The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 24 Appendix: Municipal Charters

Chapter 217: Village of Derby Line

• Subchapter 001: Boundaries and Corporate Existence

• § 101. Boundaries and corporate existence

  All that portion of the Town of Derby in the County of Orleans, enclosed within the following boundaries, to wit:

  Beginning at the national boundary line post on the highway leading from A. P. Ball’s to Hiram Todd’s and thence along said boundary line easterly to a point that intersects with a continuation of the easterly line of land owned by H. D. Holmes, thence southerly along said continuation of, and the said easterly line of said Holmes’ land, to the southeast corner of said land, thence west following the south line of the said Holmes’ land, to the highway leading to the farm now owned by Asa Moran, across said highway to the pasture owned by the A. T. Foster estate and following the east line of said pasture to the northeast corner of land owned by H. E. Foster, thence along the east line of said Foster land to the southeast corner of said land; thence westerly on the south line of said Foster’s and along the south line of land now owned by F. D. Butterfield to the highway leading from Derby Line to Derby Center; thence across said highway to the line of road leading west, known as “Hammer Handle Road” along the south lines of land owned by William Spaulding, A. B. Nelson, H. E. Foster, and A. G. Bugbee to southwest corner of said A. G. Bugbee’s land; thence along the west line of land owned by the said Bugbee and land owned by Henry E. Foster, northerly to said Foster’s northwest corner; thence easterly from said point to the southwest corner of land owned by J. B. Goodhue; thence northerly and on said Goodhue’s west line to the highway leading from Mrs. H. H. Leslie’s farm to Derby Line; thence along the highway in an easterly direction to a point opposite H. D. Holmes’ west line; thence across said highway and on said Holmes’ west line to his northwest corner; thence across the Tomiphobia River to land owned by Connecticut and Passumpsic R. R. R. Co., or by Massawippi Valley R. R. Co.; thence in a westerly direction along said river to a point where it intersects the national boundary line; thence in an easterly direction along said boundary line to the place begun at, shall be known as the Village of Derby Line, and in and by that name may sue and be sued, prosecute, and defend in any court, may purchase, take, hold, sell, and convey real estate and personal property necessary for its corporate purposes, and shall have all the rights and privileges and be subject to all the liabilities incident to public corporation.

• Subchapter 002: Annual and Special Meetings.

• § 201. Warning of meeting and qualified voters

  (a) The annual meetings of the Village of Derby Line shall be held on the first Tuesday in April in each year at such hour as the notice shall state, in the Town Hall in the Village or at such other time and place as the Village shall hereafter appoint.

  (b) Notice for such meetings shall be posted in at least three public places in the Village, at least 10 days previous to a meeting. The notice shall be signed by the Clerk of the Village, and, in case of the Clerk’s failure so to do, by a majority of the Trustees of the Village, and for want of the Trustees, or upon their failure so to do, by a majority of the justices of the peace residing in the Village.

  (c) Whenever five legal voters residing in the Village shall so request, the Clerk and, upon the Clerk’s neglect or refusal, the Trustees may call a special meeting of the Village, giving notice of the special meeting as provided in subsection (b) of this section and specifying in the notice the object of the special meeting and the business to be done at the special meeting.

  (d) At a meeting held under this section, only the inhabitants of the Village who meet the qualifications of 17 V.S.A. § 2121 and who are on the voter checklist of the Village shall be entitled to vote. (Amended 2013, No. M-11 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. April 8, 2014.)

• § 202. Officers to be elected at annual meeting

  (a) At the annual meeting of the Village, the following officers shall be elected, by ballot if called for, for the ensuing year except as provided in subsection (d) of this section and until their successors are chosen:

  (1) a Moderator, who shall preside at all meetings of the Village with powers of moderators at town meetings;

  (2) a Clerk, who shall keep a record of the proceedings of meetings of the Village, with power to certify copies of the same and who shall perform all the duties of a clerk;

  (3) three Trustees, subject to the provisions of subsection (d) of this section, who shall have the management of the affairs of the Village, with the necessary powers for that purpose, who may fill vacancies in the offices of the Village, may act by a majority, and of whom the oldest in office present at any meeting of the Village shall preside when the Moderator is absent;

  (4) a Treasurer, who shall be sworn and shall discharge the usual duties of a treasurer;

  (5) a Tax Collector, who shall be sworn and shall discharge the usual duties of a tax collector; and

  (6) such other officers as the bylaws of the Village require, who shall have all the powers necessary for the purposes of their office.

