1. Board members may participate by speaker phone. In the event that a board member is unable to attend a board meeting, he or she can still participate in the meeting by speaker phone. So long as the board member can hear what is going on and can be heard by those present, his or her vote will count. It doesn’t matter that the board member is at home sick in bed or on vacation in Florida. 1 V.S.A. § 312(a).

2. Incomplete minutes won’t invalidate a meeting. The law requires minutes to be taken of every public meeting of a board. At a minimum the minutes must cover all topics and motions that arise at the meeting and give a true indication of the business of the meeting, and they must include the names of the members of the public body who are present and all other active participants in the meeting, all motions, proposals and resolutions made and what happened to them, and the results of any vote, with a record of how board members voted if a roll call vote is taken. Note that there are two purposes of minutes. One is to let the public know what occurred at a meeting, and the other is to create a record of what action a board has taken. Failure to keep minutes will not invalidate board action, except perhaps in an extreme circumstance in which a board is purposefully not keeping minutes in order to keep the public from knowing what is going on in its meetings. Rather, if there were ever a lawsuit against the town and the minutes were incomplete in some way the court would consider this as it tried to determine what action was taken at the meeting.

3. The law doesn’t require approved minutes. Most boards will approve the minutes of the previous meeting as its first order of business. Failure to do so will not invalidate the minutes of a meeting or the actions taken at that meeting. Vermont law does not refer at all to "approving" minutes. Boards go through the routine of approving minutes because this will make them better evidence of what occurred at a meeting. It shows that the board judged them to be a fair representation of what occurred at the earlier meeting at a time that was close to when the meeting took place (while memories were still fresh).

4. Selectboard can delegate signing orders to one or more board members. Because bills often come due in between board meetings, the law permits the selectboard to authorize one or more members of the board to look at the bills and then to draw orders so the bills (or the payroll) can be paid. These orders must state definitely the purpose for which they are drawn and they will serve as full authority to the treasurer to make the payments. Whenever this is done, the full selectboard must be given a record of the orders drawn so that they know what money is being paid out on behalf of the town. 24 V.S.A. § 1623(1). In the alternative the board can "Submit to the town treasurer a certified copy of those portions of the selectboard minutes, properly signed by the clerk and chair or by a majority of the board, showing to whom, and for what purpose each payment is to be made by the treasurer. The certified copy of the minutes shall serve as full authority to the treasurer to make the approved payments." 24 V.S.A. § 1623(2)

5. Board should not regularly decide new issues as part of "Other Business." It is typical for boards to include "other business" on their meeting agendas. This enables the board to deal with issues that are brought forward by members of the public - or issues that arise after the meeting agenda is prepared. Although there is no statute prohibiting taking binding action under this agenda item (as there is prohibiting such action at the annual meeting of the town), we recommend that towns postpone taking significant action that legally binds the town (such as entering into a contract or adopting an ordinance) until it can be placed on the agenda - and that any binding action that a board chooses to take under this agenda item be later ratified at a meeting of the board wherein the item appears on the agenda. This is because the purpose of the agenda is to let the public have an idea of what is going to be covered in a meeting so that, if it is of interest, they can attend and comment on the issue. It could be argued that without later ratification making decisions during the "other business" portion of the meeting violates the spirit of the open meeting law.

11. Selectboard should avoid conflicts of interest when spending town money. Conflicts of interest can arise when an elected official is acting in an administrative capacity and makes decisions to spend government money or use government resources in a way that benefits the official or benefits his or her close family members. For example, it is inappropriate for the road commissioner to use town equipment to fix his own driveway, or a selectboard member to vote on a decision to purchase supplies from his brother’s business. The Vermont Supreme Court has held that local officials act in a fiduciary capacity to the people of the town – so that they may not make a profit from their office. Davenport v. Town of Johnson, 49 Vt. 403, 407 (1877). To more specifically address conflicts of interest a selectboard or a town (by vote) can adopt a conflict of interest policy or ordinance. 24 V.S.A. § 1984.

