1. Town and Town School District Moderators Are Separate Offices. The town school district must elect a moderator as the first order of business at its floor meeting or by Australian ballot, if the district has voted to elect all officers by Australian ballot. Although the same person may serve as Town Meeting Moderator and School District Moderator, separate candidacies -- and in Australian ballot districts, separate petitions -- are required.

2. A Town Vote To Move to Australian Ballot Applies To The Following Meeting. If a town wishes to change the way it elects its officers, or votes its budgets, or public questions, it must place an article on the warning as directed in 17 V.S.A. § 2680. If the article to change to Australian ballot passes, the town or district will begin using the Australian ballot at its next special or annual meeting.

3. Town Clerks Must Provide Union School District Clerk With Updated Checklist. Vermont law requires town clerks whose towns are members of a union school district to be open for voter registration on the second Saturday before the Union School District Elections. After the checklist is updated, the clerk must provide an authenticated copy of the checklist to the Clerk of the Union School District. 16 V.S.A. § 706u. Note that section 706u incorporates by reference the provisions of Title 17 that require the town clerk to have office hours on the second Saturday before each election to allow residents to register to vote.

4. No Statutory Appeal of Abatement Decisions. Title 24 does not provide a specific route of appeal from a decision by the Board of Abatement. However, if a taxpayer believes a Board of Abatement has abused its discretion in denying his request, case law in Vermont suggests that an appeal can be taken through Rule 74 or Rule 75 of the Rules of Civil Procedure. Appeals under these rules are not de novo and generally only review the proceedings below for abuse of discretion, but the avenue for a limited appeal does exist despite the silence in the statute. Note that the Vermont Supreme Court has held that abatement requests cannot be a substitute for an appeal of a property assessment by the listers which must be appealed through the grievance and tax appeal process.

5. Election to incompatible offices creates vacancy. When a person is elected to more than one position in the town or school district and the positions are incompatible, the person must resign from one of the positions. This creates a vacancy that must be filled according to statutory procedures. Under Vermont law, the Arunner-up@ or next highest vote getter does not Amove up@ or become the winner.

6. Vacancy is filled by selectboard. When there is a vacancy in a town office, the Selectboard posts the vacancy within 10 days of its creation, and then appoints a person to fill the term of office until the next election. 24 V.S.A. § 961 and 963. The board may immediately fill the vacancy – and does not have to take applications or publicly advertise. The purpose of the posting notice is to permit the voters to petition for a special meeting to fill the vacancy.

7. Selectboard Member Cannot Vote To Fill Vacancy Caused By His Own Resignation. A vacancy is not created until a resignation is effective. For this reason a selectboard member cannot notify the board that he will be resigning at some date in the future and then participate in the vote to fill the vacancy. 17 V.S.A. § 961.

8. School District Vacancies Filled by Selectboard. When there is a vacancy on the town school board, the selectboard, with the advice of the remaining school board members, must within 30 days, appoint a person to fill the position until the next election. 16 V.S.A. § 424. When there is a vacancy in a union school district, the clerk of the union district notifies the selectboard of the town that elected the original incumbent and within 30 days the selectboard, with the advice of the town or incorporated district school board, must appoint a person to fill the vacancy until the next election.

9. Wait For Reconsideration Before Voting On Additional Board Members. When the annual meeting voters pass an article to increase the size of the selectboard or school board from 3 to 5 members, it is a good idea to wait until the 30 day period for reconsideration has passed, before warning a special meeting to elect new board members. Also, school boards must follow the specific requirements of 16 V.S.A. § 423 while selectboards follow the requirements of

17 V.S.A. § 2650 for length of terms, etc. A special election can either be called by the board or by petition. If there is no petition to hold a special meeting, it is permissible to wait until the next annual meeting to add the new board members.

10. Moderator Should Review Rules At The Start of Town Meeting. At the beginning of town meeting, it is a best practice for the moderator to review the basics of Roberts Rules and the procedures that will be used in the meeting. This helps voters to be able to participate fully in the meeting. It is especially important for the moderator to remind the voters that any person present can rise to challenge the ruling of the moderator on any procedural issue, and have the procedural issue decided by the voters present.

11. Moderators Should Not Comment On Legality Of Article. It is best practice for moderators at the annual meeting to refrain from speaking to the legality of an article or to give an opinion about the legal effect of taking action on or passing over an article. Even a well-intentioned comment about the legality or impact of an article could be misunderstood as showing partiality for or against an article. If there is truly no one else in the room that can answer a question, and the moderator feels compelled to enter the discussion, the moderator should call for a moderator pro tem to take over, and step down while he or she participates in the debate.

