This charter may be replaced, revised or amended under any procedure made available under the Massachusetts constitution or by statute, including but not limited to MGL, Ch 43b, section 10a.
The provisions of this charter are severable. If any provision of this charter is held invalid the other provisions shall not be affected thereby. If the application of this charter, or any of its provisions, to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the application of the charter and its provisions to other persons and circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
To the extent that any specific provision of this charter shall conflict with any provision expressed in general terms, the specific provision shall prevail.
A copy of all rules and regulations adopted by any municipal agency shall be placed on file in the office of the city clerk and shall be available for review by any person who requests such information at any reasonable time. No rule or regulation adopted by any municipal agency shall become effective until five (5) days after the date it is so filed. All rules and regulations which have finally been adopted shall be promptly posted on the municipal website.
By March first of every year ending in zero (0), the municipality shall appoint a charter review committee to review the Framingham Home Rule Charter and make report and recommendations to voters for changes to it. The committee shall consist of eleven (11) members: three (3) residents selected by the council, three (3) residents selected by the school committee, and five (5) residents appointed by the mayor. All appointees shall be voters but shall not be elected officials or employees of the municipality including school employees, provided however that volunteer, unpaid members of multiple-member bodies are eligible to serve on the charter review committee.
In the fiscal year prior to the charter review, the municipality shall plan to appropriate funds adequate to provide for professional assistance, public engagement, and community education for the committee's review.
The mayor, council, and school committee each shall designate a liaison to the committee to provide information and input to the committee throughout the charter review process.
The city clerk or the citizen participation officer or their designee shall convene the first meeting no later than April 1st or as soon as practical after a quorum of the committee has been appointed, whichever is later. The committee shall organize by electing from among their number a person to serve as the chair, a person to serve as a vice-chair, and a person to serve as clerk.
After a public hearing, the committee shall file its report and recommendations with the secretary of the council fifteen (15) months after the committee's first meeting or by the last day of June in the year following the year the committee is appointed, whichever is later.
The council shall have the power to accept, reject, or take any other action not contrary to state law on the individual recommendations of the charter review committee. The council shall take action on the recommendations by the first meeting in September of the council; after that date, no other business shall be in order until the report has been acted upon, by roll call vote.
Not later than the first day of July, at 5-year intervals, in each year ending in a five (5) or in a zero, the mayor and council shall provide for a review to be made of the ordinances of the municipality for the purpose of preparing a proposed revision or recodification of them, without substantive change. This review shall be made by a special committee to consist of nine (9) members, four (4) of these members shall be appointed by the council and five (5) of the members shall be appointed by the mayor. Two (2) of the persons appointed by the council shall be councilors and the remaining members shall be residents of the municipality. The special committee shall file its report with the secretary of the council, not later than the first day of May in the year following the year in which the committee is appointed. The recommendations of the special committee shall appear on the council agenda for action before the fifteenth day of June in that year and, if not so scheduled by the secretary of the council, the matter shall come before the council for action at its next meeting held following the said fifteenth day of June, and no other business shall be in order until the report has been acted upon, by roll call vote.
The review of ordinances shall be under the supervision of the city solicitor. A revision, recodification or republication of the ordinances shall be made at 5-year intervals. Copies of the revision, recodification or republication shall be made available to the public at a cost not to exceed the actual cost of such reproduction. In each year between such reenactments, an annual supplement shall be prepared which shall contain all ordinances and amendments to ordinances adopted in the preceding year.
a) 
Meetings: All multiple-member bodies of the municipality, whether elected, appointed or otherwise constituted, shall meet regularly at such times and places as they may, by their own rules prescribe, unless some other provision is made by ordinance or by law. Special meetings of any multiple-member body shall be held on the call of the chair or by one-third (1/3) of the members thereof by written notice delivered in hand to each member or to the place of residence of each member at least forty eight (48) hours in advance of the time set, which shall contain notice of the subjects to be acted upon. A copy of the notice shall also be posted on the municipal bulletin board. Except as may otherwise be authorized by law, all meetings of all multiple-member bodies shall at all times be open to the public.
b) 
Rules: Each multiple-member body shall determine its own rules and order of business unless another provision is made by this charter, ordinance or by law, and shall provide for keeping of the minutes of its proceedings. These rules shall be a public record and copies shall be placed on file in the office of the city clerk and posted on the municipal bulletin board.
c) 
Voting: If requested by any member, any vote of any multiple-member body shall be taken by a call of the roll and the vote of each member shall be recorded in the meeting minutes, but if the vote is unanimous, only that fact need be recorded, unless otherwise required by law.
d) 
Quorum: A majority of the members of a full multiple-member body shall constitute a quorum. Unless some other provision is made by law, by ordinance or by the multiple-member body's own rules while a quorum is present, except on procedural matters, a majority of the full membership of the body shall be required to adopt any vote representing an exercise of the powers of the multiple-member body.
e) 
Transparency and Accessibility:
i. 
