January 26 when town warnings need to be finalized and signed by the select board. Before this date the petition needs to be presented to the select board for their approval for inclusion in the warning. In consideration of the very busy schedule that select boards have with preparing the budget the sooner the petition can be submitted the better or even just alerting them that it will be coming and providing them a copy of the text is helpful for their planning. Getting to select boards by first week in January should be the goal
The petition must contain signatures of 5% of the voters requesting placement of articles on the warning for the Annual Meeting and must be received by the Selectboard or the School Board at least 40 days prior to Town Meeting. 17 V.S.A.§2642(a).”
Time is short. Bring a copy on a clipboard to events and meetings. Get as many signatures as possible. (You can get the actual number of signatures needed by law by calling your Town Clerk.)
Here are the steps a citizen can take:
Make sure the date that your petition gatherers use on the petitions is the date it will be voted on by town residents (almost always the day of the town meeting).
1. Contact municipal clerks to get dates in individual towns to submit the petition in time for signers to be verified on the ballot;
2. Contact select boards, supervisors, mayors, councils to get their dates and process for approval of items to be warned for voting at town meeting and to
give them a heads up about the issue;
3. Collect signatures—the more the better;
4. Submit petitions on time;
5. Have folks show up at town meeting to support the measure
Even with the required signatures on a petition the select board can choose to not include an article if it doesn’t directly pertain to town business.
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