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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCERTIFIED VOTE ARTICLE 33-2004 ATM-CITIZEN PARTICIPATION-MOVSESIAN OF NORTH qti et.lEO is U p 0^yq9 9SSNCHUSES TOWN OF NORTH ANDOVER OFFICE OF THE TOWN CLERK 120 MAIN STREET NORTH ANDOVER, MASSACHUSETTS 01845 Joyce A.Bradshaw,CMMC Telephone(978)688-9501 Town Clerk Fax (978)688-9556 E-mail Bradshaw(dtownofnorthandover.com Article 33. Petition the Legislature-Amend Town Charter — New Section 10 — Citizen Participation Mechanisms (Right of Initiative Petition and Right of Referendum). To see if the Town will vote to authorize the Board of Selectmen to petition the Massachusetts Legislature to Amend Chapter 2 of the Charter for the Town of North Andover by adding the following section as described below, beginning with Section 10 Citizen Petition Mechanisms; or take any other action relative thereto. Furthermore, this Amendment will be subsequently subject to approval by a favorable vote of the inhabitants of the Town of North Andover qualified to vote in elections and town affairs, at the next annual town election after Legislative approval. The question approving the Amendment shall appear on the ballot substantially the same as outlined in MGL, Chapter 43B: Section 11. Section 10 Citizen Participation Mechanisms 2-10-1 Right of Initiative Petition; Initiative Procedures. Registered voters of the town may, by initiative petition propose to any annual or special town meeting the passage of a measure and, if such measure not be passed by said town meeting, may cause such measure to be submitted to the voters of the town for their approval thereof as hereinafter provided. However, no measure shall be proposed by initiative petition hereunder which: (1) makes a specific appropriation of money from the treasury of the town other than an appropriation to pay for the costs of a study, (2) amends the zoning map or zoning by-laws of the town, (3) increases taxes or fees, or (4) proposes the submission to the voters of the town of an amendment to the charter. An initiative petition shall set forth the full text of the measure proposed by the petitioners, and shall be signed by not less than one hundred registered voters of the town, each of whom shall sign his or her name and record his or her address on the petition as they appear on the list of registered voters. The initiative petition shall be submitted to the Town Clerk prior to the town meeting deadline for warrant articles. Upon certification of signatures, Town Clerk shall forward the initiative petition to Town Counsel. If Town Counsel certifies that the measure proposed by the initiative petition does not conflict with the constitution or laws of the Commonwealth, and that it includes only subjects not excluded from the initiative by this section, the initiative petition shall then be filed by him with the Board of Selectmen, who shall cause the measure proposed therein to be included in the warrant for the annual or special town meeting as an initiative article, so designated; provided, however, that if the Town Counsel shall fail, within ten days following his receipt of an initiative petition, to notify the Board of Selectmen in writing of his reasons for not certifying the petition, that petition shall be deemed to have been certified by him, and the Board of Selectmen shall cause the measure therein proposed to be included in the warrant as an initiative article, so designated. Whenever an initiative article is included in the warrant for an annual or special town meeting, the moderator shall give to the first named signer of the initiative article, or his designee, the privilege of making the first motion under the initiative article, which shall be in the words of the proposal in the article. The moderator shall not accept any amendments or substitute motions without the express approval of the person offering the first motion under the initiative article. Action under an initiative article shall be taken by majority, two-thirds or such other vote as may be required by the nature of such action under applicable state laws. If such annual or special town meeting shall dissolve without having adopted, enacted or voted passage of the motion presented under an initiative article, but if at least one-fifth of the total number of town meeting voters voting upon the motion shall have voted in the affirmative, the original petitioners of the initiative article may complete their petition by filing with the Board of Selectmen an additional number of signatures of registered voters of the town which, when combined with the signatures of the original petitioners, will equal in number not less than fifteen percent of the total number of persons registered to vote in the town. Each additional signatory voter shall sign his or her name, and record his or her address upon the petition as they appear on the list of registered voters, and all such additional signatures shall be gathered not earlier than the day after which the town meeting dissolved, and shall be filed with the Board of Selectmen as set forth above not later than sixty days, exclusive of Sundays and legal holidays, following the dissolution. The Board of Selectmen shall forthwith send such signatures to the Board of Registrars for certification. If the annual or special town meeting shall have adopted, enacted or voted passage of any other separate motion as an alternative to the initiative article motion, such other motion to be designated an alternative motion by Town Counsel, the original petitioners of the