State of Vermont Office of the Secretary of State

State of Vermont
Office of the
Secretary of State
http://www.sec.state.vt.us

Volume 1 Number 11

Redstone Building
26 Terrace Street, Drawer 09
Montpelier, VT 05609-1101
1-802-828-2363

Secretary of State - Deborah L. Markowitz

This is the season of giving thanks for the things we too often take for granted in our daily lives. In my life there is a great deal to give thanks for: a healthy and loving family, good friends, bright, energetic and committed staff, and, all of you who make serving as your Secretary of State the pleasure that it is.

While we have done and accomplished much this year -- re-instituting the Opinions newsletter, starting the Vermont Public Service Awards program, publishing a number of handbooks and pamphlets, creating a Task Force on Ethics, to name just a few -- what I understand now more clearly than ever is that this office works, and indeed, Vermont works because of its people. None of our accomplishments would have been possible without the assistance and support of the Staff here at the Secretary of State’s Office, and without the suggestions and encouragement we received from our advisory boards, task forces and from those of you who regularly use our services.

Message from the Secretary

"Voice from the Past"
by Paul Gillies

Opinions of Opinions

The Opinions Zoning Page

Fixing Errors - A How-To for Listers

Election Notice

December's Calendar

Vermont Public Service Awards
Rutland County Honorees

From the town clerk in Derby to the Listers in Vernon and everyone in between, it is the people of our communities that make the good things in our lives happen. It goes without saying that we would not be able to do this job successfully without you -- and without you, Vermont would not be the place it is. Thank you!

I wish you and your families a wonderful holiday season and a happy and healthy New Year.

Deborah L. Markowitz - Signature
Deborah L. Markowitz
Secretary of State

Happy Holidays

For further information, please contact Web Editor, Editor, Opinions at 802-828-2363 or email webeditor@sec.state.vt.us
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A Voice from the Past
by Paul Gillies

The most prosaic duty of a selectboard is to make the budget. Everything else the board does in December is a welcome distraction from this tiresome job. Watch closely: see how their heads drop, their eyes glaze over, when the night grows long in the shank and somebody makes a longwinded pitch for an appropriation.

Wake up, now, this is important. The budget is the most critical document in the annual life of the town. Within the puts and takes of the budget process, policy emerges. What are we going to do with the road crew? Is it time for
another member? How about the town officers who draw a salary? Are they paid enough? These and dozens of other questions need to be answered before a budget is written.

Ideally, every board starts with an open discussion about the needs of the town. Most selectboards know they can't sell a large increase in the tax rate, especially when school budgets may not be conservative, but a good working target – a bottom line – is essential preparation for the parade of prayers that follows from the various players (both individuals and boards) that make up the infrastructure of town government.

The best strategy is to hold back. Don't commit yourself to anything, not one cent, until you've heard from everybody about the town's needs for the coming year. This goes for meetings and for private conversations with a road crew member, the constable, or members of the public. From the perspective of those who want you to favor them – the listers hoping for more per hour, the planning commission wanting to hire a consultant, the zoning administrator asking for more hours – early commitment to their priorities is much preferable to the awful last hours of the budget process, when hard decisions and tough choices are made.

For the good of the town, reserve is required. Be like an old Vermonter, who seldom speaks and never reveals feelings in public. Show no preference for anyone, but be careful. You don't want to sound discouraging. Ask your questions, while remaining supportive and appreciative of what they've done for the town.

It makes complete sense to have a computer spreadsheet to work with, and someone able enough to make changes and print out new versions as needed. You don't want to add up columns more than once, and a little pinch here or little more there can change everything. Another good idea is to think about how the budget is arranged, and keep a close eye on how the categories of expenditure within the general and highway funds are changing, year to year.

Don't let any major changes in expenditure or appropriation go unexplained, because on the first Tuesday of March you are going to have to be able to explain and defend these changes. It is foolish to assume others are going to miss the hot spots in the budget come town meeting.

Once you've heard from everybody, there comes a time for decision. This is not going to be pleasant, however you try. You can't agree with everybody and you won't make everybody happy. When it gets right down to it, it's amazing how little discretion there is in a budget, but there are places where you can have an impact on town life. It doesn't take a lot to improve how townspeople feel about their community.

Nobody gets flowers or congratulations for writing good budgets. The hard work doesn't show in the final product. You may find yourself having offended someone inadvertently, who took your rejection of their request too
personally, but they will come around in time. Perhaps they may stop one day and realize that your job was not as easy as it seemed.

