The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 24 Appendix : Municipal Charters

Chapter 207 : Village of Bellows Falls

• § 4. Meetings and warnings

  (a)(1) Annual meeting. The annual meeting of said corporation shall be held within said Village on the third Tuesday in May of each year at the time and place designated by the Board of Trustees in its bylaws, for the election of officers and the transaction of other business, and it may be adjourned to another date.

  (2) When said corporation fails to hold such meeting, a warning for a subsequent meeting shall be issued immediately and, at such meeting, all officers required by law may be elected and its business transacted.

  (b) Annual business meeting. If said corporation so votes, it may thereafter start its annual business meeting at a time and place designated by the Board of Trustees in the afternoon of the day before the third Tuesday of May and may transact at that time any business not involving voting by Australian ballot or voting required by law to be by ballot. A meeting so started shall be adjourned until the following day. Public discussion of ballot issues and all other issues appearing in the warning, other than the election of candidates, shall be permitted on that preceding day.

  (c) Special meeting. The Board of Trustees may, in the interests of the corporation or upon the request in writing of five percent of the voters of said corporation, call a special meeting, by directing the Clerk to warn the same, giving like notice of such meeting as is required for the holding of the annual meeting. Such meeting may be adjourned to another date.

  (d) Warning. Public notice of every annual or special meeting shall be given by a warning, and the warning shall:

  (1) Contain voter information, such as stating the date, time, and place of meeting.

  (2) Be signed by a majority of the trustees, except for meetings required by charter to be called by the Village Clerk upon receipt of a petition, in which case the warning shall be signed only by the Clerk.

  (3) Specifically indicate by separate articles what business is to be transacted by all day Australian ballot and which articles are to be transacted at the annual business meeting.

  (4) Contain any articles approved by the trustees and any article requested by petition signed by at least five percent of the voters and filed with the Village Clerk at least 45 days prior to the day of meeting and posting.

  (5) Be published in a newspaper having a general circulation in the Village at least five days before the meeting unless the warning is published in the Village report and the Village report is mailed or otherwise distributed to the voters at least 10 days before the meeting. This shall not apply to municipal informational meetings at which no voting is to take place.

  (6) Be posted in two public places in such Village and in or near the Village Clerk office not less than 30 nor more than 40 days before the meeting.

  (7) Not include improper influences, such as an opinion or comment by any corporation, body, officer, or other person on any matter to be voted upon.

  (e) Australian ballot. At any annual or special meeting, election of officers, any article that requires balloting, and any article approved by the Board of Trustees to be determined by Australian ballot shall be among the first articles in the warning. (Amended 2023, No. 6, § 277, eff. July 1, 2023.)