Town of Simsbury, CT Board of Selectmen and First Selectman or First Selectwoman

Section 401 General.

There shall be a Board of Selectmen, hereinafter referred to as the Selectmen, consisting of the First Selectman or First Selectwoman and five (5) other Selectmen. No more than four (4) members of the Board of Selectmen shall be members of the same political party. With the exception of the First Selectman or First Selectwoman, all Selectmen or Selectwomen shall serve without compensation except for reimbursement of actual expenses incurred in the performance of official duties, as authorized by the Selectmen. The First Selectman or First Selectwoman shall appoint members of the Board of Selectmen, which may include the First Selectman or First Selectwoman, to serve as ex-officio, nonvoting members of the several regular and special Town boards, commissions, and agencies. No member of the Board of Selectmen, including the First Selectman or First Selectwoman, during the term of office for which he or she has been elected and for one (1) year thereafter, shall be eligible for appointment to any salaried office or position of profit with the Town which has been created or established during his or her term of office.

Section 402 Presiding officer, organization and procedure.

With the First Selectman or First Selectwoman presiding, the Selectmen shall meet after each municipal election on the first Monday in December for purposes of organization. At the organization meeting, the First Selectman or First Selectwoman shall appoint, from among the members of the Board of Selectmen, a Deputy First Selectman or Deputy First Selectwoman who shall serve as Acting First Selectman or First Selectwoman in accordance with the provisions of Section 411 of this Charter. At the biennial meeting of the Board of Selectmen, the Board shall, by resolution, fix the time and place of its regular meetings and provide a method for calling of special meetings, all such meetings to be held in accordance with the provisions of Section 1-225 of the General Statutes. The First Selectman or First Selectwoman shall file with the Town Clerk, not later than the time required by Section 1-225 of the General Statutes, the schedule of regular meetings of the Selectmen for the ensuing year. The First Selectman or First Selectwoman shall appoint members of the Board of Selectmen to the following committees: public safety, personnel subcommittee, finance, welfare, and such other committees as may be established by the Board of Selectmen. The First Selectman or First Selectwoman shall preside over all other meetings of the Selectmen and perform such other duties consistent with the office as may be imposed by the Selectmen. The Board of Selectmen shall, by resolution, determine its own rules of procedure. All meetings of the Selectmen for the transaction of business except executive sessions as defined in Subsection (6) of Section 1-200 of the General Statutes shall be open to the public and shall afford to the Electors of the Town an opportunity to address to the Selectmen suggestions, petitions and complaints. The Board of Selectmen may convene in executive session in accordance with Section 1-225 of the General Statutes upon an affirmative vote of two-thirds (2/3) of the members of such body present and voting. The votes of all meetings shall be recorded as prescribed by Section 1-225 of the General Statutes. Four (4) members of the Board of Selectmen shall constitute a quorum. No ordinance, including an emergency ordinance, shall be adopted by the Selectmen by fewer than four (4) affirmative votes. Except as specifically otherwise provided in Sections 406, 503, 602, 803, 809, 810 and 1008 of this Charter or as specifically directed by statute, any other action, including any resolution, may be adopted by an affirmative vote of a majority of those Selectmen present, provided those present constitute a quorum.

Section 403 General powers and duties.

