The tax collector and treasurer shall give bonds
payable to the Town of Stratford in such amount as shall be required
by the Mayor, which bonds shall be procured from a surety company
of good standing and in a form approved by the State tax commissioner,
and the premium on such bonds shall be paid by the Town.
All other such officers and employees as the
Council may designate shall, before qualifying and entering upon their
duties, furnish a bond conditioned upon the faithful performance of
their duties, to an amount and in the form approved by the Council.
All accounts and the records of every office
and department of the Town shall be open to the public at all reasonable
times under reasonable regulations, except records and documents from
which might be secured information which might defeat the lawful purposes
of the officer or department withholding them from access to the public.
All officers of the town and directors of departments
before assuming their duties shall be sworn to the faithful performance
thereof.
The Town Council shall establish a Code of Ethics
for all Town officers and employees whether elected or appointed,
paid or unpaid. The purpose being to establish a suitable ethical
standard of conduct for all officers, officials or employees by prohibiting
acts or actions incompatible with the best interest of the Town of
Stratford.
All notices required by this Charter or by an
ordinance to be made by publication shall be published in any daily
or weekly newspaper printed in the English language and having a circulation
in the Town of Stratford of more than five thousand copies of each
edition. The publication of any such notice once in any such paper
shall be legal publication.
This charter shall be effective in accordance
with Connecticut General Statutes.
All General Statutes in their application to
the Town and all ordinances, by-laws, rules and regulations of the
Town and of its Boards and Commissions shall continue in effect except
where they are inconsistent with the provisions of this Charter. The
special act Charter adopted the second Monday of July 1921 together
with any subsequent amendments thereto relating to the Town not inconsistent
with this Charter and not specifically repealed by this or any other
prior Charter action shall continue to effect, except as provided
herein.
Upon the effective date of this Charter, all
ordinances of the town, resolutions of the Council, and regulations
of any administrative agency of the town inconsistent herewith are
hereby repealed.
Provisions hereinabove notwithstanding, nothing in this Charter or in § 9.6.1 hereof shall impair or affect any rights, privileges or immunities vested on the effective date of this Charter in any person or body corporate. Any and all notes, bonds, or certificates of debt issued or authorized to be made by, with, or on behalf of the town, or any debts or liabilities due to or from the town on the effective date of this charter shall continue in full force and effect according to their provisions the same as they would have been had this Charter not been adopted.
The adoption of this Charter shall not affect
any taxes levied or the assessments on any list completed before the
effective date hereof. All taxes levied on said assessment list may
be collected in the same manner as they might have been had this Charter
not been adopted.
The adoption of this Charter shall not affect
any suit pending or any cause of action existing on the effective
date hereof.
Public works or improvements, as defined by § 6.4.1 hereof, the decision or determination to undertake which has been made by the Council before the effective date of this Charter, shall be completed, and the appraisal and collection of benefits and the appraisal and payment of damages shall be completed in the same manner as they might have been had this charter not been adopted.
All officers and employees of the Town, members
of the Council, and members of boards, commissions and committees
of the Town shall continue in office until such office terminates
by operation of laws in effect prior to the effective date of this
Charter or until such office terminates by death, incapacity, resignation
or removal for cause of such person. Thereafter, successor or incumbent
officers shall be chosen in the manner provided by this Charter.
All records and documents utilized by the Charter
Revision Commission shall be considered a permanent public record
of the Town and maintained on file in the Town Clerk's office and
in an appropriate record retention medium for review and access by
the public.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Former § 9.8.1, Employment
of Charter Revision Commission Members, which immediately followed,
was repealed 11-4-2008.
If any provision of this Charter be adjudged
invalid or unconstitutional, such adjudication shall apply only to
the provision thus adjudged, and the remainder of this Charter shall
be deemed valid and effective.
The official Town Seal is pictured below:
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