1. Information about time and place of regular meeting must be publicly available. The time and place for regular meetings of any public body may be designated by charter, regulation, ordinance, bylaw, or resolution and this information must be made available to the public upon request. 1 V.S.A. §31(c)(1). Many selectboards and schoolboards establish their regular meeting schedule by a resolution at the first organizational meeting after election at Town Meeting. Once established, the board does not have to "warn" each regular meeting, although the board must make the agenda available to the news media or any person upon request prior to the meeting. Many towns have a practice of posting the agenda and distributing it to the media on a regular basis.

2. A board may change its regular meeting time and place as it wishes. A board can change its regular meeting schedule by adopting a new resolution at any time. The law does not limit the designation to the organizational meeting. However, when a board has changed the schedule in this way it should make some effort to let the public know so that the people who regularly come to these meetings are not caught off-guard.

3. Special meetings must be publicly announced within 24 hours of the meeting. If a public body needs to hold a special meeting between its regularly scheduled meetings, the time, place, and purpose of the special meeting must be publicly announced at least 24 hours before the meeting. 1 V.S.A.§312(c)(2). A notice containing the time, place and purpose of the meeting must be posted in or near the municipal clerk’s office, and in at least two other public places in the municipality at least 24 hours before the meeting. Notice must also be given either orally or in writing to each member of the public body at least 24 hours before the meeting; however, a member can waive notice. Committees appointed by public bodies must also comply with the open meeting law including this warning of special meetings.

4. Public bodies cannot conduct a public meeting "online". Someday online public meetings might be common. At this time it would be hard for most, if not all of our towns to meet the requirements of the open meeting law using web conferencing. The open meeting law requires meetings to be accessible to the public so that members of the public can see and hear what is going on, and be heard by the board. In order for web conferencing to work the town would have to enough terminals at the town office for member/s of the public to use so that they can observe and participate in the meeting. Note that it is conceivably possible right now for board members to participate in a meeting through web-conferencing – so long as the board member can hear what is going on and can be heard by all present. This is not so different than the current practice of allowing board members to participate in a meeting by a speakerphone. 1 V.S.A. §312

5. Delinquent tax penalty applies only to final due date. In towns that collect taxes by installment, unless a town has a charter provision that provides otherwise, the delinquent tax collector cannot add the 8% penalty to installment payments, but only to the final payment of the year. 32 V.S.A. §1674(b). Several Chittenden county towns have charters that allow the Town to collect the 8% penalty in addition to interest on each installment. Town’s without more generous charter provisions can only assess interest on a late installment payment.

6. The 8% penalty for a delinquent tax payment can only be charged or assessed once on the full amount that is delinquent. A delinquent tax collector can choose to accept partial payment of taxes – or not. If the collector accepts partial payments the best practice is to take a proportionate share of the payment as penalty, interest and principal. In this way the 8% penalty will be taken only once on the principal owed, and interest will continue to accrue on the overdue principal amounts. But in every case the collection fee is only ever 8% on the initial tax due and it is collected only once.

7. Only the delinquent tax collector can waive all or part of the penalty on delinquent taxes. When a town has an elected delinquent tax collector only the collector can decide to charge less than the 8% penalty. The selectboard or the voters cannot vote to charge delinquent taxpayers less than this amount. 32 VSA § 1674(2) provides "on all taxes collected after the expiration of the time established in the notice required by [law] the collector shall be allowed to charge and collect from the taxpayer a commission of eight per cent on the amount of the tax." Because the collector is an independently elected official the selectboard cannot control his or her exercise of discretion in this matter.

8. Listers should make appointments for visiting property. It is a best practice for Listers to call property owners to set appointments to look at property to complete listers cards for reappraisals. If listers show up unannounced it is reasonable for the property owner to say that it is not a convenient time and set an appointment for a mutually convenient future date. If the property owner refuses entry to the property at any time, then the listers must do their best appraisal without entering the property. However, if a property owner subsequently files an appeal of his listed value, the appeal must be considered withdrawn by the property owner if the property owner refuses to allow the BCA to inspect the property to determine its fair market value. 32 V.S.A.§4404(c).

9. NEW LAW: New Voter registrations must be to the clerk by the second Monday before an election. After July 1, 2003, applications to the checklist (Voter Registration applications) must be received by the Town Clerk where the applicant has his or her legal address on or before Noon on the second MONDAY before an election. 17 V.S.A.§2144(a) and (b). If you are assisting in a voter registration drive, please make certain that all applications are in the offices of the Town Clerks before the deadline.

