| By Mr. Joyce, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate,
No. 6) of Brian A. Joyce, Joseph R. Driscoll, Bruce J.
Ayers and WalterF. Timilty (by vote of the town) for
legislation to amend the representative form of the town |
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1. Section 2 of chapter 324 of the acts of 1947 is hereby amended by adding the following 2 paragraphs:-
If a person elected as a town meeting member fails to take the oath of office within 30 days following the election of that person, or fails to attend more than one-half of the sessions of the town meetings held in a calendar year the office of the member shall be declared vacant.
The member whose office is declared vacant for failing to attend more than one-half of the sessions of the town meeting held in a calendar year, may appeal the declaration of vacancy by requesting a hearing on removal. A request for hearing shall be in writing and shall be filed with the town clerk on or before January 15th of the following calendar year. A hearing shall be held before a committee consisting of the town clerk, town moderator and chairman of the board of registrars to be held no later than January 25th of said year. Upon the showing of good cause by the member, the committee may excuse 1 or more absences and may rescind the declaration of vacancy if the town meeting member has attended at least one-half of the unexcused sessions of the town meeting during said calendar year.