No paid employee of the Town shall be eligible to hold any elective
office in the Town; nor shall any elective official of the Town be
eligible for appointment to or for the holding of any position as
a paid employee of the Town while serving as such elective official
or for one (1) year following the expiration of the term for which
he or she shall have been elected. For purposes of this section, paid
employees of the School Department shall be deemed to be paid employees
of the Town.
[Ref. of 11-7-1995]
The public shall be entitled to access to all records and proceedings of the Town government, including but not limited to those of the Town Council, boards and commissions, departments and offices, as the same are defined and set forth in State Law pertaining to open records, Title 38, Chapter 2. The types of records to which the public is entitled to access and the times, places and conditions under which such access shall be made available shall be as provided in said Title 38, Chapter 2, and as the same may be amended from time to time.
[Ref. of 11-7-1995; Ref.
of 11-5-2002]
There shall be maintained an up to date compilation of the ordinances
of the Town. Periodic revisions shall be prepared under the supervision
of the Town Clerk, but the Council may authorize the Town Clerk to
contract for the services of persons or organizations experienced
in the revision and codification of ordinances and statutes. Such
revisions shall be prepared sufficiently frequently that they contain
the text of newly enacted or revised ordinances no later than one
year following enactment or revision. At least once every ten years
the Town Council shall conduct a review of the town ordinances to
determine those that are still applicable and necessary with the first
review being completed by January 1, 2004.
[Ref. of 11-7-1995]
All elected and appointed officials of the Town, as the same are defined in State law, shall be subject to and comply with, the code of ethics legislation of the State as set forth in Title 36, Chapter 14, and in the regulations, rules and opinions promulgated by the Rhode Island Ethics Commission from time to time.
[Ref. of 11-7-1995; Ref.
of 11-5-2002]
This Charter may be amended at any time, or a new Charter adopted
in the manner provided by the State constitution. Within each ten
(10) year period commencing with November 1, 1985, the Town Council
shall appoint a Charter Review Commission consisting of nine (9) members,
the members of which to be chosen in the following manner: one member
shall be appointed by each of the seven members of the Town Council,
one member shall be appointed by the Mayor, and one member appointed
by the School Committee. No appointee to the Commission shall be a
current official of the Town of Cumberland. Each such Charter Review
Commission shall review the Charter as it then exists and propose
to the Council such amendments, if any, which it deems necessary and
advisable at which time the commission's term ends.
All fees, penalties and payments collected by Town officials
or agencies in their official capacities shall be deposited in the
general funds of the Town, and the compensation paid to each official
shall be in lieu of all fees, penalties and payments payable to such
official in the performance of his or her duties.
[Ref. of 11-7-1995]
Prior to the close of each fiscal year, the Town Council shall
retain the services of one or more independent certified public accountants
holding a certificate from the state of Rhode Island, or from any
other state with whom the State has a reciprocal relationship, to
make a detailed post audit of the financial records of the Town for
the preceding fiscal year in accordance with generally accepted auditing
standards, and in compliance with applicable provisions of State Law.
The report of the audit when presented to the Town shall be a public
record, duplicate copies of which shall be filed with the State Director
of Administration and with the State Auditor General.
Every officer of the Town shall, before entering upon the duties
of his or her office, take and subscribe to the following oath of
office or affirmation, to be filed and kept in the office of the Town
Clerk: "I solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the constitution
and obey the laws of the United States of America and the State of
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations; that I will in all respects
observe the provisions of the Charter and ordinances of the Town of
Cumberland and will faithfully discharge the duties of the office
of . . ."
[Ref. of 11-7-1995; Ref.
of 11-5-2002]
A.
Any person shall be disqualified as a candidate for elective or appointive
office in the Town, or from holding such office, if such elector has
been convicted of or plead nolo contendere to a felony or if such
elector has been convicted of or plead nolo contendere to a misdemeanor
resulting in a jail sentence of six months or more, either suspended
or to be served. Such elector shall not, once so convicted, attain
or return to any office until three years after the date of completion
of such sentence and of probation or parole. Any official of the Town
convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude or malfeasance or misfeasance
in office shall, upon the exhausting of any appeal from said conviction,
be deemed to have vacated his or her office.
