The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 24 Appendix: Municipal Charters

Chapter 249: Village of Newfane

• Subchapter 001: Village Boundaries Legal and Taxing Authority

• § 101. Village boundaries and legal taxing authority

  The inhabitants of all that part of the Town of Newfane, in the County of Windham, known as the Village of Newfane, and enclosed in the following boundaries, to wit:

  Beginning at a point on the highway leading from said Village to Townshend at the northern boundary of L.H. Whitney’s land; then easterly along said northern boundary of said Whitney’s land to the western boundary of the West River Railroad; thence southerly along the westerly boundary of said railroad to the southeast corner of land owned by Stella Micott; thence westerly along the southern boundary of said Micott’s land across the highway leading from said Village to Brattleboro; thence southerly along the western boundary of said highway to the southern boundary of land owned by Rodney S. Willard; thence westerly along the southern boundary of said Willard’s land to said Willard’s western boundary; then northerly along the westerly boundary of said Willard’s land; thence to the western boundary of land, at Smith’s Brook, owned by E.C. Benedict, and along his western boundary, at Smith’s Brook, to his northern boundary; thence easterly along said Benedict’s northern boundary to and across Smith Brook, so-called, to land of Laura S. Rice; thence southerly on said Rice’s land to land of Sarah M. Fish; thence easterly along said Fish’s land to and across the highway; thence northerly along the east side of the highway leading from said Village to Wardsboro, to the boundary line between land of said Fish and land of F.L. Hamlin; thence easterly along said boundary line to the eastern boundary of said Fish’s land; thence to the northern boundary of land of A.G. Warren; thence along said Warren’s northern boundary to land of Lewis H. Higgins; thence easterly along boundary line between Warren and Higgins’s to land owned by Walter Park, and thence along the boundary line between Higgins and Park to the highway; thence southerly along the western boundary of said highway to a point opposite the place of beginning; thence easterly across said highway to the place of beginning, are hereby incorporated and made a party politic, and shall hereafter be called the Village of Newfane and by that name may have perpetual succession and may sue and be sued, may have a common seal and the same alter at pleasure, and shall be capable of purchasing, holding, and conveying real and personal estate for the use of said Village corporation, and at any annual meeting of the legal voters of said corporation legally warned and holden for that purpose may lay a tax upon the grand list of said Village of Newfane for any of the purposes hereinafter mentioned. All taxes voted by said corporation shall be assessed by the Board of Trustees which shall make rate bills thereof and deliver the same to the Collector of Taxes with proper warrants for the collection thereof.

• Subchapter 002: Election and Terms of Officers

• § 201. Elections and terms of officers

  The officers of said corporation shall be a Board of three trustees, a Clerk, a Treasurer, a Collector of Taxes, an Auditor, and a Fire Marshal, all of which officers shall be chosen by ballot at each annual meeting of the legal voters of the said corporation or at a special meeting as hereafter provided. The term of office of said officers shall be one year and until their successors are elected. Any vacancy in a Village office may be filled by the Board of Trustees by appointment in writing, recorded by the Clerk.

• Subchapter 003: Board of Trustees and Other Elected Officers

• § 301. Powers of the Board of Trustees

  The Board of Trustees shall have the general care and management of the prudential interests and affairs of said corporation, shall draw orders upon the Treasurer for and direct the expenditure of all monies belonging to said corporation, and generally perform all duties legally enjoined upon it by said corporation. Said Board of Trustees shall have power to abate taxes imposed by said corporation subject to the same limitations, and for the same causes provided in section 3069 of the Vermont Statutes. All powers vested in the Board may be exercised by a majority of its members.

• § 302. Clerk

  The Clerk shall keep a record of all meetings and proceedings of the corporation and of the Board of Trustees and give copies of the same when required upon payment of reasonable fees. The Clerk shall warn all meetings of the legal voters of said corporation by posting notices thereof containing a statement of the business proposed to be transacted in three or more public places within the limits of the said corporation at least six days before the time of meeting.

