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TOWN MEETING PROCEDURES
Attendees of Town Meeting
Any registered voter in the Town of Dover may
attend Town Meeting. The voter must be registered
at least 20 days before the date of Town Meeting and must
be present at the meeting in order to vote. Each
attendee will be checked off on a voter list prepared by the
Town Clerk before being allowed into the Town Meeting room.
Any other person (resident or non-resident)
may attend sessions of Town Meeting and sit in an area so
designated by the Moderator. These individuals
may only speak at Town Meeting if the Moderator allows them
to or if the Town Meeting votes to hear them.
Time of Meeting
Annual Town Meeting is convened on the first
Monday in May. From time to time, a Special Town
Meeting is called at another time of the year, usually in
the fall. A Special Town Meeting may be called
by the Selectmen, as they deem necessary. The
Selectmen must call a Special Town Meeting upon the request
in writing of 200 registered voters. The Annual
Town Meeting votes on the articles of the Warrant that is
published by the Selectmen. The articles include,
but are not limited to, the annual operating budget for all
town agencies as well as other fiscal articles. There
are various non-fiscal articles presented at this time also.
The Warrant
Notice of the time and place of a Town Meeting and the business
to be considered is given in a Warrant, which must be delivered
or mailed to every home at least 14 days beforehand.
By state law, the Town Meeting's actions are valid only if
the public has been adequately warned in the Warrant.
The Warrant is drawn up by the Selectmen. The
Selectmen place on the Warrant all subjects requested in writing
by an elected town board, an appointed town committee, or
by petition of ten registered voters.
Town Officials Participating in Town Meeting
The Moderator
The Moderator is the presiding officer of the Town Meeting
and regulates its proceedings. The Moderator decides all
questions of order and makes public declaration of all votes.
All persons address the Meeting by leave of the Moderator
and if anyone, after due warning, persists in disorderly
conduct, the Moderator has the authority to have the person
removed.
The Town Clerk
The Town Clerk keeps minutes of the meetings and records
all action on and disposition of the articles in the Warrant,
including all votes declared by the Moderator. If
the Town Clerk, or the assistant, is absent from a Town
Meeting, a temporary Clerk is elected.
The Town Counsel
The Town Counsel is appointed by the Board of Selectmen
to serve as the legal advisor to the Town. Town
Meeting attendees may address a question to the Town Counsel
from the floor, but always through the Moderator.
Town Counsel is available to assist in drafting articles,
motions, or amendments.
The Selectmen
The Board of Selectmen set the time and place for the Town
Meeting and prepare and issues the Warrant.
The Warrant Committee
The Warrant Committee considers all of the Warrant articles
and issues a report on each article, together with its recommendation
for action. As in the case of the Warrant, this report (called
the" Blue Book") must be mailed to every household in Dover
prior to the Meeting.
General Procedures
The proceedings of Town Meeting are governed by the Town's
By-Laws, the rules of parliamentary procedure, and Town
Meeting Time .
To make a motion, to ask a question, or to be heard in
debate, an attendee must raise a hand and, when recognized
by the Moderator, rise to speak. The speaker
must then identify himself (herself) and state where he
(she) lives. Everything is addressed to the
Moderator, or through the Moderator to the person who should
respond, and should be confined to the motion under consideration.
It is always an attendee's privilege to ask procedural questions
of the Moderator.
Generally, after the Moderator states the subject matter
of each article, a motion is made by a member of the Warrant
Committee concerning this article. The only
exception to this occurs when the Warrant Committee and
the proponent of a particular article disagree.
Then, the proponent will present a positive motion.
Parliamentary Procedure
For a Town Meeting to act, a quorum of 175 must be present.
The Moderator cannot start the deliberations
of Town Meeting until the Town Clerk informs him (her) that
a quorum is present.
Main Motions
Main motions are the essential motions basic to action
contemplated by the Town Meeting; all other motions revolve
around them. The Moderator requires that any amendment to
the Main Motion be presented to the podium in writing before
it may be considered by Town Meeting.
By-Laws Relating to Town Meeting
See Article II in the General
By-Laws of the Town of Dover for additional information
on Town Meeting.
also -
Read more about Dover's Town Meeting in the League
of Women Voters' booklet -
Dover Your Town
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