If any section or part of a section of this Charter shall be
held invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, such holding shall
not affect the remainder of this Charter nor the context in which
such section or part of section so held invalid may appear, except
to the extent that an entire section or part of section may be inseparably
connected in meaning and effect with the section or part of section
to which such holding shall directly apply; and if any section or
part of section concerned with election procedures shall be held invalid
by such court, the pertinent election procedures set forth in the
law of the State of Rhode Island shall apply.
The electors of the Town may propose ordinances subject to referendum
in the following manner:
A.
Any elector of the Town may circulate a petition for the holding
of a referendum on any ordinance proposed by said elector. Said petition
must contain the valid signatures of at least four (4) percent of
the electors registered in the Town as of the last general election
for council candidates.
B.
The petition must be filed with the Town Clerk who shall transmit
said petition to the Canvassing Authority which shall verify the signatures
thereon. If the petition shall be certified by the Canvassers to contain
the valid signatures of at least four (4) percent of the electors
registered in the Town as of the last general election for council
candidates, it shall be returned to the Town Clerk.
C.
Upon receipt of such certification from the Canvassing Authority,
the Town Clerk shall provide for such proposal to be placed on the
ballot at the next general election for council candidates held in
the Town.
D.
Voter initiative laws which are approved by the voters shall not
be subject to a veto by the Mayor.
E.
The Town Council shall be prohibited from taking any action to amend
or repeal any ordinance passed through voter initiative for a period
of at least one year from the date of its approval by the voters.
[Ref. of 11-7-1995; amended 11-6-2018]
The following shall apply to all Town Boards, Committees and
Commissions with the exception of the Board of Canvassers and the
School Committee:
A.
The office of the member of any Board, Committee or Commission shall
be deemed to have been vacated if said member:
B.
All such bodies must meet at least twice each calendar year and submit
minutes and an annual report to the Mayor and Council.
[Ref. of 11-7-1995; Ref.
of 11-2-2010]
Whenever a new building or an addition to an existing building,
or any new public facility, including buildings and facilities for
the School Department, is to be constructed in the Town or elsewhere
for the Town, at a planned cost of more than two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars ($250,000.00), a building committee shall be appointed
which shall have the responsibility of planning and supervising the
construction thereof. In addition to new buildings or public facilities
or additions thereto, a building committee shall also be appointed
where renovations to existing buildings, public facilities or grounds
shall be in excess of the above amount. Any committee so formed shall
have said responsibilities whether or not the project consists of
one (1) phase or more than one (1) phase.
The Director of Public Works or his or her designee, and the
Director of the Town Department for which the building or facility
is to be constructed or his or her designee, shall be members of any
such committee ex officio. In addition, the Mayor shall appoint two
members, and the council shall appoint two members of such committee,
with preference given to the appointment of persons with engineering
training and/or experience in construction management. If the building
or facility to be constructed is for the use of the School Department,
the School Committee shall appoint one of its members to the committee
who shall, together with the Superintendent of Schools or his or her
designee, represent the School Department. Any such building committee
shall assume its duties immediately after the appropriation or acquisition
of funds for the preliminary planning of the building or facility,
and shall continue in office during its construction and until its
formal acceptance by the Town, or until discharged by the council.
[Ref. of 11-7-1995]
The Town Council, School Committee, and all Town departments,
agencies, commissions, committees, boards and council, and all subdivisions
thereof, shall conduct all business in accordance with the provisions
of the open meetings legislation of the State, Title 42, Chapter 46,
and as the same may be amended from time to time. Pursuant to said
legislation, the public shall have the right to attend all meetings
of such Town public bodies, subject only to the limitations specifically
allowed by law.
