Author: Melinda Ordway, Financial Management Resource Bureau, Senior Project Manager
A city or town clerk is an integral member of the municipal management team and a central information point for residents. While the job responsibilities may vary from community to community in Massachusetts, the clerk is a bonded official who is the municipality’s record keeper and often the chief election officer.
Along with keeping vital records and statistics in the community, including birth, death, and marriage certificates, and holding the official municipal seal for certified copies of certificates, clerks issue various licenses and business certificates. For some, they may be authorized to accept passport applications and renewals. City and town clerks administer the oath of office to newly elected, reelected, and appointed local officials before any may serve (G.L. c. 41, § 107). They are required to record all legislative body votes, retain all permanent and ad-hoc committee or board minutes and records, and maintain up-to-date municipal code of town bylaws or city ordinances. In towns, the clerk also must submit all new and revised bylaws to the Attorney General for review and approval.
As an election official, the clerk works in conjunction with registrar of voters or election department to ensure that there are fair and impartial elections. This includes registering and maintaining voter rolls, mailing annual community census forms, certifying nomination papers and initiative or referenda petitions, processing absentee voter applications, and administering elections and recounts. The clerk must also certify the results of any town election.
Clerks frequently interact with the Division of Local Services (DLS). Typically, clerks are tasked with maintaining and updating the DLS Local Officials directory. With accurate information in the directory, DLS can disseminate notices, certifications, and other information to the appropriate individuals. As the local Gateway account administrator, clerks have permissions to create user accounts for members of the local government, like the financial management team. Clerks also annually certify assessing personnel in Gateway.
Clerks are required to send certified copies of borrowing authorization votes (G.L. c. 44, § 28) within 48 hours after a vote takes effect to the Public Finance Unit at DLS. Each vote must be declared passed unanimously or by 2/3rds vote, and any debt contingent upon a Proposition 2½ debt exclusion requires the certified election result before becoming effective. In addition to the statutory reporting, the Bureau of Accounts (BOA) requires form DA-82 from town clerks. Both the certified copies of borrowing authorization votes and form DA-82 must be emailed to municipaldebt@dor.state.ma.us because paper submissions are no longer accepted by mail.
Clerks also must report accepted local option statutes regarding local taxes and finances and Proposition 2½ questions. Local option statutes include adoption of quarterly tax billing, personal property tax exemptions, community preservation act, local room occupancy, meals and marijuana excises, Other Post-Employment Benefits Liability Trust Fund, and dedication of revenue to a stabilization fund. As for Proposition 2½ questions, clerks must send specimen ballots with certified election results, which include votes that have passed and failed and clearly indicate the purpose and type of vote (override, underride, stabilization, debt exclusion or capital expenditure exclusion). While local option and Proposition 2½ votes have been submitted to DLS by email at databank@dor.state.ma.us, clerks will be able to enter these in Gateway beginning in FY2023, streamlining the notice process and making the information readily available.
Annually, clerks provide essential information for the tax recap process. They attest that the appropriations and financing sources on the Tax Recap Page 4 and supporting schedules for enterprise funds (A-2) and community preservation funds (A-4) include all activity that occurred since the last recap was approved. They also certify that proper notice was given for the public hearing on the annual tax classification options. Both are directly entered into Gateway.
To assist in internally tracking the legislative action for the recap, DLS developed a City/Town Appropriation Template in Excel to document the votes, including the article or order number, date, purpose, and funding sources. The spreadsheet is designed so that the clerk can verify the appropriations tally in total and by revenue source (e.g., raise and appropriate, free cash, available funds, enterprise funds and community preservation funds) for each council or town meeting. Additional lines may be added within a spreadsheet as needed to record each article or ordinance and new sheets may be inserted in the workbook for additional meetings. We recommend that the information for Page 4 be recorded as soon as possible after the conclusion of each legislative session and reviewed by the accounting officer to ensure the that the two offices agree on the detailed information so as to not delay the recap approval process.
Depending upon the community, the city or town clerk has many duties to perform. As record keeper, historian, licensing issuer, election official, or administrator of the oath of office, they serve an important role in the community, serving citizens, offices within the community, and local and state government.
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Editor: Dan Bertrand
Editorial Board: Marcia Bohinc, Linda Bradley, Sean Cronin, Emily Izzo, Lisa Krzywicki and Tony Rassias
| Date published: | June 22, 2022 |
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