A. 
The Town of Avon shall have all of the corporate powers of a body politic possible for a town to have under the Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as fully and completely as though they were specifically enumerated in the Code of General Bylaws.
B. 
All of the powers of the Town under the Code of General Bylaws shall be construed liberally in favor of the Town and no enumeration or omission contained herein shall in any way be construed as limiting the general powers stated in this Code of General Bylaws.
The following bylaws shall constitute the code of bylaws by which the Town of Avon shall be governed, elect officers and regulate the conduct of the inhabitants, and shall be in lieu of all other bylaws previously adopted and/or amended, with the exception of the Zoning Bylaw adopted May 17, 1977, and as amended, which shall remain in full force and effect.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 255, Zoning.
For the purpose of this bylaw, certain terms and words shall have the following meanings:
A. 
Words or phrases specifying or naming any officer, board, committee, or commission of the Town of Avon shall be construed as including the lawful successor of the person or persons having the powers and performing the duties of such officers, boards, committees, or commissions.
B. 
Except where the context forbids such construction, words in these bylaws importing the singular use will include the plural, and words importing the plural will include the singular, and words importing one gender shall include all genders and boards.
C. 
The word "owner" as applied to a building or land shall include any part owner, joint owner, tenant in common or joint tenant of the whole or part of such building or land.
D. 
The word "occupant" as applied to a building or land shall include any person who occupies the whole or part of such building or land, either alone or with others.
E. 
The word "person" shall include firms and corporations.
F. 
The word "officer" shall include officers and boards in charge of departments, and the members of such boards.
G. 
Words purporting to give a joint authority to three or more officers or other persons shall be construed as giving such authority to a majority of such officers or persons.
[Amended 1-28-2023 STM by Art. 9]
Any or all of these bylaws may be amended or repealed, or other bylaws may be adopted, at any Annual or Special Town Meeting by a majority vote of those voters in attendance. The Select Board may insert in the warrant of any Annual or Special Town Meeting an article to amend or repeal any or all of these bylaws or to adopt other bylaws or registered voters of the Town of Avon may petition the Town to amend or repeal any of these bylaws or to adopt other bylaws according to the provisions of MGL c. 39, § 10.
These bylaws shall not interfere with or annul any rule, regulation or permit of any Town officer, board, committee or commission, provided that, unless specifically excepted, where this bylaw is more stringent it shall control.
The invalidity of any section or provision of this bylaw shall not invalidate any other section or provision thereof.