Any elected or appointed officer of any board or commission,
who has a financial or personal interest, direct or indirect, in any
contract, transaction or decision of the board or commission upon
which such person serves, shall disclose such interest to such board
or commission for recording upon its official records and any such
person shall be thereby disqualified from participation in the awarding,
assignment or deliberation of any such contract, transaction, or decision.
No Selectman or former Selectman elected after the effective
date of this Charter may be appointed to any compensated position
with the Town for a period of one year following his last day in office.
The Board shall appoint an Ethics Commission and shall maintain
and periodically review a Code of Ethics to govern the conduct of
elected and appointed officers, directors, employees, and board and
commission members of the Town.
(Amended November 3, 2020, effective December 3, 2020)
Unless otherwise provided, each incumbent member of a board,
commission or agency as of the effective date hereof shall continue
to hold the office or position to which elected or appointed until
succeeded by a duly qualified person. If such person is not so succeeded,
he shall serve no longer than the remainder of his unexpired term.
The Town Clerk shall notify in writing the members of elective
and appointive bodies that their successors have qualified as soon
as such determinations are made.
Officers of elective bodies shall be chosen at the first meeting
of such body held after the commencement of the term of members elected
at a regular biennial town election.
Powers and duties imposed by whatever source on boards, commissions
and agencies in existence before the effective date of this Charter
shall continue to reside in each such body unless it is abolished
or superseded by a newly-created body, in which event they shall cease
or be thereafter exercised and discharged by said new body. The Town
Clerk shall promptly notify in writing the members of such bodies
that successors have qualified.
Upon the qualification of a successor board, commission or agency,
all records, property and equipment whatsoever of such superseded
body shall be transferred and delivered intact to the successor body.
In the event of abolishment, such body, whether elective or
appointive, shall continue to perform its duties until provisions
have been made for the performance by other bodies or offices of the
Town. Records, property and equipment of abolished bodies shall be
transferred and delivered to the First Selectman.
All employees of the Town on the effective date of this Charter
shall retain such positions pending action by the Board or the appropriate
officer charged by this Charter with powers of appointment and removal.
Any provision of law in force at the time this Charter shall take
effect, and not inconsistent with the provisions of this Charter,
in relation to personnel, appointments, ranks, grades, tenure of office,
promotions, removals, pension and retirement rights, civil rights
or any other rights or privileges of employees of the Town or any
office, department or agency thereof, shall continue to be in effect,
until or unless amended or repealed in accordance with the provisions
of this Charter. Any employee holding a position as defined in this
Charter on its effective date, shall be retained without preliminary
or performance tests but shall thereafter be subject in all respects
to the provisions of the Charter.
No action or proceeding, civil or criminal, pending on the effective
date of this Charter brought by or against the Town or any commission,
board, department or officer thereof, shall be affected or abated
by the adoption of this Charter or by anything herein contained; but
all such actions or proceedings may be continued notwithstanding that
functions, powers and duties of any commission, board, department
or officer which shall have been a party thereto may, by or under
this Charter, be assigned or transferred to another commission, board,
department or the officer to which such functions, powers and duties
have been assigned or transferred by or under this Charter.
If any section or part of any 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 said section or part thereof so held invalid may appear, except
to the extent that an entire section or part of a section may be inseparably
connected in meaning and effect with the section or part of the section
to which such ruling shall directly apply.
This Charter may be amended in the manner prescribed by Chapter
99 in the General Statutes as amended from time to time. Any amendments
to this Charter shall be incorporated with the dates of their adoption.
This Charter shall become effective thirty days after ratification
by the electors of the Town to be held in the manner prescribed by
the General Statutes of the State.
