[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town of Falmouth
Annual Town Meeting 2-11-1925, Art. 92; amended STM 8-25-1932, Art. 17; STM 10-18-1939, Art. 7; ATM 2-12-1946, Art. 48;
ATM 2-13-1948, Art. 28; ATM 2-11-1955, Arts. 111, 112 and 113; STM 10-2-1956, Arts. 13, 25, 26 and 27; ATM 2-20-1958, Art. 114;
STM 7-10-1958, Art. 25. Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Representative Town Meeting — See Charter, Art. II, and Ch.
A320, Special Acts.
[Amended STM 2-20-1959, Art. 109; STM 1-10-1974, Art. 23; STM 11-1-1988, Art. 66;
ASTM 4-7-1992, Art. 51; ASTM 4-7-1993, Art. 40, approved 7-16-1993]
The Annual Town Meeting shall be after the first
day of April on a date chosen by the Board of Selectmen, and an Annual
Fall Town Meeting shall be each year after the first day of September
on a date chosen by the Board of Selectmen. The Selectmen shall inform
Town Meeting members of the date of the annual Town meeting before
the preceding Town meeting adjournment.
[Amended STM 5-26-1965, Art. 15; ASTM 4-6-1992, Art. 52]
Notice of every Town Meeting shall be given
by posting a copy of the warrant therefor in the Town office building
and a public place in each precinct, and the Town Clerk shall mail
copies of the notice, citing the date, place and time of the meeting,
to all Town Meeting members, at least 10 days before the date of each
meeting. The Town Clerk shall further publish a copy of the warrant
in a newspaper circulating throughout the Town 14 days before the
Annual Town Meeting, the Annual Fall Town Meeting and any Special
Town Meeting. Such further notice may be given in any manner the Selectmen
deem proper.
Not less than seven days' notice shall be given
before closing the warrant for an Annual Town Meeting, nor less than
24 hours' notice given before closing the warrant for a Special Town
Meeting.
[Amended ATM 2-20-1959, Art. 108; ATM 4-2-1984, Art. 28]
The Selectmen shall cause to be published in
the local newspaper each year in late August and again in early September
a notice that all requests for road layouts and all petitions for
appropriations for construction or repair of roads and sidewalks to
be considered at the next Annual Town Meeting shall be filed with
the Selectmen not later than November 1, in order that the Selectmen,
Planning Board and Finance Committee may have sufficient time for
study of each request, and so that the Department of Public Works may prepare properly engineered cost estimates.
The articles shall be considered in the order
in which they appear in the warrant. Articles referred from previous
Town Meetings shall take an early place in the warrant. Other articles
shall be grouped together in accordance with the respective Town Departments
or Committees under whose direction the action called for in such
articles is proposed to be executed.
All articles requiring more than a majority
vote for favorable action shall be placed in the warrant next following
the articles referred from previous Town Meetings.
[Amended ASTM 4-6-1992, Art. 53]
The stage and that portion of the auditorium
forward of a row to be designated by the Moderator and to be kept
vacant shall be reserved for the use of the duly qualified Representative
Town Meeting members and for designated officers and aides of the
Meeting. All other persons shall use seats behind the vacant row or
in the gallery. The Moderator may designate seating arrangements on
the stage and in the auditorium for Town Meeting participants.
[Amended STM 4-13-2004, Art. 7; AFTM 11-6-2017, Art. 10, approved 2-12-2018]
If seven or more Town Meeting members rise and
question a "yea and nay" vote, without further discussion, a standing
vote or electronic vote shall be taken.
[Added ASTM 4-2-2001, Art. 21, approved 10-31-2001]
The Moderator may determine the intent of the
voice vote where a two-thirds affirmative majority vote is required
for passage of an article on the warrant of a Town Meeting, provided,
however, that any member may question the Moderator's determination
by standing and asking for a counted vote, whereupon a standing vote
will commence and be counted.
[Added AFTM 11-14-2016, Art. 12]
Notwithstanding the provisions of the foregoing section, §
49-8.1, Voice vote, subject to the availability of an approved electronic vote counting and recording system for use by Town Meeting members, the Moderator may determine that a vote be taken by use of such electronic vote counting and recording system.
No evening session of a Town Meeting shall continue
after 11:00 p.m. except upon the affirmative vote of two-thirds (2/3)
of Town Meeting members then present, and in no event shall consideration
of a new article be begun after 12:00 midnight.
Long or complicated motions, and other motions
which he shall so request, shall be presented to the Moderator in
writing.
No vote involving the expenditure of any sum
of money shall be reconsidered at the same meeting at which it was
passed, unless public notice of the intention to move such reconsideration
be given within 30 minutes of the passage of such vote and also the
time when the notice of reconsideration is given.
[Amended ASTM 4-6-1992, Art. 54]
At any Town Meeting when special committees
are appointed or elected, a vote shall be passed establishing a budget
for the committee, if required; otherwise the Selectmen shall not
draw orders on the Treasurer for the committee's expenses.