The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 24 Appendix: Municipal Charters

Chapter 289: Village of Westminster

• § 1. Boundaries; body politic

  The inhabitants of all that part of the Town of Westminster in the County of Windham, enclosed in the following boundaries, to wit:

  Commencing at the northeast corner of the farm of Frank H. Farr, on the west bank of the Connecticut River, thence westerly on the north line of the Farr to the brow or top of Clapp’s Hill, so called, thence westerly on the north line of the Farr and land of the Kurn Hattin Home Association to the west side of the highway leading from Westminster East Parish to Westminster West Parish, thence northerly along the west side of the highway to the cold spring, so called, crossing the highway at the spring, thence northerly on the west line of lands of the Westminster Aqueduct Society, J. F. Ward, Rollo Metcalf, L. G. Converse, C. A. Peck, and Edgar A. Williams, crossing the highway leading from the former residence of Nelson Johnson to the residence of E. F. Lewis, at the northwest corner of land of the Williams, thence easterly on the north side of the last mentioned highway to land belonging to the estate of Nelson Johnson, thence northerly in a straight line to the southwest corner of land of Anders and Elna Nelson, thence northerly on the west line of land of John P. Holmes, Charles G. Miller, and Willis V. Farr to the north line of the Farr, thence easterly on the north line of the Farr to the river road, so called, leading from the Westminster to Bellows Falls and crossing the highway at the north line of the Farr and lands of the Vermont Valley Railroad to the east boundary of the railroad, thence northerly on the easterly right-of-way of the railroad to the west bank of the Connecticut River, thence southerly on the west bank of the river to the point of beginning, are hereby incorporated and made a body politic and shall be called the Village of Westminster. (Added 1912, No. 334, § 1; amended 1915, No. 309, § 1.)

• § 2. Powers of Village

  The Village is hereby granted and endowed with the power and authority to exercise the functions of a municipal corporation for the following purposes, and to the following extent only:

  (1) To light the public streets and highways and public buildings within the limits of the Village.

  (2) To build and maintain sidewalks along the streets and public highways within the Village.

  (3) To establish and maintain a fire department and such means of protection against fire, including the maintenance of a system of water supply and hydrants, as may be voted by the Village.

  (4) To provide and maintain necessary police protection within and for the Village.

  (5) To have perpetual succession and to sue and be sued and to have a common seal and alter the same at pleasure and to purchase, hold, and convey real and personal estate for the use of the Village for the lawful purposes herein specified.

  (6) To lay taxes upon the grand list of the Village for any and all the purposes herein specified.

  (7) To sprinkle or oil the public streets and highways with the limits of the Village. (Added 1912, No. 334, § 1; amended 1915, No. 309, § 1; 1923, No. 229, § 1.)

• § 3. Taxation of residents

  At any meeting of the legal voters legally warned and held for that purpose, a tax may be laid upon the grand list of the Village for any of the purposes for which the Village is incorporated. All taxes voted by the Village 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. (Added 1912, No. 334, § 2.)

• § 4. Officers

  The officers of the corporation shall be a Board of five trustees, a Clerk, a Treasurer, a Collector of Taxes, and an Auditor, all of which officers shall be chosen at each annual meeting of the legal voters of the corporation or at a special meeting as hereinafter provided. The term of office of the trustees shall be five years and until their successors are elected. The term of office of the other officers shall be one year and until their successors are elected. Any vacancy in any Village office may be filled by the Board of Trustees by appointment in writing recorded by the Clerk. (Added 1912, No. 334, § 3.)

• § 5. Board of Trustees

  (a) The Board of Trustees shall have the general care and management of the prudential interests and affairs of the corporation; shall draw orders upon the Treasurer for, and direct the expenditure of all monies belonging to, the corporation; and generally perform all duties legally enjoined upon it by the corporation. The Board of Trustees shall have power to abate taxes imposed by the corporation subject to the same limitations and for the same causes provide in section 3519 of the Public Statutes.

  (b) All powers vested in the Board may be exercised by a majority of its members. (Added 1912, No. 334, § 4.)

