The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 24 Appendix: Municipal Charters

Chapter 253: Village of North Troy

• Subchapter 001: CORPORATE EXISTENCE AND BOUNDARIES

• § 1. Corporate existence, boundaries

  All that part of Troy, in the County of Orleans, enclosed within the following boundaries: commencing at the northeast corner of land owned and occupied by Winfield S. Elkins, thence southerly along the line between the land owned and occupied by said Elkins, S. P. Hunt, and C. P. Adams, to the highway leading from North Troy Village to Newport, thence westerly in the highway to the river road, so called, thence southerly in the river road to the southeast corner of land owned and occupied by Curtis Elkins, thence westerly and southerly on said Curtis Elkins’ south and east line to the Missisquoi River, thence westerly along the river to the southeast corner of land formerly owned and occupied by the late Harvey Elkins, deceased, thence westerly on the south line of said Harvey Elkins’ land to the southwest corner of the land, thence southerly on the easterly line of land owned by John W. Currier to the southeast corner of said Currier’s land, thence westerly on the south line of said Currier’s land to the west road, so called, crossing the road and continuing westerly to the southwest corner of land owned by H. B. Parkhurst, thence northerly on lot lines to the Canadian boundary, thence easterly on Canada line to the Missisquoi River, following the river to S. B. Hammond’s north line, thence easterly along said Hammond’s north line to said Winfield S. Elkins’ northwest corner, thence along said W. S. Elkins’ north line to point commenced at-all surface measure-shall hereafter be known by the name of the Village of North Troy.

• § 2. Authority of Village

  By that name may have perpetual succession, and be capable of suing and being sued, may prosecute and defend in any court, 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 the Village; and may, at any annual or special meeting warned for that purpose, as provided in this chapter, lay a tax upon the ratable estate within the same, whether residents or nonresidents, for any of the purposes herein mentioned, and the trustees shall make out a rate bill accordingly and deliver the same to the Collector, who shall have the same power to collect such tax as the collector of town taxes, and may in like manner levy on and sell property to satisfy the same, and for want thereof may commit any person to jail against whom the Collector has such a tax.

• § 3. Powers of Village

  The corporation shall have power to make such prudential bylaws, rules, and regulations as it shall from time to time deem proper; to alter, repeal, or amend the same; such in particular as relate to its streets, sidewalks, alleys, public highways, commons, and parks, the cleaning, repairing, improving the same; such as relate to slaughterhouses and nuisances generally; such as relate to a watch, and the lighting of the streets of the Village, the restraining of any cattle, horses, sheep, swine, or geese from running at large in the Village; to establish and regulate a market; to suppress and restrain disorderly and gaming houses, and all descriptions of gaming, and for the destruction of all instruments and devices used for that purpose; to compel the owner or occupant of any unwholesome, noisome, or offensive house or place to remove or cleanse the same from time to time, as may be necessary for the health or comfort of the inhabitants of the Village; to regulate the manufacture and keeping of gunpowder, ashes, and all other combustible or dangerous materials; to prevent immoderate riding or driving in the streets, and cruelty to animals; to regulate the erection of buildings, and prevent encumbering the streets, sidewalks, and public alleys with firewood, lumber, carriages, boxes, or other things, and provide for the care, preservation, and improvement of public grounds; 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; 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; to license innkeepers, keepers of saloons or victualing houses, and auctioneers, under regulations and for sums of money as the trustees may prescribe; to regulate or 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 endanger the security of property; to regulate the making of alterations and repairs of stovepipes, fireplaces, and other things from which damage by fire may be apprehended; and also to regulate the use of buildings in crowded localities for hazardous purposes; to provide for the preservation of buildings from fires by precautionary measures and inspections, and to establish and regulate a fire department and fire companies, and other matters deemed necessary for the proper regulation of the affairs of the Village; provided, that no such bylaws shall be inconsistent with the Constitution or laws of the State or the United States. The corporation shall have power to impose such reasonable fine, penalty, or forfeiture for the breach of any bylaws by it established, as it may judge reasonable, which may be prosecuted for and recovered in an action of debt before any court proper to try the same; in which action it shall be deemed sufficient to declare generally, setting forth the particular bylaw for a breach of which the suit is brought; and all fines, penalties, and forfeitures so recovered shall be paid into the treasury of the Village, to be expended for the benefit and improvement of the Village as may seem best to the Board of Trustees.

