The legislative powers of the town shall be vested in the Town
Meeting.
The Annual Town Meeting shall be held on the first Monday of
October of each year unless changed by vote of a town meeting or by
referendum. Special meetings may be called by the Board of Selectmen,
in the manner provided by the General Statutes, whenever it deems
it necessary, or on a petition of not less than 100 electors, qualified
to vote at town meetings, such meetings to be held within 21 days
after such petition is received by the Selectmen. In order to expedite
the petition process and ensure due representation, the Town Clerk
shall provide the petitioner with guidelines.
The matters which the petitioners for a special town meeting
desire acted upon, if they are legally proper subjects for action
at a town meeting as determined by Town Counsel (at the request of
the Selectmen), shall be put in proper form for the call of a town
meeting and for a town meeting resolution with the assistance of the
Town Counsel, if or when necessary, and those matters shall come first
in the call of the meeting. The Board of Selectmen, at its discretion,
may add other matters to the call of the meeting.
Legal notice of all town meetings shall be placed in a newspaper
having circulation in Durham, and a copy posted on the bulletin board
at the Town Hall, at least five (5) days prior to date of meeting.
Warnings for town meetings shall be keyboarded and printed and a copy
shall be filed with the Town Clerk in the Town Meeting Record Book.
Warnings must contain place, date, and hour of meeting and list all
articles to be acted upon.
The First Selectman shall call the meeting to order at the advertised
time and the meeting shall choose a moderator. The Town Clerk or Assistant
Town Clerk shall serve as clerk. In their absence, the meeting shall
choose a clerk.
Electors of the town and other persons qualified to vote in
accordance with the General Statutes may vote at town meetings. Unless
otherwise required by this Charter, substantive town meeting action
shall be by majority vote of those present and voting. Town meetings
shall be conducted in accordance with procedures as set forth in the
General Statutes and in the manual entitled "The Connecticut Town
Meeting."
Adoption of the annual budget shall be by majority vote of those
qualified to vote at the Annual Budget Meeting. The meeting shall
have the power to decrease or delete any appropriation or item in
an appropriation, but it may not increase or add to any appropriation
or item in an appropriation, or make any appropriation for a purpose
not recommended by the Board of Finance.
The Annual Budget Meeting shall be held at least 30 days prior
to the end of the fiscal year. Said date shall be set at the Annual
Town Meeting of the prior year or at a special town meeting.
Per Section
5.1.9 of this Charter, a special appropriation and a payment into or appropriation from the reserve fund for capital and nonrecurring expenditures, requiring town meeting approval, may be decreased by the town meeting but may not be increased. A town meeting may make no special appropriation or transfer of funds not recommended by the Board of Finance.
Subject to the provisions of Section
3.7 of this Charter, the discontinuance of roads by the town, the sale or other disposition of real estate of the town used or reserved for town purposes, and except as provided in Section
4.6, the purchase or other acquisition of real estate for such purposes, shall require approval of a town meeting. The sale of real estate not used or reserved for town purposes shall be in accordance with an ordinance adopted by town meeting.
Any action of the town requiring 1) a special appropriation
or the borrowing of $100,000 or more, or 2) the acquisition or taking
of any property through Eminent Domain proceedings shall be the subject
of a referendum conducted according to the General Statutes.