  (b) The Treasurer and the Tax Collector shall give bonds within 10 days after their election or appointment in such sums as the Village shall direct for the faithful performance of their duties. Failure to give such a bond within that time period shall cause the office to be vacant.

  (c) Candidates for the offices of Clerk, Treasurer, and Tax Collector do not need to be residents of the Village but shall be residents of the Town of Derby as shown by their inclusion on the Town voter checklist.

  (d) There shall be elected at the annual meeting of 1911 three Trustees for a term of one, two, and three years, respectively, and thereafter, at each annual meeting, one Trustee shall be elected for the term of three years, to succeed the Trustee whose term expires. A vacancy in such office may be filled at an annual meeting. (Amended 2013, No. M-11 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. April 8, 2014.)

• Subchapter 003: Village Trustees

• § 301. Powers of trustees

  The trustees of said Village shall have the same powers to lay out, alter, and discontinue streets and highways in said Village as are vested, by law, in the selectboard in towns, and all proceedings in respect to laying out, altering, and discontinuing streets and highways in said Village shall be had in the same manner as is prescribed by law in respect to such matters in towns, and from all of their acts or omissions or refusals to act in such respect, appeals may be taken to the County Court in the same manner as is provided by law for the decision of selectboards in such matters. And the Selectboard of the Town of Derby shall have no power to lay out, alter, or discontinue streets or highways within the limits of said Village. The trustees shall have full charge of repairing streets and highways in said Village.

• Subchapter 004: Village as Highway District

• § 401. Highway district

  All the territory embraced within the limits of the Village is hereby constituted a highway district of the Town of Derby, and three-fourths of all highway taxes assessed upon the ratable estate in the highway district shall be paid in money by the Selectboard of the Town of Derby to the Treasurer of the Village to be used and applied by the Trustees in building, repairing, and sustaining the highways, streets, walks, alleys, sidewalks, and lanes; and if any portion of the tax so paid into the treasury of the Village in the judgment of the Trustees shall not be needed for the purposes specified in this section, the same may, in the discretion of the Trustees, be expended in improving, beautifying, or lighting the streets or commons of the Village, and no highway surveyor shall be required or chosen by the Town for said Village. The tax shall be paid over by the Selectboard on or before the first day of July in each year. (Amended 2023, No. 6, § 311, eff. July 1, 2023.)

• Subchapter 005: Sewer System

• § 501. Sewer system; establishment; fee assessment and collection

  When the public health or convenience shall require the construction of a common sewer or main drain in the Village of Derby Line and through the principal streets of the Village, the trustees of the Village, upon application in writing of 20 or more freeholders and legal voters of the Village, are authorized and empowered to lay, make, and maintain any common sewer or main drain and repair the same when necessary, from time to time, and for that purpose may take the lands of any individuals or corporations; and the Trustees shall proceed in the same manner as is prescribed by law for selectboards in taking lands for highways and in awarding damages; and the Trustees shall make a return of their doings to the office of the Clerk of the Village, who shall record the same in the records of the Village. Each person or corporation whose particular drain shall enter into a main drain or sewer or who in the opinion of the Trustees shall receive a benefit for draining the premises of the person or corporation shall be liable to contribute a just share toward the expense of laying and constructing and maintaining of the sewer or drain and shall be assessed by the Trustees a share; and at least 10 days’ notice of the time and place of the assessment for the contribution shall be given to the person or corporation, its agent, tenant, or lessee, and a certificate of the assessment shall be left with the Clerk of the Village, and recorded by the Clerk, and when so recorded the amount so assessed shall be and remain a lien, in the nature of a tax upon the lands and premises so assessed until the same shall be paid; and if the owner of the lands and premises shall neglect, for the space of six months after the final decision of the Trustees, or in case of appeal to the County Court, to pay the Village Treasurer the amount of the assessment, the trustees shall issue their warrant for the collection of the same, directed to the Village Tax Collector, who shall have authority to sell at public auction so much of the lands and premises as will satisfy the assessment and all legal fees, and who shall proceed in the same manner as collectors of town taxes are required by law to proceed in selling real estate at auction for the collection of town taxes. (Amended 2023, No. 6, § 312, eff. July 1, 2023.)