10. NEW LAW: Clerks can add names to the checklist without BCA approval. After July 1, 2003, the Town or City Clerk may add names to the checklist without a meeting of the Board of Civil Authority. 17 V.S.A. §2144(b). This change was made in Vermont law in order to implement the federal Help America Vote Act that requires that names be added to the checklist on an expedited basis in order to maintain a statewide voter checklist. If a town clerk does not believe that an applicant meets the eligibility requirements, the clerk must promptly forward the application to the board of civil authority for action. The board of civil authority will continue to participate in purging the checklist.

11. Meeting minutes can be brief. Minutes of a meeting of a public body should not attempt to be a transcript of the meeting or a complete restatement of all public discussion at the meeting. 1 V.S.A. §312. The law requires only that minutes include the names of everyone who participates, the subjects discussed, motions made and actions taken. It is good practice to keep the minutes short and sweet so that the public can tell what action was taken at the meeting. Too much detail can cause citizens and/or board members to spend more time at meetings debating the accuracy of the "transcriptions" and dialogue recorded in minutes of past meetings, than on the new action items.

12. A town may vote to increase board membership from three to five, and in some cases vote to fill those positions at the same meeting. When a town votes its officers on the floor it may conduct a vote to increase the number of board members from three to five, and then take nominations from the floor and vote to fill those positions. However, when a town votes its officers by Australian Ballot it must conduct two elections. The first vote would be to increase the size of the board. The second election would be held to elect to fill the newly created vacancies. The motion to increase the size of the board could include language that specifies that the new positions will not become effective until the next town meeting. 17 V.S.A. § 2650.

13. Listers meetings must be open to the public – but listers can work outside of board meetings. When listers meet it must be at a publicly noticed special or regular meeting of the board. However, the law permits listers to perform site visits and clerical work outside of board meetings. The law also 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." 1 V.S.A. § 312(g).

14. There is no recall or revote of elected officials. There is no Vermont law that permits the voters to recall an elected official or have a revote of an election of an official. In one town a board member was elected to office but never came to a meeting. The other board members could request his resignation – but they had no power to force him to resign.

15. Election can be contested in Superior Court. The only way to challenge or contest an election of an officer is by filing a petition with the appropriate Superior Court within 15 days following the elecion. 17 V.S.A. §2603. This requires the petitioner to allege either errors 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.

16. Election officials must ensure that no campaign materials are in the voting booths. It is the up to the officials running the election to ensure that the voter takes all campaign materials out of the voting booth. 17 V.S.A. § 2508 (a)(1). A failure to do this in every case will not be enough to have the election overturned. However, if you have evidence that the names were in the booths for many hours - that might convince a court to act.

17. A Lister/JP may not hear tax appeals. When a lister is also a Justice of the Peace for a town the lister may participate in tax appeals as a lister – but may never sit as a member of the board of civil authority(BCA). This is because the BCA judges the work of the listers as it makes its decision on tax appeal. The law prohibits a person to act as a judge in a quasi-judicial matter where he or she has a real or financial interest in the outcome. 12 V.S.A. § 61.

18. Lister should not discuss grievance with landowner until grievance hearing. The listers act as a quasi-judicial board when they meet to hear grievances. 32 V.S.A. § 4222. For that reason, they must be careful to follow all ethical rules including the prohibition against hearing grievances of relatives or close friends or, discussing individual cases with the landowner or others outside of the grievance process, and prior to the determination. 12 V.S.A. § 61.

19. On premise signs limited by state law. 10 V.S.A. § 493 provides that "owners or occupants of real property may erect and maintain on the property, on-premise signs advertising the sale or lease of the property or activities being conducted on the property." That being said, those signs cannot have a total area of more than one hundred fifty square feet, and must advertise activities being conducted on the same premises. A sign advertising the sale or lease of real estate by the owner or an agent may not have an area of more than six square feet The law also provides that an on-premise sign may not be located more than fifteen hundred feet from a main entrance from the highway to the activity or premises advertised.

20. Local sign ordinance may provide stricter rules than state law. Vermont’s state sign law specifically provides that the state law will not supersede the provisions of any local ordinances whose requirements are more strict than those of the state law, so long as the provisions are not inconsistent. 10 V.S.A. § 505.