A dilemma is a hard choice between two unacceptable alternatives. A hard choice between two options, both of which are beneficial and worthy, is called an antinomy, and that's a fine word for the state of mind of most selectboard members during December. Hang in there, ladies and gentlemen of the board. Yours is the toughest job there is in government.

"Voice from the Past" by Paul Gillies Opinions Volume 1 Number 11 December 1999
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1. Act 60 Authorizes Limited Local Option Taxes. Vermont law permits certain towns to adopt local taxes to ease school budget burdens created by Act 60. 24 V.S.A. � 138A. According to section 138A, a town has until September 1, 2003 to adopt the local tax, and the tax may only be collected until December 31, 2004. To adopt the tax, the town has to meet one of three tests to show it has a school-funding problem: The education property tax rate in 1997 must have been less than $1.10 per $100.00 of equalized education property value; or the equalized grand list value of personal property, business machinery, inventory, and equipment must have been at least ten percent of the equalized education grand list as reported in the 1998 Annual Report of the Division of Property Valuation and Review; or the combined education tax rate of the municipality will increase by 20
percent or more in fiscal year 1999 or in fiscal year 2000 over the rate of the combined education property tax in the previous fiscal year.

If the town qualifies, then the selectboard has to vote in favor of a local tax, and then at an annual or special meeting, by a majority vote of those present and voting, the town can assess any or all of the following taxes: a one percent sales tax (excluding tax on telecommunications); a one percent meals and alcoholic beverages tax; or a one percent rooms tax. For taxes reported after 1999, 70 percent of the tax money goes to the town and the rest to the state treasurer.

2. Writ of Attachment is filed in the Land Records. A "writ of attachment" is an order from a court that allows a creditor (the person who is owed money or an item of value) to take a debtor's (the person who owes the money or valuable thing) land in order to pay off a debt. Sometimes a court will issue a writ of attachment at the start of a lawsuit, which prevents the landowner from selling the property until the lawsuit is resolved. This is called a "pre-judgment" writ of attachment. Whether it comes at the start or end of a lawsuit, a writ of attachment is recorded in the land records. 24 V.S.A. � 1154. By recording the writ of attachment in the land records, other people know not to buy the debtor's land because the creditor has the right to own the property if the
creditor wins the lawsuit and goes to collect the debt.

3. Increasing number of Selectboard Members does not create Vacancy. Voters may petition for a vote at an annual or special town meeting to increase the number of selectboard members from three to five. 17 V.S.A. � 2650. If the vote is successful, then the two new positions are created and the selectboard can call for a special election, the voters can petition for a special election, or the positions can stay open until the next annual town meeting. The new positions are not vacant under 24 V.S.A. � 961 because a vacancy occurs only when a town officer resigns, has been removed from office, dies, becomes insane, or moves out of town, but not when a new position is created after a town vote.

4. Board of Civil Authority picks the Polling Place. We all know where to go to vote in our towns, but what happens if the building where people go is not available because of construction or because the building has been sold? Under 17 V.S.A. � 2501, the BCA picks a new polling place unless the voters at a regular or special meeting warned for that purpose pick a different polling place. Regardless of whether the voters or the BCA decides where people go to vote, a polling place must be in a public place within the town. 17 V.S.A. � 2502.

5. Town Manager cannot act in place of the Trustees of a Municipal Library. Under 22 V.S.A. � 143, the trustees of a municipal library have the full power to manage the public library. This includes adopting bylaws, election of officers, and choosing a director or head librarian. While a town manager's powers are broad, under 24 V.S.A. � 1236 a town manager can not decide issues which have been specifically given to a particular municipal officer. Since the trustees have been given the full power over the public library, a town manager cannot perform the duties that the law has specifically given to the public library trustees.

6. Zoning Administrator is Custodian of Zoning Office Files. Under the Access to Public Records law, it is the responsibility of the custodian of a public record to make it available when a person wants to see it. If the record is not available because it is being used or because it is in storage, the custodian of the public record must say this in writing and must set a date and hour within one calendar week of the request when the record will be available for examination. 1 V.S.A. � 318. A town clerk, even if she or he has the key to the zoning administrator's office and file cabinets, does not have to open the zoning office and file cabinets and let a person see those files, even if the information is public. Instead, the town clerk can refer the person to the zoning administrator, and the zoning administrator can then open up his or her files as required under the public records law. In some towns, the clerk and zoning administrator have made a specific arrangement permitting the clerk to make available zoning files in the zoning administrator’s absence.