• § 502. Petition for appeal of damage award or fee assessment

  (a) When any person or corporation shall be dissatisfied with the decision of said Trustees in the award of damages for land taken for such sewer or drain, or in any assessment for contribution for the same, such person or corporation may petition the Orleans County Court for a re-assessment of such damages or contribution, and any number of persons agreed may join in the petition but such petition shall not delay the laying or repairing of such sewer or drain.

  (b) Said petition shall be served on the clerk of said Village within 60 days after the awarding of such damages or said assessment for contribution and be filed in the office of said Village Clerk. Such proceedings shall be had in said Court on such petition as are provided by law for the reassessment for lands taken for highways, except as herein provided, and the Commissioners therein provided by said Court shall notify one of the Trustees of said Village of the time and place when they will hear said matter.

• Subchapter 006: Police Officers

• § 601. Police officers

  The trustees of said Village shall have power to, and may appoint such number of police officers within said Village, as said trustees may judge necessary for the interest of the inhabitants of said Village, by writing under their hands, which shall be recorded in the office of the Village Clerk; and such appointment may be revoked at any time. Said trustees may specify their duties as watchmen and patrols, and agree with them for their compensation, which shall be paid by the said corporation. Each of said police shall be sworn, and shall have the same powers, within the limits of said Village as constables, in serving criminal process and in criminal matters, and when on duty shall wear conspicuously a badge of office, and shall hold their office for one year, unless sooner discharged as aforesaid.

• Subchapter 007: Power to Adopt Bylaws

• § 701. Power to adopt bylaws

  Said Village may make, alter, and repeal bylaws of the following subject matters, viz.:

  First.— Relating to their streets, sidewalks, alleys, public highways, commons, parks, and public grounds, the cleaning, repairing, and improving the same; to prevent the encumbering of the same with firewood, coal, ashes, lumber, carriages, boxes, and other things, and to compel persons to remove from the sidewalks and gutters adjacent to the premises owned or occupied by them snow, dirt, and garbage, and to keep such sidewalks and gutters clean.

  Second.— Relating to a watch and lighting the streets.

  Third.— Relating to slaughter-houses and nuisances generally and to compel the owner or occupant of an unwholesome or offensive house or place to remove or cleanse the same from time to time as may be necessary for the health and comfort of the inhabitants of said Village.

  Fourth.— Relating to sewers.

  Fifth.— Relating to water supply for the protection of the Village and the inhabitants thereof against fires and for other purposes and to regulate the use of the same.

  Sixth.— To restrain animals from running at large in said Village.

  Seventh.— To establish and regulate markets.

  Eighth.— To establish and maintain hay scales.

  Ninth.— To suppress disorderly and gambling houses, and all descriptions of gaming, and for the destruction of instruments used for that purpose.

  Tenth.— To prevent immoderate driving in the streets and cruelty to animals.

  Eleventh.— To regulate the erection of buildings and the materials to be used therefor, and the use and occupancy of buildings in crowded localities for special hazardous purposes.

  Twelfth.— To regulate the manufacture and keeping of gunpowder and all other combustibles or dangerous materials.

  Thirteenth.— To regulate the making, altering, and repairing of stove pipes, furnaces, fire places, depositories for ashes and other things, from which loss or damage from fire may be apprehended, and in general to provide for the preservation of buildings from fires, by precautionary measures and inspections.

  Fourteenth.— To establish, regulate, and maintain a fire department and fire, hose, and hook and ladder companies.

