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A representative town meeting, also called "limited town meeting", is a form of municipal legislature particularly common in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and permitted in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. Representative town meetings function largely the same as open town meetings, except that not all registered voters can participate or vote ...
Towns traditionally have a town meeting form of government; under the Home Rule Act, however, towns are free to choose their own government structure. Nineteen of the towns in Connecticut are consolidated city-towns, and one ( Naugatuck ) is a consolidated borough-town.
Connecticut town meetings are usually bound to a published agenda; meeting participants can not alter proposed items or add new business. Each town determines the method, frequency, and range of governance for its town meeting and codifies these in its ordinances or town charter.
Under Connecticut's Home Rule Act, any town is permitted to adopt its own local charter and choose its own structure of government. The three basic structures of municipal government used in the state, with variations from place to place, are the selectman–town meeting, mayor–council, and manager–council. [5]
In Connecticut, the first selectman is the chief executive and administrative officer of most towns with the Selectmen-Town Meeting form of government. Some towns, such as Woodbridge , elect their first selectmen to be the chief administrative officer of the town even though the position is technically part-time.
In addition to town meetings, "moderators are needed by town school districts, union school districts, villages, and fire districts."(Colbert 2008) Town moderators are elected at the annual meeting and serve a one-year term. Usually towns have only one town meeting per year; this is the annual meeting.
For about two centuries after the first town meetings began in the 1600s, only property owners could vote. That restriction was abolished in 1843 – but only partially. Until 1973, the Rhode ...
Washington has a traditional New England town meeting form of government, which operates under the Connecticut General Statutes. Town meetings serve as Washington's chief legislative body, [4] and several specialized boards and commissions, run by volunteer residents, tend to municipal business.