7. Interim Zoning--Yes. Interim Town Plan--No. Interim zoning lets a town temporarily preserve existing land uses or adopt temporary regulations while the town is actively working toward adopting or amending zoning bylaws. It is a way for a town to address an immediate land use issue without having to complete the lengthy zoning bylaw adoption or amendment process. 24 V.S.A. � 4410. A town plan, on the other hand, is effective for five years after its adoption. Once it expires, it has expired, and while it can be re-adopted, there is no such thing as an "interim town plan." The only way to re-adopt an expired town plan is to follow the complete adoption process set forth in 24 V.S.A. � 4385.

8. Act 250 and Zoning have different Rules for Adjoining Landowners. In Act 250, to be a party to the proceeding, an adjoining landowner must show how the proposed development will have a direct effect on his or her property under any of the 10 Act 250 criteria. Once granted party status, the adjoining property owner can only testify or provide other evidence related to those criteria for which he or she has party status. For example, if someone has party status under Criterion 1, air pollution, then he or she cannot present evidence that a development will cause traffic congestion (Criterion 5). 10 V.S.A. � 6085. In zoning, the test is whether the adjoining landowner is an "interested person." To be an interested person, a landowner in the immediate neighborhood of the proposed project must only state that the project does not conform with the zoning bylaw. If you are an interested person before the ZBA, then you have the right to appeal the ZBA decision to the
Environmental Court. 10 V.S.A. �� 4464 and 4471.

9. Towns may License or Regulate Itinerant Vendors. The law gives a town the authority to license or regulate itinerant vendors, peddlers, and door-to-door sales people. 24 V.S.A. � 2291(9). To exercise this authority, a town adopts an ordinance just like it does for other municipal matters such as signs or billboards, telecommunications towers, or local speed limits. The law had been, up until 1992, that the Secretary of State's Office would also license and regulate peddlers. But since the Legislature repealed that law, it is now left solely up to a town as to whether peddlers are regulated and licensed.

10. Notice of Posted Land must be Recorded in Town Clerk's Office. During hunting season, the question usually comes up as to whether a landowner must file a copy of his or her "posted land" notice with the town clerk. Under 10 V.S.A. � 5201, as part of posting one's land, the landowner must annually record the posting notice in the town clerk's office of the town in which the land is located. The recorded notice must state how many acres are posted, the location in town, the date of posting, and must be signed by the landowner. The recorded notice is then recorded and is open to public inspection.

11. A document becomes a "public record" as soon as it is "acquired in the ordinary course of agency business". A petition, letter, or other document which is delivered to a municipality or public agency becomes a "public record" under 1 V.S.A. � 317(b) as soon as it is "acquired in the ordinary course of agency business". This means that, unless the document is exempt from disclosure, the Town Clerk or other municipal employee (or, indeed, the Secretary of State,) cannot withhold a document from the press or any other person requesting the document because the "signatures have not been verified" or someone else hasn’t seen the document, or it is correspondence directed to a board, etc. If the document was received in the mail, or hand delivered or otherwise acquired in the ordinary course of business, that document can be requested and must be copied unless it fits into one of the exemptions listed in the statute. If a document is given to the press before a board or other intended recipient has received it, it is always advisable to give the board members or intended recipient a "heads up" so they have an opportunity to know in advance what may be in the papers the next day.

12. The Board of Civil Authority must meet before each election or special meeting to add names to the checklist, not just before the Annual Town Meeting. The Town Clerk’s office must be open from 10 a.m. until Noon on the second Saturday before every election, and the Board of Civil Authority must meet sometime between that Saturday and the election in order to add names to the checklist. We have had reports of misunderstandings in some towns. Please read 17 V.S.A. � 2656. The statute clearly states that "all municipalities shall revise and post checklists...prior to any municipal meeting at which there will be voting." This means a meeting of the BCA before each special meeting, whether it is to vote on zoning amendments, consider public questions, or to pass a budget. There is nothing discretionary in this statute.

13. Minutes of meetings must include names of board members who are present at the meeting. Vermont law does not provide any requirements for "taking attendance" of elected officials at public board meetings. However, 1 V.S.A. � 312(b)(1) states that minutes shall include the names of the members of the board present. If a Selectperson is not attending meetings, you can speak to him or her to let them know that you are concerned, but there is nothing in the statutes to compel attendance.