• Subchapter 002: VILLAGE MEETING AND OFFICERS

• § 4. Qualified voters

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

• § 5. Elections at meeting

  At every annual meeting of the Village, the qualified electors of the Village shall, by ballot if called for, elect from their number a Moderator, a Clerk, a Treasurer, a Collector of Taxes, three trustees, three fire wardens, and an Attorney. The Trustees elected at the last Village meeting shall hold office during the remainder of their official year. At the annual Village meeting to be held on the first Tuesday of January, one trustee shall be elected for the term of three years. All vacancies in the office of trustee shall be filled at the next annual meeting or at a special Village meeting duly called for that purpose.

• § 6. Village Moderator

  It shall be the duty of the Moderator to preside at all the meetings of the Village, and he or she shall have the same power as a Moderator of Town meetings.

• § 7. Village Clerk

  It shall be the duty of the Clerk to keep fair and accurate records of all the proceedings of the corporation, and he or she shall give copies of the same when required, with power to certify to the same. It shall be the Clerk’s duty to warn special meetings of the corporation, agreeably to the direction of the trustees, or a majority of them, and all annual meetings, by posting notice of the time and place of such meetings in at least three public places in the Village, at least 10 days previous to the time of meeting, together with a statement of the business to be transacted. Any meeting of the corporation may be adjourned, and any business may be transacted at such adjourned meeting, which might, under the warning, have been transacted at the original meeting, as well as any other business, notice of which shall be given at such original meeting before the adjournment of the same.

• § 8. Village Treasurer and Collector

  The Treasurer and Collector shall perform for the corporation the same duties required by law respectively of a town treasurer and a collector of town taxes, and shall have the same powers, shall proceed in the same manner, be subject to the same liabilities, and give like bonds to the corporation for the faithful performance of its respective duties.

• § 9. Village trustees

  The trustees shall have the general care and management of the prudential interest of the Village; shall make out all taxes, and direct the expenditures of all monies belonging to the Village, and shall draw all orders upon the Treasurer, and generally shall perform all duties legally enjoined upon them by the corporation; and all powers vested in the trustees may be performed by a majority of them. The trustees, in case of the death, removal, or disability of any of the officers mentioned in this chapter, may perform their respective duties until others are elected.

• § 10. Highway district taxes

  All the territory embraced within the limits of the Village is hereby constituted a highway district of the Town of Troy, and all the highway taxes assessed upon the ratable estate therein shall be paid in money; and the Selectboard of the Town of Troy shall make out a tax bill therefor, and deliver the same seasonably, as required by law, with a warrant for its collection, to the Collector of the Village, who shall collect the same as other taxes of the Village are collected, and pay the same over to the Treasurer of the Village; which money shall be drawn from the Village treasury by the trustees, and shall be expended by them in building, constructing, sustaining, and repairing the streets, highways, walks, alleys, and lanes of the Village, except 15 percent thereof which shall be paid into the treasury of the Town of Troy by the Treasurer of the Village of North Troy for the use of the Town; and no surveyors of highways for the highway district shall be required or chosen by the Town.

