reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
24A V.S.A. § 109-29
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 24 Appendix - Municipal Charters|Chapter 109 - Town of Cavendish|App § 109-29. Special districts

§ 109-29. Special districts|(a) According to law, the Selectboard may designate areas apart from the rest of the Town as a special service district and may provide that the area of the voters therein shall be provided with special services not common to all the voters of the Town, provided that the majority of the voters residing in the respective designated areas are present and voting at a special district meeting on the subject shall have approved of such resolution.(b) Such areas shall be reasonable geographically, taking into account the areas and persons actually benefited, the types of services to be provided, and the fact that the efficiency of providing multiple services in a single, special service district might outweigh the fact that the areas and voters benefiting from the respective services might not coincide exactly. All costs required to support a given special service shall be paid for by the taxpayers receiving the service, by a tax on the grand list in the special service district involved, to be assessed annually by the Selectboard, or in such other manner as the Selectboard determines. If the costs are to be paid by a tax, the tax shall be paid and collected in the same manner as other taxes, and the tax assessed on any part of the grand list shall be in lien thereon. All funds of any special service shall be kept in a special fund, no part of which may be used for any other purpose.(c) The warning for each annual or special district meeting may contain appropriate articles under which the legal voters residing at any special service district may separately vote.
24A V.S.A. § 109-30
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 24 Appendix - Municipal Charters|Chapter 109 - Town of Cavendish|App § 109-30. Voting procedures for annual water and sewer expenses and extensions

§ 109-30. Voting procedures for annual water and sewer expenses and extensions|(a) The Selectboard shall propose and adopt annual budgets for water and sewer to defray necessary expenses and thereafter set rates for users to pay the same.(b) In case of future extension of water or sewer lines and to presently unserved areas where bonding or temporary costs are to be assumed by the Town, all legal Town voters shall be eligible to vote on the project.(c) In all cases where bonding is required, all legal voters of the Town may vote on the bond issue.
24A V.S.A. § 109-31
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 24 Appendix - Municipal Charters|Chapter 109 - Town of Cavendish|App § 109-31. Special funds

§ 109-31. Special funds|(a) The Town Treasurer shall keep all money in a special fund in an account or accounts separate from that of any other special fund and from those of the other Town funds, and shall honor no warrant upon it except for the purpose thereof as heretofore enumerated.(b) Any person who shall pay or cause to be paid any portion of any special fund for any purpose other than as herein specified shall forfeit to the Town for the benefit of such special fund twice the amount so paid to be recovered in a civil action of this section. It shall be the duty of the Town Agent to defend and prosecute suits and to bring an action to collect the forfeiture. In case such person is bonded, the bondsman shall be joined with the person in such action, provided such bondsman is within the jurisdiction of the State of Vermont.
24A V.S.A. § 109-32
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 24 Appendix - Municipal Charters|Chapter 109 - Town of Cavendish|App § 109-32. Amendment of plan

§ 109-32. Amendment of plan|This merger plan may be amended as set forth by the general laws of this State.
24A V.S.A. § 109-33
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 24 Appendix - Municipal Charters|Chapter 109 - Town of Cavendish|App § 109-33. Severability

§ 109-33. Severability|If any provision of this plan shall for any reason be held invalid, such invalidity shall not effect the remaining provisions, which can be given effect without the invalid provision. To this end, the provisions of this merger are severable.
24A V.S.A. § 111-101
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 24 Appendix - Municipal Charters|Chapter 111 - Town of Chester|App § 111-101. Merger of the Village and Town

§ 111-101. Merger of the Village and Town|The Village of Chester and the Town of Chester are hereby consolidated and merged, and the Village of Chester shall, except as hereinafter provided, cease to exist as a political entity or body corporate.
24A V.S.A. § 111-201
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 24 Appendix - Municipal Charters|Chapter 111 - Town of Chester|App § 111-201. Town powers

§ 111-201. Town powers|The Town of Chester may exercise the following powers and functions in addition to those already or otherwise conferred upon it by law:  (a) To establish and maintain a Police Department, to provide for the appointment of police officers, who shall be sworn and who shall have the same powers as constables in the service of civil and criminal process and such further special authority as may be provided in any bylaws or ordinances of said Town enacted under authority of law. (b) To acquire by gift or purchase, sell, convey, lease, assign, maintain, and service real and personal property as may be necessary or incidental to the exercise of its municipal powers, duties, and functions and to exercise in connection therewith any incidental powers as may be necessary to preserve and maintain the value of any such property once lawfully acquired. (c) To establish and maintain a Fire Department. (d) To establish, maintain, and keep in repair systems of sewers and drainage and to apportion and assess the expenses thereof against property benefited thereby as hereinafter provided. (e) To light its highways and bridges and to lay dust on said highways and bridges by sprinkling or otherwise, and to assess by vote of the Town such portion as may be voted to the cost of sprinkling or otherwise laying the dust on the highways and bridges against abutting land owners. (f) To establish, maintain, and keep in repair the water  system heretofore owned by the Village of Chester and to provide the government and control of the same as hereinafter is specifically provided. (g) To provide for the collection and disposition of garbage, waste, and other refuse material.
24A V.S.A. § 111-302
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 24 Appendix - Municipal Charters|Chapter 111 - Town of Chester|App § 111-302. Other ordinances and bylaws

