The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
Subchapter
001
:
VILLAGE OFFICERS RESPONSIBLE TO CITIZENS; VILLAGE MEETINGS
(Cite as: 24 App. V.S.A. ch. 225, § 8)
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§ 8. Board of Civil Authority
(a) The Board of Civil Authority shall consist of the justices of the peace residing within
the Village, the Village Clerk, and the trustees. At the first meeting following
each annual Village election, the Board of Civil Authority shall elect a Chair from
among its members; the Village Clerk shall be the Clerk of the Board. In the event
of the absence of either the Chair or the Clerk from any meeting of the Board, the
first order of business shall be the election of a Chair or Clerk Pro Tempore to serve
for the balance of the meeting.
(b) The Board of Civil Authority shall meet prior to every regular or special Village
meeting or election to prepare, revise, and post in the manner required by law, an
alphabetical list of all the legal voters in the Village. For that purpose, the Board
shall have access to any books or lists belonging to the Village, except as provided
by law, and may require the assistance of any of the Village officers. The Board
shall post in three places an attested copy of the list of voters so prepared and
corrected, at least four days prior to the meeting or election, and the said list
of voters so prepared and corrected, and no others, shall be used at the meeting or
election. In preparing the list of voters, the Board shall record each name in such
manner as to identify each voter precisely, so as to avoid any possible confusion.
The Board of Civil Authority shall be governed by State laws relating to voter qualification,
checklist maintenance, and removal of names from the checklist, as they appear in
17 V.S.A. chapter 43.
(c) In addition to any other requirement of law, the Board shall cause at least two notices
of the time and place of each of its meetings for the purpose of revising the checklist
to be published in the newspaper of general circulation in the Village. Publication
shall be at least two and not more than 10 days prior to such meeting, but no notice
need be published with respect to an adjourned session of a meeting for which notice
has been given.
(d) The Board shall assist the Village Clerk and Village President in supervising all
Village elections and meetings, and shall take care that all laws and requirements
relating to elections and election procedures and Village meetings are fully and faithfully
kept. The Board may require the presence of any law enforcement officers it may judge
necessary to preserve the integrity of any election or Village meeting.
(e) The members of the Board of Civil Authority present shall constitute a quorum for
all purposes. (Added 1999, No. M-11 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. May 9, 2000.)