12. Only Legal Voters Can Be Elected To Town Office. To be eligible for election as a school board member, a person must be a legal voter in the school district. 16 V.S.A. § 558. Likewise, a town shall choose from among its legally qualified voters for selectboard, town clerk, town treasurer, and a number of other town offices. 17 V.S.A. § 2646. So long as the person is on the checklist by the day of election he or she is eligible for election. Note that the Board of Civil Authority must meet before the election itself and add the names of all eligible persons who have properly completed and submitted applications to the checklist before noon on the second Saturday before the election.

13. School Officers Are Generally Not Permitted To Work For The District. A school board member may not be regularly employed by the school district or by a school district within the same supervisory union or by the same supervisory union during the board member's term of office. However, the education commissioner may waive this rule for employment of a specific individual as a substitute teacher, coach or supervisor of extracurricular activities for a period not to exceed one year. (Note that the year may be renewed, in circumstances in which the school district or supervisory union is unable to hire another qualified person through no fault of its own.) 16 V.S.A. § 558.

14. Second Constable Does Not Work for First Constable. The second constable, whether independently elected or appointed is NOT supervised by the First Constable. In fact, nowhere in law is the first constable given any authority over the second constable. The law simply permits a town to elect (or appoint) a second constable if it deems necessary. The only difference in authority between the two constables is that only the First Constable collects taxes in the event that no tax collector is elected. 17 V.S.A. § 2646(7); 24 V.S.A. § 1936a.

15. Selectboard May Not Discuss Budget Outside Public Meeting. When a quorum of the selectboard is together to discuss town business or to do the work of the town, it must be done in a properly noticed public meeting. 1 V.S.A. § 312. Note that the open meeting law permits a board to go into executive session to discuss documents that are exempt from public disclosure under the public records law – and that records that are primarily factual and are used to help the board to build a budget to be presented at a public meeting are exempt from disclosure. 1 V.S.A. § 317 (c) (17). As a practical matter, this means that a board can meet in executive session to discuss documents prepared by employees or others with factual information that is to be used to help them build the budget. They can only use the executive session to discuss the document, and any decisions about what to put in the budget must be made in open session.

16. Board May Meet Outside Meeting For Routine Administrative Matters Not Requiring Action. Vermont law provides that " . . . Routine day-to-day administrative matters that do not require action by the public body, may be conducted outside a duly warned meeting, provided that no money is appropriated, expended, or encumbered." This statute is designed to permit board members to manage the day to day affairs of the town, by, for example, enabling a quorum to be present to check on roof repairs or renovations to the town office, or to assist the clerk in rearranging the office or installing new equipment.

17. Individual Board Members Have No Authority Apart From The Board. 1 VSA § 172 provides that "when joint authority is given to three or more, the concurrence of a majority of such number shall be sufficient and shall be required in its exercise." This means that no member of a board (whether it is the board of listers, auditors or selectboard) may take action alone. However members of a board may divide up work on a project, delegating pieces of the job to individual board members. However, the board must still get back together to review the work of the individual board members and to take action. For example, it is not uncommon for a board of auditors to ask one member to review the town books and then report back to the entire board who will use that information to write the town report. On the other hand, a single auditor has no authority to do audits on his or her own unless the board has delegated this task to the individual.

18. Charter change by petition can only be voted at annual meeting or primary or general election. A proposal to adopt, repeal or amend a municipal charter may be made by the legislative body of the municipality or by petition of five percent of the voters of the municipality. After the warning and hearing requirements of section 2645 are satisfied, proposals by petition must be submitted to the voters at the next annual meeting, primary or general election in the form in which they were filed, except that the legislative body may make technical corrections. 17 V.S.A. § 2645.

19. Town Does Not Have To Recognize State or Federal Holidays. State and Federal holidays are simply holidays that the State and/or Federal Government gives its employees. No law requires other employers – including local governments to recognize these holidays by giving their employees the day off.

20. Person May Only Sign One Petition for One Office. The law permits a voter to sign only one petition for a particular office, unless there is more than one position being filled. This means that if more than one person is running for town clerk a voter can only sign one of the nominating petitions. However, a voter may sign a petition for a person running for a one-year term on the selectboard as well as a petition for another person running for the three-year term.

In our monthly Opinions we provide what we believe the law requires based upon our legal judgment, years of observing Vermont’s local government practices, and Vermont Court decisions. This information is intended as a reference guide only and should not replace the advice of legal counsel.