The Board of Selectmen shall have all the powers and duties hereinafter conferred upon the Selectmen and all those powers and duties which, on the effective date of this Charter were conferred by law upon Boards of Selectmen, except as otherwise specifically provided in this Charter. The legislative authority of the Town shall be vested, except as otherwise specifically provided in Section 409 of this Charter, exclusively in the Board of Selectmen. The Selectmen shall have the power to enact, amend, or repeal ordinances not inconsistent with the provisions of this Charter or the General Statutes, and may by ordinance create, consolidate or abolish boards, commissions and offices not specifically authorized in this Charter, provided further that nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit the Board of Selectmen from appointing, by resolution, special or temporary boards, commissions, or committees as it may from time to time deem necessary and appropriate to the operation of the Town government, but in such event, the term of any such special or temporary boards, commissions, or committees shall not exceed two (2) years, and shall be coterminous with the appointing Board of Selectmen. Except as otherwise provided in the Charter, the Selectmen may contract for services and the use of facilities with the United States Government or any agency thereof, or may, by agreement, join with any such political subdivisions to provide services and facilities in accordance with the applicable provisions of the General Statutes, and the Selectmen shall exercise and discharge the powers and duties of the Flood and Erosion Control Board and may assign such duties to the Zoning Commission, Planning Commission and Inland/Wetlands Commission for planning and enforcement purposes as the Board of Selectmen deems appropriate. The Board of Selectmen is authorized to apply for and accept on behalf of the Town, state or federal grants. The Board of Selectmen is authorized, in adopting ordinances, to incorporate any nationally recognized code, rules or regulations which have been published, or any code officially adopted by any administrative agency of the state, or any portion thereof, by reference thereto in such ordinance provided, upon adoption of any such ordinance wherein any such code, rules or regulations or portions thereof have been incorporated by reference. There shall be maintained two (2) copies of such code, rules or regulations in the office of the Town Clerk for examination by the public. The Selectmen may fix the charges, if any, to be made for services rendered by the Town or for the execution of powers vested in the Town as provided in Chapter I of this Charter.

Section 404 Public hearing on and publication of ordinances.

Except as otherwise specifically provided in this Charter, no ordinance shall be acted upon by the Selectmen pursuant to the provisions of this chapter until and unless one (1) public hearing on such ordinance shall have been held by the Selectmen. Notice of such public hearing shall be given by the Board of Selectmen at least seven (7) days in advance by publication in a newspaper having general circulation in the 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 Selectmen. Every ordinance, after passage, shall be filed by the Town Clerk, and recorded, compiled and published as required by law. Within ten (10) days after final passage, each ordinance so passed shall be published once in its entirety or in summary form as authorized in General Statutes Section 7-157 in a newspaper having general circulation within the Town. Each ordinance, unless it shall specify a later date, shall become effective on the twenty-first day after such publication following its passage.

Section 405 Emergency ordinances.

For the purpose of meeting a public emergency threatening the lives, health or property of persons, emergency ordinances stating the facts constituting such public emergency 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 day following final passage of the ordinance; provided, however, that if action has been initiated on the same subject matter providing for a permanent ordinance under Section 404 of this chapter prior to such sixty-first day, then such emergency ordinance shall remain in full force and effect until final action is taken on the permanent ordinance.

Section 406 Automatic referendum.

The adoption of the Budget and any matter which involves an expenditure amount in excess of two percent (2%) of the annual budget for the then current fiscal year or Town Meeting action initiated under Section 409 and which involves an amount in excess of one percent (1%) of the annual budget for the then current fiscal year shall be subject to an automatic referendum by all qualified voters of the Town of Simsbury on a date set by the Board of Selectmen. In the case of the automatic referendum for adoption of the budget, the referendum shall be held from fourteen (14) to twenty-one (21) days following the filing of the budget with the Town Clerk in accordance with Section 808. The polls in such referendum shall be open between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. Any motion at a Board of Selectmen Meeting dealing with a referendum matter which seeks to reduce the amount of such referendum matter shall require a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the Board of Selectmen.

Section 407 Power of initiative: ordinances proposed to Board of Selectmen.

The Electors of the Town shall have the power to propose ordinances or to propose the repeal of existing ordinances in the following manner:

(a)

A petition may be filed by any Elector of the Town with the Town Clerk and, except as otherwise provided herein, such petition shall conform to the requirements of Sections 7-9 and 7-9a of the General Statutes;

(b)

The petition shall contain the full text of the ordinance proposed or of the ordinance proposed to be repealed and shall be signed in ink or indelible pencil by qualified Electors of the Town equal in number to at least five percent (5%) of the total Electors of the Town as determined from the latest official lists of the Registrars of Voters;

(c)

The petition shall be accompanied by affidavits signed and sworn to or affirmed before a notary public, justice of the peace, commissioner of the superior court or other person authorized to administer oaths or affirmations pursuant to Sections 1-24 or 1-24a of the General Statutes by each circulator as provided in said Section 7-9;

(d)