  Fifteenth.— To regulate or restrain the use and sale of rockets, squibs, firecrackers, toy pistols, or other fireworks within the Village.

  Sixteenth.— To regulate the exhibition of shows not interdicted by law.

  Seventeenth.— To license inn keepers and victualers, peddlers, itinerant vendors, and auctioneers, and license and suppress pool and billiard tables, bowling alleys, skating rinks, and other places of amusement.

  Eighteenth.— To regulate the length and width of streets and sidewalks, and the construction thereof, and protect the same.

  Nineteenth.— To prohibit and punish willful injury to trees planted for shade, ornament, convenience, or use, public or private, and to prevent and punish trespass or willful injuries to or upon public buildings, squares, commons, cemeteries, or other property within said Village. And said corporation may establish, alter, or repeal other bylaws and ordinances that it may deem necessary for the well-being of said Village, and for the proper regulation of the officers thereof, not repugnant to the laws of the State.

• § 702. Imposition of penalties

  Said Village may impose a fine or forfeiture not exceeding $100.00 for the violation of any bylaw or ordinance. Such penalty may be recovered in an action on the case upon this statute, in the name of this corporation, in which action it shall be sufficient to declare generally that the defendant is guilty of violation of a certain bylaw, naming it generally, and under such declaration the special matter may be given in evidence. But nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to prevent said corporation from having such other and further relief, as it may be entitled by law to compel a compliance with the bylaws and ordinances of said Village.

• Subchapter 008: Village as Fire District

• § 801. Fire district

  Said Village is hereby constituted a fire district for the purpose of preventing the destructive consequences of fires, and the trustees thereof shall have all the powers and be subject to the same restrictions as prudential committees in fire districts in making contracts and expenditures for the preservation of property in said Village from loss or damage by fire.

• Subchapter 009: Taxation

• § 901. Grand list

  It shall be the duty of the listers of the Town of Derby, in making their assessments of real estate in said Town, to designate, in the list by them made, the real estate situated within the Village of Derby Line; and in case any piece or parcel of real estate is situated partly within and partly without the limits of said Village, said listers shall designate in said list the appraised value of said real estate that lies within said limits.

• § 902. Assessment of tax

  Said Village may, at its annual meeting or at any special meeting warned for that purpose, assess a tax on the list of real and personal estate taxable therein, for any of the purposes mentioned in this charter, and shall have all the powers, and may collect such tax in such manner as is provided by law for the collection of town taxes in towns, and the trustees of said Village are to have the power and perform the duties herein required of the selectboards in towns.

• § 903. Board of Tax Abatement

  The trustees and Clerk of said Village shall constitute a Board for the Abatement of Taxes in said Village and shall have the same power and proceed in the same manner as the board for the abatement of taxes in towns.

• § 904. Membership on Board not disqualification to serve as law enforcement or judicial officer

  A member of said corporation shall not be deprived, by reason of such membership, to act as judge, juror, sheriff, constable, or justice of the peace in any cause or proceeding in which such corporation is interested.

• Subchapter 010: Bonding Authority

• § 1001. Bonding authority

  Said Village at an annual or at any special meeting called for that purpose is hereby authorized and empowered to vote to borrow money for any of the purposes herein mentioned, and to issue its notes and bonds therefor, and such notes or bonds shall be signed by the trustees and countersigned by the Treasurer of said Village, and if interest coupons are attached they shall be signed by the Treasurer and the bonds or notes shall contain a statement that they were issued for the purposes mentioned and in conformity with the provisions of this charter, and such statement shall be conclusive evidence of the same, and of the liability of the Village to pay such notes or bonds in an action by a person who in good faith holds such notes or bonds. The Village Treasurer shall keep a record of every note or bond issued under the provisions of this charter, therein stating the number and denomination of each note or bond, when and where payable, to whom issued, and the rate of interest thereon, and also shall keep a record of payments, interest, and principal, and if any coupons are taken up shall deface the same.

• Subchapter 011: Transitional Provisions

• § 1101. [Transitional provision relating to present board of officers]

• § 1102. [Transitional provision relating to adoption of the charter]