All appointed Officers, Boards and Commissions shall have the powers and duties prescribed by the General Statutes and the Charter.
The Board of Selectmen shall appoint the following Officers, Boards and Commissions:
(a) Officers
Term
(if any, in years)
Animal Control Officer
Assessor
4
Building Inspector
4
Emergency Management Director
Fire Marshall
2
Tax Collector
2
Town Attorney
2
Tree Warden
1
(b) Boards and Commissions
Number of Members
Term
(in years)
Board of Ethics
5
2
Building Board of Appeals
5
5
Commission for Children and Youth
9 (including 2 students)
3
Commission for the Arts
7
2
Commission on Aging
7
2
Conservation Commission
7
4
Historic District Commission
5 (plus 3 alternates)
5
Library Board
9
4
Panel of Moderators
4
4
Parks and Recreation Commission
7
4
(a) 
The Board of Selectmen shall make the appointments described in Section 8.2 not later than (i) the December 31 following or coincident with the expiration of the applicable individual's term of office, or (ii) 60 days following the expiration of such term of office, whichever occurs sooner. Such appointees shall take office on the effective date of their appointment. The Board of Selectmen shall give Public Notice of the expiration of the term of office of any member of an appointed Board or Commission not less than 30 days prior to such expiration date.
(b) 
Except as otherwise provided by law, a Chairman and Vice-Chairman of each appointed Board or Commission shall be elected each year by the membership of that Board or Commission during the month of January; provided, however, that at no time shall any person be eligible to be elected as Chairman who has served in that office for eight or more successive years, and provided further that any newly constituted appointed Board or Commission shall elect a Chairman and Vice-Chairman by its second meeting.
(c) 
The meetings of appointed Boards and Commissions shall be conducted, and notice and minutes thereof shall be made available, in accordance with the provisions of the State Freedom of Information Act and otherwise in accordance with the General Statutes.
No more than a bare majority of any appointed Board or Commission shall consist of members of the same political party. For example, no more than three of the five members of the Board of Ethics can be members of the same political party. In addition, no more than a bare majority of alternate members of any appointed Board or Commission may be members of the same political party. Terms for members of Boards and Commissions shall continue to be staggered in the same manner as on the effective date of this amended and restated Charter.
(a) 
Vacancies in appointed Officers, Boards or Commissions shall be filled for the unexpired term by vote of the Board of Selectmen, unless otherwise provided in the statutes, ordinance or resolution creating the same. The Board of Selectmen shall give Public Notice of any such vacancy.
(b) 
Any appointed Official may be removed for (i) any of the reasons set forth in Section 7.7, or (ii) failure to attend three consecutively scheduled meetings of the Official's Board or Commission without having given the Chairman or Vice-Chairman of such entity prior notice of such absence with reasons therefor, so long as in either case the process for such removal mandated by Section 7.7 is adhered to. In addition, except as otherwise provided by law, any appointed Official (other than the Town Attorney (but see Section 8.6(a)(i), below)) may be removed from office or from membership on such Board, Commission or committee for any reason by the Board of Selectmen; provided that, if the individual is affiliated with a political party, an affirmative vote to remove such individual is cast by at least one Selectman who is of the same party as the person so removed.
(a) 
Town Attorney.
(i) 
The Town Attorney shall be an attorney at law admitted to practice law in the State. Unless otherwise provided in this Section 8.6(a), the Town Attorney shall appear for and protect the rights of the Town in all actions, suits, or proceedings brought by or against it or any of its Officials, Boards, Commissions or committees. The Board of Selectmen, in its discretion, may remove the Town Attorney and appoint a new Town Attorney.
(ii) 
The Town Attorney shall be the legal advisor to all Officers, Boards or Commissions in all matters affecting the Town and shall, upon prior written approval of the First Selectman, which shall not be unreasonably withheld, furnish them with an opinion on any questions of law submitted by such Officer, Board or Commission involving their respective powers and duties.
(iii) 
Upon request the Town Attorney shall prepare or approve forms of contracts or other instruments to which the Town is a party or in which it has an interest.
(iv) 
The Board of Selectmen shall have the right, with regard to any matter, to retain counsel other than the Town Attorney. The attorney so selected shall act at the direction of the Board of Selectmen. However, if the Board of Selectmen, or any Selectman, is an adversary party to the Town and/or any of its Officers, Boards, or Commissions, in that particular case, such counsel shall be appointed for the latter by the Board of Finance. The Town shall be under no obligation to supply counsel for any person with respect to any allegation of wrongdoing in office for personal gain or in the event that the Board of Selectmen is seeking to remove such person from office.
(b) 
Conservation Commission
The Conservation Commission shall be the Commission that implements "The Inland Wetlands and Water Courses Act" and all applicable regulations adopted pursuant thereto.
(c) 
Panel of Moderators
Each moderator shall be a Resident Elector and shall have a working knowledge of or a demonstrable ability to easily comprehend basic parliamentary procedure and specifically, Robert's Rules of Order. The Panel of Moderators shall draft a common set of procedures to be used at all Town Meetings, using Robert's Rules of Order as a guideline. This shall be called the "Weston Town Moderators Handbook." The Panel of Moderators may revise the Handbook from time to time.
(d) 
Tax Collector
(i) 
The office of Tax Collector shall remain an elected office until the biennial elections occurring in 2013.
(ii) 
In addition, not less than five percent of Qualified Voters may at any time file with the Town Clerk a petition that conforms to the requirements of Section 7-9 and 7-9a of the General Statutes requesting that a machine ballot be held to determine whether the position of Tax Collector should become an elected position under the Charter. If, however, such proposed action has been voted upon by machine ballot within the preceding three years, the Board of Selectmen, in its sole discretion, may reject such petition and not hold a machine ballot on this issue.
Unless the petition has been rejected pursuant to the foregoing provisions of this Section 8.6(d)(ii), the Board of Selectmen shall call a Special Town Meeting, to be held not less than ten nor more than thirty days after the date the petition was filed with the Town Clerk. After adequate discussion of this issue, the moderator shall adjourn the Town Meeting and the question of whether the Tax Collector shall be an elected position shall be submitted to the Qualified Voters, not less than seven days nor more than fourteen days thereafter, for a "yes" or "no" vote on the voting machines during the hours permitted by Section 7-7 of the General Statutes. If a majority of those voting vote "yes," the position of Tax Collector shall become an elected position, with a two-year term commencing upon the expiration of the term of office of the then Tax Collector, and the position of Tax Collector shall otherwise be subject to the provisions of Article 6 applicable to elected Officers, without further action of the Board of Selectmen; otherwise the position of Tax Collector shall remain an appointed office.
(a) 
The amount of compensation, if any, to be paid to appointed Officers shall be set as provided in General Statutes, applicable Special Acts, ordinances and resolutions, and in absence thereof, by the Board of Selectmen.
(b) 
If approved in advance by the First Selectman (or the First Selectman's designee), necessary non-budgeted expenses incurred by an appointed Officer or member of an appointed Board or Commission in connection with the performance of such Officer's or member's duties shall be paid by the Town upon the requisition of such Officer, Board or Commission in writing and approval of the Board of Selectmen.
(c) 
All fees, fines and levies of every kind paid to or on behalf of any appointed Officer, Board or Commission shall, to the extent not otherwise provided by General Statutes, applicable Special Acts, ordinances and resolutions, promptly be remitted to the Treasurer and added to the General Fund of the Town.