The Town Clerk shall determine whether the petition and affidavits are sufficient as prescribed by law, shall keep a cumulative count of the number of signatures filed with each page of the petition, and within seven (7) business days after receipt of the page bringing the number of valid signatures included in the petition to the number required by Subsection (b) of this section, shall so certify to the Board of Selectmen; no signatures submitted more than thirty (30) days after the submission of the first page of the petition shall be counted by the Town Clerk as prescribed herein; if upon such thirtieth (30th) day the petition remains insufficient, it shall have no force or effect;

(e)

If the Selectmen fail to adopt, without any substantive change, an ordinance so proposed, or fail to repeal an ordinance proposed for repeal within thirty (30) days after a petition making such a proposal shall have been certified to the Selectmen as provided herein, a second petition may be filed within thirty (30) days of the end of the period in which the Selectmen have to act on the proposed ordinance by any Elector of the Town with the Town Clerk in accordance with the provisions outlined in Subsections (a), (b), (c) and (d) of this section;

(f)

Upon receipt of the certification by the Town Clerk of the second petition, the Selectmen shall call a special Town referendum, at which referendum all Electors of the Town as determined from the latest official lists of the Registrars of Voters shall be eligible to vote, to be held within sixty (60) days after the certification of such second petition; provided, however, if a regular election, as defined by Section 9-1 of the General Statutes, shall occur within ninety (90) days of the certification of such second petition, such proposed ordinance shall be placed on the ballot at the regular election; the polls in any special Town referendum called pursuant to this section shall be open between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.;

(g)

Such proposed ordinance shall become effective, or such ordinance proposed for repeal shall be deemed repealed, upon approval by a majority of those Electors voting thereon, provided such number of Electors approving said ordinance is equal to at least ten percent (10%) of the total Electors of the Town, as determined from the latest official lists of the Registrars of Voters.

The ordinance shall become effective on the twenty-first day after publication in accordance with the provisions of Section 404 of this chapter; provided, however, that the ordinance shall be considered approved upon certification of the results of the voting thereon regardless of any defect in the petition submitted in accordance with the provisions herein. No ordinance which shall have been adopted or repealed by referendum in accordance with the provisions of this section may be repealed, amended or reenacted by the Board of Selectmen during its then current term of office.

Section 408 Power of overrule: ordinances adopted by Board of Selectmen.

All ordinances adopted by the Board of Selectmen pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, except emergency ordinances adopted in accordance with the provisions of Section 405 of this chapter, shall be subject to overrule by a special Town referendum in the following manner:

(a)

If, within fifteen (15) days after the publication of any such ordinance, a petition conforming to the requirements of Sections 7-9 and 7-9a of the General Statutes and signed in ink or indelible pencil by qualified Electors of the Town equal in number to at least five percent (5%) of the total Electors of the Town as determined from the latest official lists of the Registrars of Voters, is filed with the Town Clerk requesting its reference to the Town voters at a special referendum, the effective date of such ordinance shall be suspended;

(b)

(c)

(d)

If, within thirty (30) days of the certification of the petition by the Town Clerk, the Selectmen fail to repeal such ordinance, they shall then fix the time and place of such special referendum, at which referendum all Electors of the Town as determined from the latest official lists of the Registrars of Voters shall be eligible to vote, which shall be held within forty-five (45) days of the end of the period in which the Selectmen have to reconsider such ordinance, and notice thereof shall be given in the manner provided by law for the calling of a Town referendum; provided, however, if a regular election, as defined by Section 9-1 of the General Statutes shall occur within ninety (90) days of the end of the period in which the Selectmen have to reconsider the ordinance, such proposed overrule action shall be placed on the ballot at the regular election. The polls in any special Town referendum called pursuant to this section shall be open between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.

An ordinance so referred shall take effect upon the conclusion of such referendum unless a majority of those persons voting thereon, such majority being equal to at least ten percent (10%) of the qualified Electors of the Town, as determined from the latest official lists of the Registrars of Voters, shall have voted in favor of overruling such ordinance, and in such event said ordinance so referred shall be deemed null, void and repealed upon the conclusion of such referendum.

Section 409 Power of initiative: Town Meeting legislative action.