• § 6. 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 the 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 corporation at least six days before the time of meeting. (Added 1912, No. 334, § 5.)

• § 7. Treasurer; Collector of Taxes

  The powers and duties of the Treasurer and the Collector of Taxes shall be the same with respect to the 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 his or her duties, in such sum and with such sureties as the Board of Trustees shall decide. If a Treasurer or Collector of Taxes does not give such bond within 10 days after election or appointment, the office shall be vacant. (Added 1912, No. 334, § 6.)

• § 8. Auditor

  The Auditor shall, at least once each year and whenever the Auditor sees fit, examine and adjust and make and file with the Town Clerk a statement of the accounts of all corporation officers and of the corporation and shall report all accounts and items thereof and the state of the treasury to the corporation at each annual meeting. (Added 1912, No. 334, § 7.)

• § 9. Collector of Taxes; Chief of Police

  The Collector of Taxes shall, by virtue of the office, be the Chief of Police of the Village of Westminster, and as such shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of duties and shall cause the oath of office to be recorded by the Clerk. The Chief of Police shall be the informing officer and the conservator of the peace within the Village and may serve any criminal process returnable within the Village, and shall be the proper officer of the court in all cases before courts of competent jurisdiction sitting within the corporation in matters arising in or pertaining thereto, and for all such services shall receive the fees provided by law for constables. (Added 1912, No. 334, § 8.)

• § 10. Prosecutions

  Prosecutions for violation of the provisions of this act or the provisions of any act or bylaw of the Village of Westminster, made in pursuance of this act may be commenced before any justice of the peace of the County of Windham, and all fines and costs imposed for the violation of the provisions of this act or the bylaws of the corporation, or the laws of the State within the limits of the corporation, shall be paid into the treasury of the corporation and the costs of prosecution shall be paid out of the same treasury to the persons entitled thereto. (Added 1912, No. 334, § 9.)

• § 11. Water; light; sidewalks

  The corporation is empowered to contract for water for extinguishing fires, and for that purpose may build and maintain its own system therefor or employ such other means as may be determined upon and may contract for lights for lighting the streets and public places, and may contract for the building of sidewalks, and may levy and collect a tax to provide funds to meet such contracts. (Added 1912, No. 334, § 10.)

• § 12. Annual and special meeting

  (a) The annual meeting of the corporation for the selection of officers and for the transaction of any business specified in the warning of the meeting shall be held in the Village of Westminster on the first Tuesday in April in each year.

  (b) If the annual meeting of the Village fails to be held for want of notice herein before provided for, or for any other cause, the corporation shall not thereby be prejudiced and the 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. (Added 1912, No. 334, §§ 11 and 12.)

• § 13. Legal voters

  Every person who resides within the limits of the Village and is a legal voter in Town meeting of the Town of Westminster shall be entitled to vote at any Village meeting. (Added 1912, No. 334, § 13.)

• § 14. Bylaws

  The Village corporation may adopt, amend, or repeal any bylaws relating only to the functions that, by this chapter, the Village may exercise, and are not repugnant to the Constitution of the United States or the Constitution and laws of this State. The bylaws of the corporation shall be recorded in the office of the Clerk and the Clerk’s certificate that the bylaws were adopted at an annual meeting of the 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 the certified copies of the bylaws and the Clerk’s certificate shall also be received as evidence in all the courts of this State. (Added 1912, No. 334, § 14.)

• § 15. Prosecutions

  A fine not exceeding $20.00 with costs of prosecution may be imposed by the corporation for the breach of any of its bylaws with the alternative sentence to the house of correction in case the fine and costs are not paid as is provided by law in criminal cases. (Added 1912, No. 334, § 15.)

• § 16. Village organization; termination; reestablishment

  The Village of Westminster as established by the action of the Selectboard under the provisions of the Public Statutes, by their order filed with the Town Clerk of the Town of Westminster, April 8, 1907, is hereby abolished except for the purpose of winding up its affairs, the collection of back taxes, and the payment of its debts. This section shall take effect, with the above exceptions, when the Village of Westminster is incorporated by this act and shall have organized. (Added 1912, No. 334, § 16.)