§ 225-8. Board of Civil Authority

(a) The Board of Civil Authority shall consist of the justices of the peace residing within the Village, the Village Clerk, and the trustees. At the first meeting following each annual Village election, the Board of Civil Authority shall elect a Chair from among its members; the Village Clerk shall be the Clerk of the Board. In the event of the absence of either the Chair or the Clerk from any meeting of the Board, the first order of business shall be the election of a Chair or Clerk Pro Tempore to serve for the balance of the meeting.

(b) The Board of Civil Authority shall meet prior to every regular or special Village meeting or election to prepare, revise, and post in the manner required by law, an alphabetical list of all the legal voters in the Village. For that purpose, the Board shall have access to any books or lists belonging to the Village, except as provided by law, and may require the assistance of any of the Village officers. The Board shall post in three places an attested copy of the list of voters so prepared and corrected, at least four days prior to the meeting or election, and the said list of voters so prepared and corrected, and no others, shall be used at the meeting or election. In preparing the list of voters, the Board shall record each name in such manner as to identify each voter precisely, so as to avoid any possible confusion. The Board of Civil Authority shall be governed by State laws relating to voter qualification, checklist maintenance, and removal of names from the checklist, as they appear in 17 V.S.A. chapter 43.

(c) In addition to any other requirement of law, the Board shall cause at least two notices of the time and place of each of its meetings for the purpose of revising the checklist to be published in the newspaper of general circulation in the Village. Publication shall be at least two and not more than 10 days prior to such meeting, but no notice need be published with respect to an adjourned session of a meeting for which notice has been given.

(d) The Board shall assist the Village Clerk and Village President in supervising all Village elections and meetings, and shall take care that all laws and requirements relating to elections and election procedures and Village meetings are fully and faithfully kept. The Board may require the presence of any law enforcement officers it may judge necessary to preserve the integrity of any election or Village meeting.

(e) The members of the Board of Civil Authority present shall constitute a quorum for all purposes. (Added 1999, No. M-11 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. May 9, 2000.)