All meeting materials to be considered by a public body (except for executive sessions) shall be provided for the public in advance of the meeting to access on a municipal website in a centralized location for all public bodies.
ii. 
The meeting minutes should be posted on the municipal website in a centralized location for all public bodies, consistent with the open meeting law and local ordinances.
iii. 
All executive session minutes should be posted on the municipal website in a centralized location as soon as practical and may have redactions consistent with open meeting law and local ordinances.
iv. 
All meetings (except for executive sessions) should be recorded by captioned video or audio, with the files or links to the recordings posted in a centralized location on a municipal website.
v. 
As much as possible, all meetings and materials should be linked to translation and adaptive technology to reduce language and accessibility barriers.
vi. 
This section shall also apply to the council, school committee and their respective subcommittees.
Words importing the singular number may extend and be applied to several persons or things; words importing the plural number may include the singular. Any reference to the masculine gender is intended to include the feminine, and any reference to the feminine gender is intended to include the masculine.
All references to General Laws contained in the charter refer to the General Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and are intended to refer to and to include any amendments or revisions to those chapters or sections or to the corresponding chapters and sections of any rearrangement, revision or recodification of such statutes enacted or adopted subsequent to the adoption of this charter.
In computing time under this charter, the day of the act or event after which the designated period of time begins to run shall not be included. The last day of the period shall be included, unless it is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, in which event the period shall be extended to the next day which is not a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday. When the period of time designated is less than seven (7) days, intermediate Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays shall not be included; when the period is seven (7) days or more, every day shall be counted.
Elected officials shall, on the first day in January of each even-numbered year, meet and be sworn to the faithful discharge of their duties. The oath may be administered to the mayor by the city clerk, or by a judge of a court of record, or by a justice of the peace or by a Massachusetts Constitutional Officer. The oath may be administered to other elected officials by the mayor, after the mayor has been duly sworn, or by any of the above-named officials. A certificate that said oath or oaths have been taken shall be entered in the meeting minutes of the council.
In case of the absence of an elected official on the day the oath of office is administered, the oath may at any time thereafter be administered to that person. A certificate of each oath subsequently administered shall be entered in the meeting minutes of the council.
After the oath has been administered to the councilors present, they shall organize by electing from among their number a person to serve as the chair and a person to serve as the vice-chair, as provided in Article II, section 2. If the city clerk is unable to preside during this election, the council member senior in years of service on the council shall preside during the election. If two or more members are equally senior in years of service on the council, the member senior both in years of service and age shall preside. The chair and vice-chair shall be sworn by the city clerk, or, in the case of the absence of the city clerk, by any person qualified to administer oaths or affirmations.
After the oath has been administered to the school committee members present, they shall organize by electing from among their number a person to serve as the chair and a person to serve as the vice-chair, as provided in Article IV. If the city clerk is unable to preside during this election, the member senior in years of service on the school committee shall preside during the election. If two or more members are equally senior in years of service on the school committee, the member senior both in years of service and age shall preside. The chair and the vice-chair shall be sworn by the city clerk, or, in the case of the absence of the city clerk, by any person qualified to administer oaths or affirmations.
Every person who is elected, including those elected by the council, or appointed to an office of the municipality, shall receive a certificate of such election or appointment from the city clerk. Except as otherwise provided by law, every person who is elected, including those elected by the council, or appointed to an office of the municipality, before performing any act under such appointment or election, shall take and subscribe to an oath to qualify to enter upon the duties of the office. A record of this oath shall be kept by the city clerk and shall be open to the inspection of the public.
a) 
No person shall simultaneously hold more than one full-time municipal office or position of employment. Any hours worked in any part-time position shall not be the same or otherwise conflict with the hours worked in another part-time position or a full-time position.
b) 
No member elected to an office in Framingham may simultaneously hold another elective office. At the time of enactment of this prohibition from holding and serving in two elective officers, any official serving in more than one elected role shall fulfill the elected terms to which the official was elected, but shall thereafter be bound by the terms herein.