14. Residents of gores are left out of union school and town school district votes. Although gores and unorganized towns have been assigned to supervisory unions for the purpose of administration of Act 60 (education funding), the gores are still not members of a union school district or town school district. Therefore, the law remains that residents of gores are added to a nearby town checklist for statewide and federal elections only, but residents of gores cannot vote in local elections which include town, town school district or Union School District elections.
17 V.S.A. � 2123.

15. A Taxpayer is not required to attend the Board of Abatement meeting. If a taxpayer requests abatement of taxes in writing, for one of the reasons set forth in the statute, the board of abatement must meet at some time to consider the request. 24 V.S.A. � 1535. While a taxpayer has the right to attend the meeting or to have a representative act on his behalf at the meeting, if a taxpayer has made a written request for abatement which states the reason and supporting information for the abatement request, the statute does not require personal attendance by the taxpayer. The taxpayer should be told that the board may want additional information, or the taxpayer may want to respond to other information presented at the meeting, but if the taxpayer chooses not to attend, the board must still consider the request and take action to abate or deny the request.

16. Road Commissioner Can Be Appointed or Elected - In Both Cases They Are Controlled By The Selectboard. As town meetings approach, we are getting a number of questions about the status of road commissioners. Unless a town votes to elect road commissioners, the selectboard may appoint one or two road commissioners. 17 V.S.A. � 2651. It takes a vote of the town meeting to decide to change the road commissioner position to an elected position. However, "road commissioners whether elected or appointed, shall have only the powers and authority regarding highways granted to them by the selectmen." 19 V.S.A. � 304(16). Title 19, Highways, makes it very clear that it is the selectboard which has the primary responsibilities for decision making regarding highways in a town. Indeed, the selectboard may decide to delegate no authority at all to the road commissioner, in which case the position is in name only.

17. The Town Treasurer Cannot Divest School District Treasurer Duties Without Vote of the District.
16 V.S.A. � 426(a) provides that the town treasure is also the school treasurer unless the voters vote to elect a separate school treasurer. This means that the town treasurer cannot "quit" as school district treasurer and remain town treasurer, unless the voters have voted to elect a separate school district treasurer. Likewise, if the town treasurer wants to resign as town treasurer but continue working as school treasurer, the town school district would need to call a special meeting to vote on the question of electing a town school district treasurer. If the town elects officials by vote from the floor, the treasurer could be elected at the same meeting. If the town votes to elect officials by Australian ballot, then a separate election will need to be held at a later meeting after time is allowed for candidates to file petitions and proper warning of the election.

18. Tree Warden Cannot Prevent Landowner from Removing a Tree on His or Her Private Property. The responsibility of the Tree Warden extends only to "Public Shade Trees," to trees on municipal property, and in some special cases, to trees on public or private property that are diseased or infested and pose a danger to other trees in the area. Accordingly, unless the tree is a public shade tree (abutting a public highway, sidewalk or on municipal property), the tree warden has no authority to tell a private land owner that he or she may or may not remove a tree on the land owner’s property. In fact, the selectboard has no authority to regulate tree removal on private property under its regulatory authority. 24 V.S.A. � 2291(3) permits the selectboard to adopt an ordinance "to provide for the location, protection, maintenance and removal of trees, plants and shrubs, and buildings or other structures on or above public highways, sidewalks, or other property of the municipality." Note that, as part of a site plan review or conditional use review of land use development the zoning board or planning commission could create permit conditions that relate to preservation of wooded areas or specific trees. However, if a permit condition is violated it is up to the zoning administrator – and not the tree warden to bring an enforcement action.

19. Realtor May Not Sit on Matter Involving Another Broker in the Same Agency. The issue of conflict of interest of zoning board members is governed by 12 V.S.A. � 61. This law provides that a person shall not participate in a matter in which he or she, or a close relative has a real or financial interest in the outcome. This means that a member of a zoning board who is a broker in a real estate firm involved in a proceeding before the board, should recuse himself. Even if the real estate agent/board member does not have a direct financial interest in the outcome, he may still be "interested" in the outcome. This is because the success of his fellow agent may impact the overall success of his firm. Moreover, if a broker’s sale is contingent on permits being issued, there will be a reasonable perception that the zoning board member who is a fellow broker in the firm has a special incentive to grant the permit. Accordingly, the participation of a real estate agent under these circumstances should be avoided. See In re State Aid Highway No 1, 133 Vt. 4 (1974).

