[Adopted 5-1-2000 ATM, Art. 28[1]]
[1]
Editor’s Note: This Article took effect
on 9-7-2000 when the General Court approved the petition of the Town
to repeal Ch. 474, §§ 1 through 8 of the Acts of 1991, and
to adopt as a general bylaw various provision for the recall of elected
officials and board members.
Any holder of an elected office in the Town
of Brewster may be recalled therefrom by the registered voters of
the Town as hereinafter provided, for reason of lack of fitness, incompetence,
neglect of duties, corruption, malfeasance, misfeasance, or violation
of oath.
[Amended 11-13-2017 FYTM, Art. 13]
Any 25 registered voters of the Town of Brewster
may initiate a recall petition by filing with the Town Clerk an affidavit
containing the name of the officer sought to be recalled and a statement
of the grounds for recall. The Town Clerk shall thereupon deliver
to said voters making such affidavit copies of petition blanks demanding
such recall, printed copies of which the Town Clerk shall keep available.
Such blanks shall be issued by the Town Clerk, with his or her signature
and official seal attached thereto. They shall be dated, shall be
addressed to the Select Board, and shall contain the names of all
the persons to whom they are issued, the name of the person whose
recall is sought, the grounds of recall as stated in the affidavit,
and shall demand the election of a successor to such office. A copy
of the petition shall be entered in a record book to be kept in the
office of the Town Clerk. Said recall petition shall be returned and
filed with the Town Clerk within 20 days after notification by the
Town Clerk to the moving party that the affidavit has been certified
by the Registrars of the Voters, and shall have been signed by at
least 12% of the registered voters of the Town, who shall add to their
signatures the street and number, if any, of their residence. The
Town Clerk shall within one working day of receipt submit the petition
to the Registrars of Voters in the Town, and the Registrars shall
within 15 working days certify thereon the number of signatures which
are names of registered voters of the Town.
[Amended 11-13-2017 FYTM, Art. 13]
If the petition shall be found, and certified
by the Town Clerk to be sufficient, he or she shall submit the same
with the Town Clerk's certificate to the Select Board within three
working days, and the Select Board shall forthwith give written notice
of the receipt of the certificate to the officer sought to be recalled
and shall, if the officer does not resign within five days thereafter,
order an election to be held on a date fixed by them not less than
65 and not more than 90 days after the date of the Town Clerk's certificate
that a sufficient petition has been filed; provided, however, that
if any other Town election is to occur within 100 days after the date
of certification, the Select Board shall postpone the holding of the
recall election to the date of such other election. No person shall
be subject to recall if his or her term of office expires within 90
days of the certification. If a vacancy occurs in said office after
a recall election has been ordered, the election shall nevertheless
proceed as provided in this section.
An officer sought to be removed may be a candidate
to succeed himself or herself and unless he or she requests otherwise
in writing, the Town Clerk shall place his or her name on the ballot
without nomination. The nomination of other candidates, the publication
of the warrant for the removal election, and the conduct of same,
shall all be in accordance with the provisions of law relating to
elections.
The incumbent shall continue to perform the
duties of his or her office until the recall election. If then re-elected,
he or she shall continue in office for the remainder of his or her
unexpired term subject to recall as before, except as provided in
this article. If not re-elected in the recall election, he or she
shall be deemed removed upon the qualification of his or her successor,
who shall hold office during the unexpired term. If the successor
fails to qualify within five days after receiving notification of
his or her election, the incumbent shall thereupon be deemed removed
and the office vacant.
B.
Immediately at the right of each proposition there
shall be a square in which the voter, by making a cross mark (X) may
vote for either of the said propositions. Under the propositions shall
appear the word "Candidates," the directions to the voters required
by MGL c. 54, § 42, and beneath this the names of candidates
nominated in accordance with the provisions of law relating to election.
If a majority of the votes cast upon the question of recall is in
the affirmative, the candidate receiving the highest number of votes
shall be declared elected. If a majority of the votes on. the question
are in the negative, the ballots for candidates need not be counted.
No recall petition shall be filed against an
officer within 90 days after he or she takes office, nor, in the case
of an officer subjected to a recall election and not recalled thereby,
until at least six months after the election at which his or her recall
was submitted to the voters of the Town.
No person who has been recalled from an office
or who has resigned from office while recall proceedings were pending
against him or her, shall be appointed to any Town office within two
years after such recall or such resignation.