It shall be the duty of the mayor to see that the provisions of the charter are faithfully followed and that all municipal agencies and municipal employees are in compliance with its provisions. In the annual report, the mayor shall provide an analysis of overall compliance with the provisions of this charter.
Whenever it appears to the mayor that any municipal agency or municipal employee is failing to follow any provision of this charter, the mayor shall, in writing, cause notice to be given to that agency or employee directing compliance with the charter. If it shall appear to the council that the mayor personally is not following the provisions of the charter, it shall, by resolution, direct the attention of the mayor to those areas in which it believes that there is a failure to comply with charter provisions. The procedures made available in General Laws chapter 231A may be used to determine the rights, duties, status or other legal relations arising under this charter, including any question of construction or validity which may be involved in such determination.
Whenever a vacancy occurs, or is about to occur, in any municipal employment, except for positions covered by the civil service law, the appointing authority shall immediately cause public notice of the vacancy, or impending vacancy, to be posted on the municipal bulletin board for a period of not less than fourteen (14) days. Any person who desires to be considered for employment may file with the appointing authority a statement in clear and specific terms setting forth the person's qualifications for the position. No permanent employment shall be effective until at least fourteen (14) days have elapsed following the posting.
No elected official other than the mayor shall be eligible to participate in the municipality's group health insurance, life insurance, or other benefit programs.
No candidate for public office, elected public official, division head or department director shall have a financial interest, direct or indirect, in any contract made by the municipality.
a) 
Every candidate for mayor, councilor or school committee member, or elected mayor, councilor or school committee member, or the superintendent of schools, chief financial officer, chief procurement officer, chief operating officer, public works director, or any other municipal officers as may from time to time be designated by ordinance, shall file a statement of financial interest for the preceding calendar year with the city clerk on or before the date on which a certificate of nomination or nomination papers for such candidate are due. Collectively, this group of municipal officers shall be referred to as Designated Municipal Officers for purposes of this section. This provision shall also apply to any individual serving as a Designated Municipal Officer within thirty (30) days of his or her initial appointment; for incumbent Designated Municipal Officer such statement shall be due on May first of each year. After such initial filing, any Designated Municipal Officers, shall file on or before May first of the year. Such persons ceasing to be a Designated Municipal Officer shall be required to file if still in office for any part of the calendar year for which statements are due. All statements are to be submitted to said city clerk.
Every candidate for mayor, council or school committee who has not filed nomination papers with the city clerk, but on whose behalf a statement of organization of a political committee has been filed, and who is seeking public office by the so-called "write in" or "sticker" method, shall within three days after such filing, file a statement of financial interest with the city clerk. No elected Designated Municipal Officer shall be required to file a statement of financial interests for any year in which such officer ceased to be a Designated Municipal Officers if such officer served less than thirty days in such year.
b) 
No candidate for mayor, councilor or school committee member shall be eligible to run for such public office or no presently serving such elected official be able to continue to serve in public office unless such person has filed a statement of financial interests with the city clerk as required by this section. A vacancy in said public office shall be declared thirty (30) days after final notice has been given in accordance with this section by the city clerk to a person currently holding office in violation of this section.
c) 
No division head shall be allowed to continue in such division head's duties or to receive compensation from public funds unless such division head has filed a statement of financial interests with the city clerk as required by this section.
d) 
The city clerk shall, upon receipt of a statement of financial interests pursuant to the provisions of this section, issue to the person filing such statement a receipt verifying the fact that a statement of financial interests has been filed and a copy of such statement clearly indicating receipt by the city clerk.
e) 
The statement of financial interests filed pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be on a form prescribed by the city clerk that shall be substantially similar to that required by the State Ethics Commission in accordance with the general laws and shall be signed under penalty of perjury by the person filing the statement.
f) 
Nothing in this section shall be construed to require the disclosure of information which is privileged by law.
g) 
Failure of a Designated Municipal Officers to file a statement of financial interests within ten days after receiving notice of said failure or of the filing of an incomplete statement of financial interests, shall be found in violation of this section.
h) 
The mayor shall propose to the council an ordinance to implement this section of the charter.
Framingham property, real and personal, shall only be dedicated or named by majority vote of the full council upon a recommendation of the mayor, except in the case of school property which shall only be dedicated or named by majority vote of the full school committee. Officers or multiple-member bodies may make recommendations from time to time to the mayor regarding the naming of property within the control of said officer, committee, board, or commission's control. However, the school committee shall hold at least one public hearing on any proposal to name or rename a property before voting on such a matter.