12. Personal agendas are not the same as conflicts of interest. In many communities citizens confuse a board member having a "personal agenda" with a conflict of interest. While sometimes a personal agenda can rise to the level of a conflict of interest, it is not inappropriate for board members to have personal (or political) agendas. In fact, many of our board members join the board because of what they want to accomplish (lower the tax rate, improve the roads, improve the schools, etc.). It is only when a board member is acting in a quasi- judicial capacity (when an individual’s rights are being determined by the board), that the board member must be sure that his or her personal agenda will not get in the way of making a fair and unbiased determination based only on the facts of the situation and the law or ordinance that applies. Here, a person’s agenda may rise to the level of a conflict of interest requiring recusal from the matter if he or she cannot separate his or her own feelings enough to be an unbiased decision maker, or if it would create an appearance of impropriety.

14. Election of officers cannot be reconsidered. While 17 V.S.A. §2661 provides a method for reconsideration of public questions and budgets, the election of officers cannot be reconsidered by filing a petition with the legislative body. The only way to challenge or contest an election of an officer is by filing a petition with the appropriate Superior Court. (17 V.S.A. §2603) The statute requires an allegation of error sufficient to change the outcome of the election, fraud in the process sufficient to change the result, or that for any other reason, the election is not valid.

15. When no one is elected to a position the office is filled by the selectboard. At a Town Meeting in a town that does NOT use Australian ballot for election of town officers, if no one is nominated from the floor, the office remains vacant and the selectboard must appoint until an election is held. The selectboard or moderator cannot "force" the town meeting to keep nominating until someone accepts the nomination by stating that the next article will not be considered until the election has been held. If there are no nominations for an office, the selectboard appoints except for school directors where the remaining board members appoint. If at a later date other interest arises in the office, five percent of the legal voters can always petition for a special election.

16. Delinquent tax collector may be paid salary instead of fees. 24 V.S.A. §1530 provides that a town may vote to pay a salary or other compensation for collection taxes in lieu of fees and commissions to the collector of taxes or collector of delinquent taxes. If this is voted at an annual meeting, the fees and commissions shall be turned in to the municipal treasurer at least once a month.

17. Voters may elect to reduce penalty paid to delinquent tax collector. If a municipality wishes to reduce the penalty paid to the delinquent tax collector it may adopt a smaller percent by vote at an annual or special meeting. 32 V.S.A. § 1674. The law would also permit the voters to establish a grace period or graduated commission schedule for taxes paid within a defined time frame after the established time of payment.

18. Voters may not elect to have selectboard appoint collector. Unless a town has a municipal charter or has adopted a municipal manager form of government the delinquent tax collector and collector of current taxes must be elected. (Although the town may elect to have the treasurer serve as collector of current taxes.) No law would permit the voters to elect to permit the selectboard to appoint a collector. Indeed, the law provides that if the town fails to elect a tax collector then the first constable will fulfill the duties of that office.

19. A taxpayer is not required to attend the board of abatement meeting. If a taxpayer requests abatement of taxes in writing, 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 or her 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 grant or deny the request.

20. Board cannot eject member from executive session. In one town a dissenting member of the board routinely informed public and press about what was discussed during their executive session. The board cannot prevent this from occurring. Although the board can publicly express its displeasure, the law does not permit the board to exclude or eject one of its members from a meeting. 1 V.S.A. § 313(b)

21. School board follows Robert’s Rules; selectboard can create own procedures. Vermont law requires school board meetings to be conducted using Robert’s Rules of Order. 16 V.S.A. § 554. For small school boards we recommend that the board use Robert’s Rules for Small Boards. In contrast, the law is silent about what procedures the selectboard and other local boards should follow. Accordingly, these boards can adopt their own rules of order. This can be, but does not have to be, Robert’s Rules. We recommend that boards commit to writing the procedures they follow so that all board members and members of the public will know what to expect.

22. Appointment discussions can be made in executive session. The law permits a board to discuss "the appointment, employment or evaluation of a public officer or employee" in executive session. 1 V.S.A. section 313 (3). Because elected and appointed officials are public officers, the selectboard can go into executive session to consider various applicants for appointment to fill vacancies, or for appointment to town boards. Although the discussion and a straw vote may be taken in the executive session, the actual votes must be taken in the open meeting so that the public can see how board members have voted, and those votes must be reflected in the minutes of the meeting.

You’re not obligated to win. You’re obligated to keep trying to do the best you can every day.