(a)

The Electors of the Town shall have the power to require a call of a Town Meeting pursuant to the procedures set forth in Chapter 90 of the General Statutes not inconsistent with this Charter for the following purposes:

(1)

The authorization of bonds and all other forms of financing, the term of which is in excess of one (1) year;

(2)

Any appropriations supplemental to those provided in the annual budget other than those which may be authorized by the Board of Finance pursuant to Section 809 of this Charter;

(3)

Authorization of any sale of real estate involving a sale price in excess of one percent (1%) of the annual budget for the then current fiscal year;

(4)

Authorization of acceptance of state or federal grants for an amount in excess of one percent (1%) of the annual budget for the then current fiscal year;

(5)

The creation of any permanent board, commission, or agency not otherwise provided for in this Charter;

(6)

Real estate leases and/or lease options to which the Town is party, which involve a term in excess of ten (10) years; or which involve a financial obligation of the Town over the term of the lease in excess of one percent (1%) of the annual budget for the then current fiscal year.

(7)

Proposals for municipal improvements disapproved by the Town Planning Commission pursuant to the provisions of Section 8-24 of the General Statutes.

(8)

Authorization of any purchase or acquisition of real estate valued in excess of one percent (1%) of the annual budget for the then current fiscal year.

(b)

A petition may be filed by any Elector of the Town with the Town Clerk and, except as otherwise provided herein, such petition shall conform to the requirements of Section 7-9 and 7-9a of the General Statutes;

(c)

The petition shall contain the full text of the call of the Town meeting proposed and shall be signed in ink or indelible pencil by qualified Electors of the Town equal in number to at least five percent (5%) of the total Electors of the Town as determined from the latest official lists of the Registrars of Voters;

(d)

(e)

(f)

Within thirty (30) days of the certification of the petition by the Town Clerk, the Selectmen shall then fix the time and place of such Town meeting, at which Town meeting all Electors of the Town as determined from the latest official lists of the Registrars of Voters shall be eligible to vote, which shall be held on the date fixed by the Selectmen but in no event shall such date be more than ninety (90) days of the certification and notice thereof shall be given in the manner provided by law for the calling of a Town meeting.

(g)

Any Town Meeting called for the purposes set forth in this Section 409 shall be the final legislative authority for the matters included in the call.

Section 410 Investigation.

The Board of Selectmen shall 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 the Board to testify and to furnish documentation on any matter under investigation; provided, a properly constituted meeting of the Board of Selectmen may call before it any employee or officer for the purpose of information or investigation.

Section 411 First Selectman or First Selectwoman.

At each municipal election a First Selectman or First Selectwoman shall be chosen by the Electors of the Town as provided in Chapter III of this Charter. The First Selectman or First Selectwoman shall be the chief elected officer of the Town and shall receive a stipend as established for each term of office by the Board of Selectmen in accordance with the Connecticut General Statutes. The First Selectman or First Selectwoman shall not receive any form of compensation or be eligible for any employee benefits as defined in the Town Personnel Rules, including but not limited to pension benefits, health care benefits, vacation, accrual of vacation, sick days, accrual of sick days, personal days or any other form of employee benefit.

The First Selectman or First Selectwoman shall be a full voting and participating member of the Board of Selectmen and shall preside, when present, at meetings of the Board.

The First Selectman or First Selectwoman shall chair the Board of Selectmen's Personnel Sub-Committee. The First Selectman or First Selectwoman or the designee of the First Selectman or First Selectwoman, as provided in Section 401 of this Charter, shall be an ex-officio member of all other Town boards, commissions and agencies, but without power to vote.

The First Selectman or First Selectwoman shall have all the powers, duties and responsibilities conferred or imposed on that office by the General Statutes or by Special Act except insofar as the same are inconsistent with the provisions of this Charter and perform such other duties consistent with his or her office as may be imposed by the Board of Selectmen. The Deputy First Selectman or Deputy First Selectwoman shall serve as acting First Selectman or First Selectwoman in the event of the temporary absence or temporary disability of the First Selectman or First Selectwoman.

Section 412 Directions to employees.

No members of the Board of Selectmen, including the First Selectman or First Selectwoman shall give orders, either publicly or privately, to any administrative officer or employee as defined by Sections 503 and 701 of this Charter.