, by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the members present, have the power to investigate any and all offices, boards, commissions, and agencies of the town and for such purposes shall have the power to call witnesses to appear before said board to testify and to furnish documentation on any matter under investigation.
No member of the Board of Selectmen, except the First Selectman, shall give orders, either publicly or privately, to any administrative officer or employee as defined by Sections 803 and 1001 of this Charter, except that a properly constituted meeting of the Board of Selectmen may call before it any employee or officer for the purpose of information or investigation.