• § 11. Roads, sidewalks, and assessments

  The trustees of the Village may lay out, alter, maintain, and discontinue any street, road, lane, alley, or walk in the Village, and appraise and settle the damages therefor, causing their proceedings to be recorded in the Town Clerk’s office in the Town; provided, that any person aggrieved by their proceedings shall have the like opportunity for applying to the County Court for the County of Orleans to obtain redress, as is or may be allowed by law to those aggrieved with the proceedings of the Selectboard in similar cases. The trustees in making, altering, or repairing sidewalks shall have power, subject to the ordinances and bylaws of the Village, on giving 12 days’ notice to the parties of the time and place of hearing, to assess the owners of lands adjoining such sidewalk as the trustees shall judge such lands to be benefited thereby; and when they shall have made any such assessment, they shall make a report thereof, setting forth their doings in that respect; which report they shall cause to be recorded in the Town Clerk’s office in the Town of Troy, and when so recorded, the amount so assessed shall be and remain a lien, in the nature of the tax, upon the lands so assessed, until the same shall be paid. From such assessment, there shall be the same right of appeal to the County Court, and the same proceedings in respect to such appeal as is provided in this section, and the final decision of the County Court in the matter of such appeal shall, when the record thereof is duly recorded as aforesaid, be a lien upon the lands so assessed as mentioned in this section; but such appeal shall not delay the making, altering, or repairing such sidewalk; and, if the owner of such lands 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 to the Village Treasurer the amount of the assessment, the trustees shall issue their warrant for the collection of the same, directed to the Village Collector of Taxes, who shall have authority to sell at public auction so much of the land 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.

• § 12. Licensing authority

  The trustees of the Village shall have the sole power of granting licenses and vacating the same, within the limits of the Village, agreeably to the bylaws, rules, and ordinances thereof that the selectboard has by Titles 7 and 24 of the Vermont Statutes Annotated and all monies received for such licenses shall belong to the Village treasury, and be paid into the same.

• § 13. Fire Warden

  The fire wardens of the Village shall be present at all fires, having some distinguishing badge, fixed upon by the corporation; and the wardens, in time of fire, are hereby empowered to demand reasonable assistance from the inhabitants of the Village or any of them, and all persons who may be present at such times are hereby required to assist in extinguishing and preventing the spreading of such fire, and to remove goods and effects out of any house or other building endangered by such fire; and the majority of the fire wardens present at any fire are hereby further empowered to cause to be pulled down or removed such buildings as they may think necessary for the purpose of preventing the progress or spreading of the fire, and for that purpose may command the assistance of any person in the Village; they are also empowered, by force if necessary, to suppress any tumults and disorders at the fire, and all persons present are required to yield strict obedience to the wardens and all orders given by them; and if any person shall neglect or refuse to obey the orders of the fire wardens or either of them, in time of fire in the Village, in any manner authorized in this act, such offender shall, upon conviction before any justice of the peace, forfeit and pay a fine not exceeding $50.00, with costs of prosecution, to the Treasurer of the corporation.

• § 14. Hook and ladder company

  The trustees of the Village may organize one fire and hook and ladder company in the Village, for the purpose of preventing fires, and at the expense of the Village may purchase a fire engine and other necessary implements; provided, the corporation shall so direct by vote at a meeting duly called for that purpose.

• § 15. Grand list

  The trustees may make a grand list for the Village at any time prior to voting a tax, on the following basis: the Town grand list of Troy, comprised within the limits of the Village, shall constitute such grand list, and the trustees shall deduct therefrom all real estate lying and being without the limits of the Village, as near as may be, and such list, when completed, shall be final and conclusive upon all concerned.

• § 16. Competency to hold Village office

  No member of the Village shall be deemed thereby incompetent to act as judge, justice of the peace, juror, sheriff, or constable in any cause or proceeding in which the corporation shall be interested.

• § 17. Date of annual meeting

  The annual meeting of the corporation for the choice of officers and for the transaction of any business specified in the warning of the meeting shall be held in the Village of North Troy, on the third Tuesday of March of each year, or such other day that the trustees may approve. (Amended 2007, No. M-3, § 2.)

• § 18. [Transitional provision]

• § 19. [Transitional provision]

• § 20. Village Constable

  An office of Village Constable is established in the Village of North Troy. The Village Constable shall be appointed by the Village Trustees and serve at the pleasure of the Trustees. If the Village Constable is certified as a Level II or Level III law enforcement officer under 20 V.S.A. § 2358, he or she shall have the authority to enforce any Village ordinance. (Added 2003, No. M-3, § 2; amended 2015, No. 2, § 4.)