21. Political signs are permitted in the state highway right of way for up to two weeks. The state prohibits the placement of most signs in the state highway right of way. However, an exemption to the law applies to signs that announce "an auction, or a campaign, drive or event of a civic, philanthropic or religious organization." These signs may be maintained for not more than two weeks. 10 V.S.A. § 494(9), 495(e).

22. Selectboard member can serve on the zoning board. There is no legal conflict of interest between the office of selectboard and that of zoning board. Indeed, it is the not unusual for selectboard members to serve on the zoning board as well. Selectboard members who are members of the zoning board should not participate in any discussion of compensation for the zoning board. In addition, if there is a quorum of the selectboard serving on any other board, including the zoning board, they must refrain from discussing issues that are outside the subject of the zoning board – selectboard matters must only be discussed in a public meeting of the selectboard (or an executive session of that board.)

23. Cemetery Commission may not limit who may conduct burials. State law does not give the cemetery commission the authority to limit who can do burials in the town cemetery so long as the business complies with the rules of the cemetery. The commission may make reasonable rules for the use, care and management of the cemetery. This power probably would not permit the commission to identify what funeral homes or crematoria are permitted to bury people in the cemetery. However, the commission can establish rules that require all funeral homes and crematoria who conduct burials to be licensed by the state, and the commission can require these businesses to follow the particular rules of the cemetery. If they fail to do so, then the commission could reasonably prevent them from conducting burials at the cemetery. 18 V.S.A. § 5305.

24. Selectboard can request fence viewer to examine fences and divide costs between landowners. Upon request of the selectboard, the fence viewers shall examine fences within the town and must determine who is responsible for maintaining the fence dividing two parcels. 24 V.S.A. § 3810. When the land is being pastured without a division fence by both adjoining property owners then the fence viewer can be asked to decide how many animals each can put on the land. 24 V.S.A. § 3804. The fence viewer can also determine where a fence should be placed if the fence cannot be placed along the property line because of water or other impediments, and the owners can not agree on where it should be built. The fence viewer may not decide a boundary line or decide on ownership of land. 24 V.S.A. § 3802. See Camp v. Camp, 59 Vt. 667 (1887); Shaw v. Gilfillan, 22 Vt. 565 (1850).

25. Fence viewer cannot require landowner or occupant to pay for fence if he/she keeps no livestock. In 1989 the Vermont Supreme Court found 24 V.S.A. § 3802 unconstitutional. Section 3802 requires abutting landowners to pay a portion of the costs to maintain a fence that separates his or her property from the neighboring parcel. Choquette v. Perrault, 153 Vt. 45 (1989). The court reasoned that the change in land use patterns in Vermont means that the fence law more and more often applies to landowners without livestock. The court concluded that in such situations the fence law is burdensome, arbitrary and confiscatory, and is thus, unconstitutional. For this reason, the fence viewer can only require the landowner or occupant who owns livestock to pay the cost of maintaining the fence.

26. Appeals from decisions of fence viewers must be made within two hours of the decision. It is a little know fact that the shortest period for bringing appeal is from decisions of the fence viewer. Vermont law permits fence viewer decisions to be appealed to the district or superior court – but only if the appeal is taken within two hours of the rendition of the decision. 24 V.S.A. § 3810.

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It is with fondness we remember Signa Carbee, of Newbury

Vermont who passed away in June. Signa was incredibly public service minded. She served the town for well over 20 years. Signa is one of the unsung heroes of Vermont. Her devotion to the people of Newbury helped make the town and our state a special place.

The Secretary of State’s Office will be honoring long serving appointed and elected local officials of all fourteen counties for the 2004 Vermont Public Service Awards (VPSA). The purpose of the VPSA program is twofold -it gives our dedicated local officials the recognition they deserve - and, by highlighting the vital role our public servants play in our towns, it will hopefully encourage others to serve.

If you are interested in volunteering please email Marianne Lynch at mlynch@sec.state.vt.us or call 802-828-2148
to get involved!

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July 1: Last day for Town Clerk to submit name of Town Treasurer to State Treasurer. 24:1166

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August 16: Bennington Battle Day. 1:371

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September 15: Last day for Board of Civil Authority to review most recent checklist to determine whether those listed are still qualified to vote. 17:2150(c)

September 20: Last day for Board of Civil Authority to certify to Secretary of State purging of the checklist has been completed. 17:2150(d)(7)(E)

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