The inhabitants of the Town of Derry shall continue to be a
body politic and corporate under the name of the "Town of Derry" and
as such to enjoy all the rights, immunities, powers and privileges
and be subject to all the duties and liabilities now appertaining
to or incumbent upon them as a municipal corporation. All existing
debts and obligations shall remain obligatory upon the Town under
this Charter.
Except as otherwise provided in this Charter, all powers of
the Town shall be vested in a Town Council.
The powers conferred under this Charter are to be construed liberally in favor of the Town, and the specific mention of particular powers is not intended to limit in any way the general powers of the Town as stated in Section 1.1.
Subject only to express limitations in the provisions of the
New Hampshire statutes, the Town may exercise any of its powers or
perform any of its functions under this Charter and may participate
in the financing thereof, jointly or in cooperation, by contract or
otherwise, with the State of New Hampshire or any political subdivision
or agency thereof, or the United States of America or any agency thereof.
The Town shall continue to be divided into four districts for
the purpose of electing Town Councilors from such districts. The boundaries
of the presently established districts shall remain as drawn until
boundaries are redrawn by the Town Council based on the decennial
census of the United States. So far as reasonably fair and practicable,
all districts shall be equal in population. The Town Council shall,
if necessary, adjust and establish new boundaries based on decennial
census data. The Town Council may establish its own rules and procedures
governing the conduct of redistricting. However, the Town Council
shall hold at least one public hearing concerning new district boundaries.