• § 303. Treasurer and Collector of Taxes

  The powers and duties of the Treasurer and Collector of Taxes shall be the same with respect to said corporation as are the powers and duties of town treasurers and town collectors of taxes with respect to towns. Each shall give a bond to the corporation, conditioned for the faithful performance of each office’s duties, in such sum and with such sureties as the board of trustees shall prescribe. If a Treasurer or Collector of Taxes does not give such bond within 10 days after election or appointment, the office shall be vacant.

• § 304. Auditor

  The Auditor shall at least once each year, and whenever the Auditor sees fit to examine and adjust and state the accounts of all corporation officers and of the corporation and shall report all such accounts and the items thereof and the state of the treasury to the corporation at each annual meeting, and shall cause the report to be printed and a copy thereof to be delivered to each taxpayer of the corporation at least five days before the day of said annual meeting.

• § 305. Collector of Taxes to be Chief of Police

  The Collector of Taxes shall by virtue of holding said office be the Chief of Police of said the Village of Newfane, and as such shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of those duties and shall cause this officer’s oath of office to be recorded by the Clerk. The Chief of Police shall be informing officer and conservator of the peace within the said the Village of Newfane, and may serve any criminal process returnable within said the Village of Newfane, and any mittimus issued by any justice of the peace therein, and shall be proper officer of the court in all causes before justices within said corporation and for all such services shall receive the fees provided by law for constables.

• Subchapter 004: Prosecution of Violations

• § 401. Prosecutions

  Prosecutions for violation of the provisions of this charter or the provisions of any bylaw of the said the Village of Newfane made in pursuance of this Charter may be commenced before any justice of the peace of the County of Windham upon complaint of any grand juror of the Town of Newfane or the State’s Attorney of the County of Windham, and all fines and costs imposed for the violations of the provisions of this charter, or the bylaws of the said corporation, or the laws of the State within the limits of said corporation shall be paid into the treasury of said corporation, and the costs of prosecution shall be paid out of the same treasury to the persons entitled thereto on the order of the court before which the trial was held.

• Subchapter 005: Infrastructure

• § 501. Water and light

  Said corporation is empowered to contract with any water company or any electric light company for water and lights or either for extinguishing fires, for watering the streets, for public drinking places, and for lighting the streets and other public purposes, and may levy and collect a tax to provide funds to meet such contracts.

• § 502. Sewers

  Said corporation is empowered to construct a system of sewers and repair the same, and for that purpose may take such lands as are necessary, and in taking lands for such purposes said corporation and its Board of Trustees shall proceed in the manner prescribed for towns and selectboards in taking lands for highway purposes, and said corporation may borrow such sums of money to defray the expenses of such sewers as it may by vote determine, and for that purpose may issue bonds with coupons attached on such terms and in such manner as said corporation may prescribe. If said Village votes to construct a sewer, it may make and establish bylaws regulating the manner of construction, the raising of the money therefor, and all other matters of detail relating thereto.

• § 503. Streets and walks

  The Board of Trustees of said corporation shall have the power to lay out, alter, maintain, or discontinue any street or walk and lane in said Village, and appraise and settle the damage therefor, causing its proceedings to be recorded in the Town Clerk’s office in said Town; provided, that the trustees, in laying out, altering, and maintaining, or discontinuing, any such street, walk, or lane, shall be subject to the same regulations, and in all respects shall proceed in same manner, as selectboards of towns in like cases; and any party aggrieved shall be entitled to the same redress to which they would be entitled if the same had been done by the selectboards of the Town of Newfane.

• § 504. Water pipes

  The trustees, or a majority of them, may lay water pipes, within the limits of said Village, and may, for that purpose enter upon the lands of any land owner in said Village, and lay and maintain water pipes through such land, and repair the same when necessary, upon payment or tender of payment of such compensation as damages therefor as the said trustees shall award to such land owner, and to any tenant or occupant of such land to the amount that the individual’s interests are affected thereby. Any party aggrieved shall be entitled to the same redress as is provided in case of taking of land by selectboards for highway purposes.

• Subchapter 006: Town Meetings

• § 601. Date of annual meeting

  The annual meeting of said corporation for the choice of officers and for the transaction of any business specified in the warning of such meeting, shall be held in the Village of Newfane on the first Wednesday in May.