initiative article may in like manner complete their initiative petition by filing with the Board of Selectmen an additional number of signatures, all as provided in the next paragraph. Within ten days after the filing of the completed initiative petition, and the Board of Registrars having certified the required number of signatures, the Selectmen shall issue a call for a special election, which shall be held within thirty five days after the issuing of that call, for the purpose of presenting to the voters the measure proposed in the initiative petition which has been acted upon unfavorably by the town meeting, and any alternative measure which may have been adopted by the town meeting, provided, however, that the election shall not be held during the exclusionary period from June 30th to September 7th. In the event a special election has been scheduled during this exclusionary period for other reasons, then the exclusionary period will not apply and the special election for the initiative petition measure will be held on the same date as the other scheduled special election. Both the initiative petition measure and any alternative measure shall appear upon the ballot to be voted upon by the voters, and shall be stated in the same language and form used in the motions acted upon by town meeting. If a majority of the voters shall vote in the affirmative, with at least twenty percent of registered voters voting, on either the initiative article motion or upon the alternative motion, the measure voted upon in the affirmative by the number of voters thus required, or the measure receiving the larger number of votes if conflicting measures are approved shall take effect immediately or at such later time as may be specified in the measure, or if it be a by-law subject to the approval of the Attorney General, it shall take effect subject to Section 32 of Chapter 40 of the General Laws; provided, however, that any measure the passage of which shall by law require a two-thirds affirmative vote in a town meeting shall, if proposed by an initiative petition, or if it be an alternate measure adopted by the town meeting, shall require the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the voters voting at the special election called under this section. Any measure proposed by initiative petition, or adopted by affirmative vote of the town meeting, and approved by the voters of the town under this section shall, after a period of 12 months, be subject to amendment, revision or repeal by town meeting, providing that such action does not conflict with the constitution or laws of the Commonwealth. No provision in this section shall negate or in any way limit the right of ten or more registered voters to have an article inserted in the annual town meeting warrant at their written request, or the right of one hundred registered voters of the town to have an article inserted in a special town meeting warrant at their written request, all as provided for in Chapter 39, Section 10, of the General Laws. No provision in this section shall negate in any way the Massachusetts General Laws, North Andover Charter and North Andover Bylaws governing the conduct and other requirements of special and annual town meetings. 2-10-2 Right of Referendum; Referendum Procedures A vote passed at any town meeting authorizing the expenditure of fifty thousand dollars or more as a special appropriation, or establishing a new board or office or abolishing an old board or office or merging two or more boards or offices, or fixing the term of office of town officers, where such term is optional, or increasing or reducing the number of members of a board, or adopting a new by-law, or amending an existing by-law, shall not be operative until after the expiration of ten days, exclusive of Sundays and holidays, from the dissolution of the meeting. If, within ten days, a petition, signed by not less than three per cent of the registered voters of the town, containing their names and addresses as they appear on the list of registered voters, is filed with the selectmen asking that the question or questions involved in such a vote be submitted to the registered voters of the town at large, then the selectmen, after the expiration of five days, shall forthwith call a special election for the sole purpose of presenting to the registered voters at large the question or questions so involved. The polls shall be opened at seven o'clock in the morning and shall be closed not earlier than eight o'clock in the evening, and all votes upon any questions so submitted shall be taken by ballot, and the check list shall be used in the several precinct meetings in the same manner as in the election of town officers. The questions so submitted shall be determined by a majority vote of the registered voters of the town voting thereon, but no action of the town meeting shall be reversed unless at least twenty per cent of the registered voters shall so vote. Each question so submitted shall be in the form of the following question, which shall be placed upon the official ballot:--""Shall the town vote to approve the action of the town meeting whereby it was voted (brief description of the substance of the vote and by what vote thereon if such vote was tabulated)?" If such petition is not filed within the period of ten days, the vote of the town meeting shall become operative and effective upon the expiration of said period. Absent voter ballots shall be used at such election in accordance with the provisions of chapterfifty-four. ARTICLE 33 DEFEATED AS MOVED BY ALBERT F. MOVSESIAN.