Understanding Town Meeting

This Page Was Last Updated: 02/11/04

Town Meeting participation demands a commitment of time, energy, effort, imagination, a sense of humor, intelligence, a dose of common sense, fair play, and a deep appreciation of self-government - rare commodities, perhaps, but if they can't be found at Town Meeting, where are we to look?

We have attempted to address commonly asked questions and provide helpful background information.  Click on any of the links below to jump to a particular section.

TOWN MEETING PROCEDURES

BYLAW CONSTRAINTS ON TOWN MEETING
STATUTORY CONSTRAINTS ON TOWN MEETING
WHO'S WHO AT TOWN MEETING
BUDGET TERMS USED AT TOWN MEETING

Contact the Town Clerk or Moderator for further information.

What is Town Meeting and how do you participate?

The Town of Lexington has a Representative Town Meeting form of government, which can have a maximum 204 elected Town Meeting Members. It is currently comprised of 189 members, 21 elected from each of Nine precincts.  In addition, there are  At-Large Members who also may vote.  They are the Board of Selectmen, Chair School Committee, Chair Appropriation Committee, Moderator, Town Clerk, and, if a resident, Town Counsel, Town Treasurer and any member of the General Court from the Town. Lexington's Town Government also includes an appointed Town Manager, and the following elected offices: five member Board of Selectmen, five member School Committee, a Moderator, a five member Housing Authority and a five member Planning Board.

Town Meeting is the legislative body of the Town. It convenes, at least annually at the time and place designated by the Selectmen. Town Meeting considers and adopts an annual operating budget.  It also considers and acts upon other matters which require Town Meeting action such as general by-law additions, deletions and amendments, zoning changes, and street acceptances. The agenda of each Town Meeting is contained in a document known as the "Warrant" which includes articles on which the Town must act. The warrant is mailed to all households in advance of the Town Meeting.  Articles are inserted in the warrant by the Board of Selectmen and by Citizen Petition. The order is determined by the Selectmen unless otherwise voted by Town Meeting.

Town Meeting is unique to New England. The following information is provided to help you become an informed participant in this basic democratic process that is our legislative form of government.

Town Meeting Procedures

To place a citizen article onto the Annual Town Meeting Warrant, a resident may obtain a warrant article form at the Town Clerk's Office. This form is used as petition for ten (10) registered voters who sign to have an article appear on the Warrant. The Warrant for the Annual Town Meeting is opened and closed by the Board of Selectmen. This normally takes place December. However, articles for the Warrant may be accepted earlier than the open date if necessary. The articles are filed and stamped in by the Board of Selectmen, transferred to the Town Clerk's Office for certification by the Board of Registrars, and returned to the Board of Selectmen for processing. After the articles have been placed on the Warrant for a Town Meeting, the articles go through a series of committee and department reviews and hearings. Different boards and committees are responsible for a report at Town Meeting of their findings depending on whose jurisdiction the article will fall under.

For instance, all money articles are reviewed by the appropriate finance committees, Appropriation Committee and/or Capital Expenditures Committee, at public committee meetings that take place after the closing of the Warrant. Citizen article sponsors should attend these meetings to explain their article to the committee.  Other residents are welcome to attend.  A written report with the committees' recommendations is given to Town Meeting Members prior to the start of Town Meeting.  As additional information becomes available their report may be updated and supplemented before and during the meeting.  The committees also report orally when the article is addressed. More discussion will be generated on the floor of Town Meeting before any action is taken by the Town Meeting Members.

From time to time, Special Town Meetings may be called by the Selectmen or 200 registered voters to take care of any unforeseen issues that occur between Annual Town Meetings. These meetings are usually called over a shorter period of time and the warrant is not open as long.

To place an article on a Special Town Meeting Warrant, residents need one hundred signatures of registered voters and follow the same procedures as the above.

