§ 3674. Organizational meeting

(a) Within 60 days after the Secretary of State has notified the clerks of the member towns that the requirements of section 3673 of this title have been met, the voters in such consolidated sewer district shall meet to organize the district. The meeting shall be warned by the chair of the legislative body of each town of the district or by a member designated by his or her respective board to act in the chair’s stead, and shall state the day, hour, and place within the district where the meeting will be held and shall be posted in not less than six public places in the district including at least two public places within each member town thereof and shall be published three times in a newspaper circulating therein, the last publication to be at least six days previous to the day of the meeting. The meeting shall be called to order by the clerk of the town in which the meeting is held, whereupon a temporary presiding officer and clerk shall be elected from among the qualified voters. At the organizational meeting or an adjournment thereof, the district shall elect a moderator and a permanent clerk, shall determine the number of sewer commissioners constituting the board of sewer commissioners and shall elect a board of sewer commissioners, who shall be the legislative branch, a treasurer, and three auditors. All officers elected at the organizational meeting shall hold office until others are elected and qualified following the first annual meeting. The total number of sewer commissioners and the number from each member town may be agreed upon by the several member towns in advance of the organizational meeting or in the absence of such agreement shall be set by the organizational meeting at not less than three, including at least one from each member town. Sewer commissioners elected at the organizational meeting shall be elected from nominations made by the several member towns at their most recent annual or special meeting, if such nominations have been made. Sewer commissioners to serve on the board of sewer commissioners of the consolidated district following the first annual meeting shall be elected by the member towns at their own annual or special meetings. Such elections shall be by Australian ballot in those member towns which elect their respective legislative branches by Australian ballot. All other consolidated sewer district officers shall be elected by the consolidated district. When there is only one nominee for any of the aforementioned offices, the voters may, by acclamation, instruct an officer to elect the nominee by casting one ballot, and upon the ballot being cast the nominee shall be declared to be legally elected.

(b) At the organizational meeting or at an adjournment thereof, the district may further authorize its board of sewer commissioners to pay any expense incurred by or on behalf of the district in the period between the date on which the member towns voted to join the district and the first annual meeting of the district. The word “expense” as used in this chapter shall include the cost of architects, surveyors, engineers, contractors, lawyers, or experts as well as current operating expenses to be incurred by the district from its organizational meeting until its first annual meeting. The district may authorize its board of sewer commissioners to borrow money pending receipt of payments from the member towns as hereinafter provided by the issuance of its notes or orders payable not later than one year from the date. At the organizational meeting the district shall further select a name for the district, determine compensation, if any, to be paid to its officers, determine the date on which its annual meeting shall be held (which shall not be earlier than October 1 or later than December 31), and adopt a seal. A certified copy of the vote designating the name of the consolidated sewer district shall be forthwith filed by the clerk of the district with the Secretary of State.

(c) All district officers elected at an annual meeting and sewer commissioners elected by their constituent towns shall enter upon their duties on April 1 following their election, unless a different date is set at an annual meeting. A vacancy occurring in any district office caused by death, resignation, removal from the district, or incapacity of an officer to carry his or her duties, shall be temporarily filled by the board of sewer commissioners within 10 days after the vacancy occurs and until the date when the newly elected officers take office. The vacancy shall be filled at the next annual meeting of the district. The term of office of the sewer commissioners and the auditors shall be three years and all other officers one year. At the first annual meeting, the terms of office of the commissioners shall be divided by agreement; if possible by lot, if not, one-third expiring after one year, and one-third expiring after two years, or as nearly as may be. At the first annual meeting one auditor shall be elected for one year and one auditor for two years, and thereafter for three years or until their successors are chosen and qualified.

(d) The fiscal year of a consolidated sewer district shall be the calendar year. If the change in the date of an annual meeting is to be made, a notice of the proposed change shall be inserted in the warning of the annual meeting. (1967, No. 318 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. March 22, 1968.)