20. Board Members May Not Discuss Pending Applications or Cases Outside of the Hearing or Deliberations. Members of quasi-judicial boards should do everything they can to avoid ex parte communications about pending matters before the board. It is not unusual, however, for an interested party or applicant to give a board member information or evidence outside of a hearing. In such a case, if the board member is present with the party, the board member should explain that he or she cannot receive evidence outside of a hearing, and tell the person how they can properly get the information to the board ("I cannot talk about this outside of the hearing – you should feel free to present this evidence at the hearing.") The board member must fully disclose during the hearing the ex parte communication, providing all parties an opportunity to comment or rebut the evidence given outside of the hearing. If the evidence is written materials (i.e. a letter sent to the board member’s home), it should be entered on the record at the hearing and the opposing parties should have an opportunity to see it and comment on it. The fact that a board member receives an ex parte communication should not ordinarily result in that board member having to recuse him or herself from participating in the rest of the proceedings so long as there is full disclosure during the hearing.

21. Zoning Administrator’s Should Not Participate In Some Deliberative Sessions. A deliberative session is the time for the zoning board or planning commission to consider evidence from a hearing and then come to a decision. The board may not consider any evidence not presented at the hearing. Except for appeals from decisions of the zoning administrator, a board could choose to ask the zoning administrator to be present at a deliberative session to assist with administrative tasks (such as writing up draft findings or opinions.) Note, however, that if the matter is an appeal from a zoning administrator’s decision the deliberations should be done without the zoning administrator present since in this situation the zoning administrator is a party in the matter.

22. Clerk may adopt a policy as to whether he or she will witness documents. Many clerks receive requests from members of the public to witness wills, living wills, deeds or other documents. Ordinarily the role of a witness is to verify the act of signing the document, and does not require the witness to read or understand the content of the document. Clerks should feel free to adopt their own office policies on whether or not they will be available to witness documents. Note that the town clerk is an ex officio notary public, and as such should feel comfortable notarizing documents on request.

This month’s zoning page takes a look at two recent zoning decisions by the Vermont Supreme Court.

In the first case, In re Appeal of Dooley, No. 98-093 (11/5/99), the appealed project was a gas station mini-mart at a site that had once been a bank, but which was now just an ATM outlet. Located in South Burlington, the project needed zoning board and planning commission approval. The planning commission denied the final design approved by the zoning board. This forced the developer to appeal to the Environmental Court. The
Environmental Court approved a slightly altered project, and the opponents appealed. In upholding the Environmental Court’s decision, the Court found that the project's traffic flow design met the zoning bylaw's requirement of a net benefit for traffic even though it would add more traffic to the area.

Under the zoning bylaw, the amount of traffic using the site was limited to a set number of vehicle trips. The project's estimated traffic would go over the limit, but the zoning bylaw allowed for the higher amount if the project would result in a "net benefit for traffic in the area." Because the bank's site plan forced cars to take dangerous turns across busy streets, the developer had redesigned how cars would enter and exit from the project. Because these design improvements would get rid of dangerous traffic movements, the Court agreed that there would be a net benefit to traffic in the area. So, even though there would be more cars and traffic, overall safety would be improved by the project.

In the second case, Appeal of Gregoire, No. 98-508 (10/21/99), the narrow legal issue was whether a nonconforming use was abandoned. The Environmental Court had ruled that the Gregoires could re-build two summer camp buildings on a single lot where there were already four camps, even though the Colchester zoning bylaw allowed one building per lot. Because Colchester believed the two buildings had been abandoned, it appealed the decision. The Court reversed, ordering that the Environmental Court take a second look at whether the Gregoires abandoned the use of their land for the two camps. The Court looked at what is a nonconforming use under 24 V.S.A. � 4408(a)(1). Under this provision, a nonconforming use is the use of a structure or land that does not comply with the current zoning bylaw and was in existence prior to the bylaw's enactment. If a nonconforming use is not continuously used, then it is no longer exempt since it has been abandoned. Because the Environmental Court only looked at the use of the buildings as summer camps, and did not consider the use of the land, the Environmental Court was incorrect to rule that the Gregoires had not abandoned the two camps at the lot.

The Court acknowledged that there are limits to the view that zoning ordinances must be allowed to eliminate nonconforming uses. Because a single lot can be the source of more than one nonconforming use, the Court ruled that the best approach was a dual approach. Municipalities should be allowed to say that some nonconforming uses have been lost without having to prove that all nonconforming uses have been lost, and property owners should not have to fear that the loss of one nonconforming use means that all have been lost. So, when the issue is nonconforming uses, be sure to look at all the uses, whether they be land or
structures.