Town Meetings are generally held at Cary Memorial Hall, 1605 Massachusetts Avenue,  adjacent to the Town Office Building.  Alternate locations may be designated by the Board of Selectmen when the hall is unavailable. 

Anyone may attend the meeting and any citizen may speak.  Only elected Town Meeting Members may vote.

How to be recognized to speak - A voter may be recognized by standing and saying, "Madam (or Mr.) Moderator."  Before making any remarks the speaker must give his or her name and address.

Only Town Meeting Members may make motions and offer amendments.

Amendments must be presented in writing (three copies). After discussion on the amendment the Moderator calls for a vote on the amendment only. If passed the original motion, as amended, is voted upon. Motions or amendments are given to the Town Meeting Members in writing at the time of consideration and shown on a screen readable by all voters in the audience and watching on cable TV.

Budget questions - Questions on the budget are encouraged.   A Town Meeting Member may speak to any line item in the operating budget article.  Amendments may be offered on each individual line item, however the final vote on the budget article does not come until all line items have been read.

Majority Vote - Unless otherwise provided by law or by-law motions require a majority vote to carry. Only a majority vote is required for an amendment.

Declaring the Vote - The Moderator may decide the sense of the meeting by a voice vote. If the Moderator is in doubt, or, if the decision is questioned, a standing vote may be called for by 20 Town Meeting Members (7 Town Meeting Members for a 2/3 vote).

Privileged Motions - A speaker may be interrupted only for a point of order, a privileged motion, to serve notice of reconsideration, or a point of information or parliamentary inquiry.

Previous Question  - Previous question is a formal motion which, if passed, cuts off debate. The motion is not debatable.

Reconsideration - Reconsideration of an article is sometimes voted to address new information or to correct an oversight or an illegality.

Display - Presenters who wish to show slides or present other visual material should make arrangements before the meeting with the Assistant Town Manager.

Adjourn / Dissolve - A meeting may adjourn to a later time and a different place, but when a meeting is dissolved it is finished. A meeting may not be dissolved until every article in the warrant has been acted upon.

By-Law Constraints On Town Meeting

Town Meeting Schedule - The Annual Town Meeting for the election of officers shall be held the first Monday in March. (The Selectmen then determine the date of the first business session, most recently it has been three weeks after the Annual Election.) Special Town Meetings may be held at such times and places as the Selectmen may designate. Any meeting may be adjourned from time to time to any place in the Town.

Warrants - Copies of the Warrant shall be posted in the Town Office Building and mailed to each dwelling house in the Town seven days or more before the date of the Annual Meeting and fourteen days before a Special Town Meeting.

The By-Laws stipulate 100 Town Meeting Members constitute a quorum.

Statutory Constraints On Town Meeting

(Refer to Chapters 39 and 40 of the Massachusetts General Laws for Precise Wording)

The Selectmen shall insert in the warrant all articles requested in writing by ten or more registered voters for the Annual Town Meeting and 100 registered voters for a Special Town Meeting.

The warrant shall be published and posted at least seven days before the Annual Town Meeting and fourteen days before a Special Town Meeting stating the time and the place of the meeting and the subjects to be acted on.

A Moderator must be elected to preside over the meeting, regulate proceedings, decide all questions of order, and make public declaration of all votes. The result shall be recorded by the Clerk.

No person shall address a Town Meeting without leave of the Moderator and all persons shall, at the request of the Moderator, be silent.

Annual Town Report - The Selectmen shall print an Annual Report prior to Town Meeting for the use of the inhabitants.

Conflict of Interest - Elected Town Meeting Members are not covered by the Mass. Conflict of Interest Law.  The 1976 Town Meeting adopted a non-binding conflict of interest resolution.

Who's Who At Town Meeting

Town Meeting Members - Twenty-one members from each of nine precincts, and, currently 12 At-large members.

The Moderator - presides over and conducts the meeting. S/He is an elected official.

Town Clerk - Is the chief election official, custodian of the Town's records, and recording secretary of the meeting.