• § 602. Elections at special meeting

  If the annual meeting of said Village fails to be held, for want of notice hereinbefore provided for, or for any other cause, the corporation shall not thereby be prejudiced and said several officers may at any time thereafter be elected at a special meeting called for that purpose, as hereinbefore provided for calling annual meetings; but the term of office of any officers so elected at any special meeting shall expire at the same time as if they had been regularly chosen at the annual meeting.

• § 603. Voting

  Every person who resides within the limits of said Village and is a legal voter in Town meeting of the Town of Newfane shall be entitled to vote at any Village meeting.

• Subchapter 007: Powers of the Village

• § 701. Powers of the Village

  Said corporation shall have power to make, amend or repeal by-laws not repugnant to the Constitution or laws of this State or of the United States, for the following purposes:

  1. To establish and regulate a market.

  2. To suppress and restrain disorderly and gaming houses, billiard and pool tables, and all descriptions of gaming, and for the destruction of all instruments and devices used for that purpose.

  3. To regulate exhibitions of common show persons, and of shows of every kind not interdicted by law.

  4. To abate and remove all public and private nuisances.

  5. To compel the owner or occupant of any unwholesome, noisesome, 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.

  6. To direct the location and management of all slaughter houses, meat markets, steam mills, blacksmith shops, and sewers.

  7. To prevent immoderate riding or driving in the streets, and cruelty to animals, and may enforce the statutes of the State relating to use of automobiles.

  8. To regulate the erection of buildings, and to regulate entrances and exits to public halls and theatres until proper exits are provided, to prevent the encumbering of the streets, sidewalks, and public alleys with firewood, lumber, carriages, boxes, and other things, and provide for the care, preservation, and improvement of public grounds.

  9. To restrain all cattle, horses, sheep, swine, and fowls from running at large in the streets of said Village.

  10. To provide a supply of water for the protection of the Village against fire, and for other purposes, and to regulate the use of the same.

  11. To compel all persons to remove from the sidewalks and gutters adjacent to the premises owned or occupied by them all snow, ice, dirt, and garbage, and to keep such sidewalks and gutters clean.

  12. To license innkeepers, keepers of saloons or victualing houses, peddlers, itinerant vendors, and auctioneers, under such regulations and for such sums of money as shall be prescribed therefor.

  13. To restrain the use of rockets, squibs, firecrackers, or other fireworks in the streets or commons, and to prevent the practicing therein of any amusements having a tendency to injure or annoy persons passing thereon or to endanger the security of property.

  14. To regulate the grade of streets and the grade and width of sidewalks and the construction thereof and protect the same.

  15. To provide for lighting the Village.

  16. To prohibit and punish willful injury to trees, regulate the posting of notices and advertisements, and to prevent and punish trespasses or willful injuries to or upon the common, public buildings, and other property.

  17. To establish and maintain a public library and reading room.

• Subchapter 008: Village Bylaws

• § 801. Recordation and certification

  The bylaws of said corporation shall be recorded in the office of the Clerk, and the Clerk’s certificate that such bylaws were adopted at annual meeting of said corporation or at a special meeting thereof, called for that purpose, shall be prima facie evidence of such fact in any court in this State; and certified copies of said bylaws and the Clerk’s certificates shall also be received as evidence in all the courts of the State.

• § 802. Fines

  A fine not exceeding $20.00 with costs of prosecution may be imposed by said corporation for the breach of any of its bylaws with the alternative sentence to the house of correction in case said fine and costs are not paid as is provided by law in other criminal cases.

• Subchapter 009: Competency to Act as Legal or Public Safety Officer

• § 901. Competency to act as legal or public safety officer

  No person being a resident or taxpayer of said corporation shall thereby be deemed incompetent to act as judge, justice, juror, sheriff, deputy sheriff, constable, or police officer in any matter, cause, or proceeding in which said corporation shall be interested.

• Subchapter 010: Transitional Provisions

• § 1001. [Transitional; related to first meeting.]

• § 1002. [Transitional; related to voter approval.]