The legislative powers of the Town shall be vested in a town
meeting open to all registered voters.
All sessions of town meeting will be presided over by a Moderator elected as provided in Article
3. Annually, at the Annual Town Meeting the Moderator will appoint a Deputy Moderator subject to ratification by the Town Meeting. The Deputy Moderator shall serve as acting Moderator in the temporary absence or disability of the Moderator. The Deputy Moderator shall while presiding at Town Meeting sessions have all the powers and duties of the Moderator but shall have no other powers or duties of the Moderator. In the absence of the Moderator and the Deputy Moderator the Town Clerk will act as Moderator until Town Meeting elects an Acting Moderator, Article
3, Section
3-4.
The Moderator shall regulate the proceedings, decide all questions
of order, make public declaration of all votes, and exercise all the
powers and duties given to Moderators under the Constitution and the
laws of the Commonwealth. Additional powers and duties may be authorized
by this Charter, by By-law, or by other vote of town meeting.
The Annual Town Meeting shall be held on such date or dates
as may from time to time be fixed by By-law.
Special Town Meetings shall be held at the call of the Board
of Selectmen at such times as they deem necessary, or desirable, in
order to transact the legislative business of the Town in an orderly
manner. Special Town Meetings may also be held on the petition of
two hundred (200) or more registered voters, in accordance with the
procedures made available by the laws of the Commonwealth.
Every Town Meeting shall be called by a Warrant issued by the
Board of Selectmen which shall state the time and place at which the
meeting is to convene and, by separate Articles, the subject matter
to be acted upon. The publication and posting of the Warrant for every
Town Meeting shall be in accordance with Town By-law.
Every town agency shall designate at least one representative
to attend all sessions of Town Meeting at which Warrant Articles pertinent
to that agency are or may be taken up, for the purpose of providing
information to the meeting pertinent to the Articles. If a person
designated as a representative is not a town resident, they shall
notwithstanding, be allowed to speak to provide the meeting with pertinent
information.
The Town clerk shall serve as clerk of the Town Meeting, recording
all votes and shall preserve as public records all proceedings of
the Town Meeting sessions, give notice of all adjourned sessions thereof,
and perform such duties in connection therewith as may be provided
by town by-law, this charter, or the laws of the Commonwealth.
If at a Town Meeting the office of Town Clerk is vacant, the
Moderator shall appoint a clerk pro tempore. In the event of the unavoidable
absence of the Town Clerk, the Town Clerk shall designate a substitute,
if the Town Clerk fails to name a substitute, then the Moderator shall
also be empowered to appoint a clerk pro tempore.
The Town Meeting shall be run in accordance with the accepted
edition of the book "Town Meeting Time."
Town Meeting may by By-law, establish and from time to time
amend, revise or repeal, rules governing Town Meeting. A procedural
change would become effective in governing the next Annual and succeeding
Town Meetings following the procedural change.