The Opinions Zoning Page Opinions Volume 1 Number 11 December 1999
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By Mary Jane Grace, Property Evaluation and Review

There have a number of questions lately on how to make changes to the grand list when there have been "errors and omissions." If the listers find listing errors, these can be corrected, but the procedures vary according to the type of error and the timing.

From the time that the listers first compile and lodge the list with the town clerk for public inspection until the date it is lodged with the town clerk a second and final time, it is called the "abstract of individual lists," or just the "abstract." You may also hear it called the preliminary grand list. After grievances are closed, the book is turned over to the town clerk and it becomes the "grand list."

The statutes direct different procedures for correcting different types of errors. Very often, errors are discovered during grievance hearings. They may be corrected according to the provisions for amending an abstract, and notices must be sent to the taxpayers. 32 V.S.A. � 4224.

If the listers discover an error or omission in the listing of property before the grand list has become final, they can correct it without asking for approval from the selectboard. 32 V.S.A. � 4111(f). The listers must send written notice to any affected taxpayers allowing them to grieve.

If the listers discover a procedural error affecting the validity of the abstract of individual lists (such as missing a deadline or a defective notice), the listers can correct this on or before February 1 of the following year according to the procedures in 32 V.S.A. � 4112 et seq.

If the listers discover an error or omission in the listing of property after the grand list has become final, having been turned over to the town clerk, the approval of the selectboard is needed to make a correction. Such errors or omissions of individual property listings may be corrected until December 31. 32 V.S.A. � 4261.

The listers make their request to the selectboard. If the selectboard approves, the information on such changes is provided to the town clerk by the selectboard. The town clerk makes the changes in the grand list book. For those towns with computerized grand list data, the changes can also be made to the grand list file, but it is not recommended that a complete new grand list report be printed.

Most of the above comes from page 41 (blue pages) of the Listers' Handbook. If you have questions on this procedure, contact Mary Jane Grace, Property Valuation and Review Division,Vermont Dept. of Taxes, 802-828-5863or your Property Valuation District Advisor.

Fixing Errors - A How-To for Listers Opinions Volume 1 Number 11 December 1999
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December's Calendar
December Banner

Wednesday, December 1, 1999 Last day to pay property taxes in towns that voted to collect interest on overdue taxes. 32 V.S.A. � 5136(a).	Tuesday, December 14, 1999 Last day for Listers to add omitted inventory to tax roles. 32 V.S.A. � 4086.
Friday, December 24, 1999 The Office of the Secretary of State will be closed!	Tuesday, December 28, 1999 First day to warn the first public hearing if a charter adoption, amendment or repeal is to be voted on at Town Meeting. 17 V.S.A. �� 2641(a), 2645(a).
Thursday, December 30, 1999 Last day for Listers to correct real or personal estate omission or obvious error in grand list, with approval of Selectboard. 32 V.S.A. � 4261.	Friday, December 31, 1999 Town fiscal year ends, unless voted otherwise. 24 V.S.A. � 1683(c). The Office of the Secretary of State will be closed!
Tuesday, January 4, 2000 Legislature reconvenes. Vt. Constitution Ch. 2, Section 7.	Friday, January 7, 2000 Last day to warn the first public hearing if a charter adoption, amendment or repeal is to be voted on at Town Meeting. 17 V.S.A. �� 2641(a), 2645(a)(6).

REMINDER

Please check your elections supplies and fax or mail your orders in to us now.

For towns using OPTEC machines, we will be using a 3 column ballot for the Presidential
primary, so we suggest that you use a three column ballot for your local elections so that you will not have to pay for two separate programming packets for the machines.

The Town Clerk’s Office must be open on February 26, 2000, the second Saturday before the election from 10:00 a.m. to Noon for voter registration.

The Board of Civil Authority must meet between that Saturday and the Election Day to add names to the checklist.

As usual, we will supply each Town Clerk with 5 Presidential Primary warnings for each polling place, and with Tally Sheets, Summary Sheets, and ORV’s (Official Return of Votes). Now is a good time to check your office to see what other supplies you need and fax or mail your request to us
(Our Fax No. is (802) 828-5171.)

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Opinions of Opinions Opinions Volume 1 Number 11 December 1999
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