§ 111-302. Other ordinances and bylaws|Said Town may make, establish, alter, amend, or repeal any other bylaws, rules, and ordinances which it may deem necessary for the well-being of said Town, and not repugnant to the Constitution or laws of the State or the United States.
24A V.S.A. § 111-303
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 24 Appendix - Municipal Charters|Chapter 111 - Town of Chester|App § 111-303. Recordation and certificate of prima facie evidence

§ 111-303. Recordation and certificate of prima facie evidence|The bylaws, rules, and ordinances of said Town shall be recorded in the office of the Clerk of said Town, and the Clerk's certificate that such by-laws, rules, and ordinances were adopted at an annual meeting of said Town, or at a special meeting thereof, called for that purpose shall be prima facie evidence of such fact in any court in this State; and certified copies of said by-laws, rules, and ordinances and Clerk's certificates shall also be received as evidence in all the courts of the State.
24A V.S.A. § 111-304
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 24 Appendix - Municipal Charters|Chapter 111 - Town of Chester|App § 111-304. Fines and prosecution

§ 111-304. Fines and prosecution|A fine not exceeding $20.00 and costs of prosecution may be imposed for the breach of any by-law, rule, or ordinance, or of any section of this act unless some other sum is named in the section. In case such fine and costs are not paid, the alternative sentence shall be confinement in the house of correction as is provided by law in other criminal cases. Prosecution for offenses under this act, unless otherwise specified, shall be commenced within three months after the commission of the offense. All fines shall be paid to the Town Treasurer and justices shall have jurisdiction where punishment is by fine not exceeding $20.00.
24A V.S.A. § 111-305
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 24 Appendix - Municipal Charters|Chapter 111 - Town of Chester|App § 111-305. Parking ordinances

§ 111-305. Parking ordinances|(a) Any person who has violated any ordinance which regulates, restricts, or defines the time or place of parking vehicles in the Town of Chester and who has not been convicted of any such offense more than once prior thereto in the same calendar year may, within three days from date of such violation, by a statement signed by the person, admit such violation and may waive the issuing of any process and a trial by jury or hearing, and may voluntarily pay to the Windsor Municipal Court, or a justice of the peace, the penalty herein prescribed; provided, however, that whenever, in the opinion of the court, or such justice, the gravity of the offense requires a fine in excess of the above penalty, such court, or justice, may refuse to accept such signed statement and penalty, and may order that the offender be proceeded against in the manner prescribed by law. In such event, the penalty shall be returned to the offender and the signed statement shall not be considered as an admission or used as evidence in any trial in any court in this State.(b) The said court, or such justice, shall treat such signed statement, if accompanied by the penalty herein prescribed as a plea of guilty, and shall make such entry in its records. No costs, fees, or further charges shall be assessed against any person so admitting a violation of said parking ordinances or shall be allowed or paid to any officer or person because of such violations, but such penalty shall be accepted by said court, or such justice, in full discharge of the criminal liability of such person caused by such violation.(c) Such court, or such justice, shall retain the above signed statements for a period of two years from the date thereof, and shall keep a separate record, available to the public at any reasonable time, of all money collected and all other official acts done in connection herewith.(d) The penalty which may be so voluntarily paid by any person so violating any ordinance regulating, restricting, or defining the time or place of parking vehicles in the Town of Chester, shall be $1.00 for the first violation in any calendar year and $2.00 for the second violation in any calendar year. Other violations of Town ordinances shall be punished in the manner prescribed by law.(e) All money so collected by the said court, or by such justice, shall be turned over to the Treasurer of the Town of Chester, at the time when fines and costs collected for violations of other Town ordinances are paid to such Treasurer.
24A V.S.A. § 111-401
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 24 Appendix - Municipal Charters|Chapter 111 - Town of Chester|App § 111-401. Adoption of rules and regulations

§ 111-401. Adoption of rules and regulations|The Selectboard under the vote and direction of said Town, may make and adopt such rules and regulations concerning the management and use of the water system of said Town, reservoirs, lands, and appurtenances, not inconsistent with law, as it may deem expedient, including the fixing and collecting of water rates.
24A V.S.A. § 111-402
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 24 Appendix - Municipal Charters|Chapter 111 - Town of Chester|App § 111-402. Water rents

§ 111-402. Water rents|All water rents with the charges for making water connections and piping shall be chargeable to and may be collected of the owners of property supplied with the same, and such owners and all such rents with charges for making water connections and piping shall be a lien and charge upon the buildings, lots, and other property so supplied and may be collected in the same manner as any tax assessed by said corporation.
24A V.S.A. § 111-403
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 24 Appendix - Municipal Charters|Chapter 111 - Town of Chester|App § 111-403. Taking of water and land for water system

§ 111-403. Taking of water and land for water system|Said Town is hereby authorized and empowered under any vote hereafter had for that purpose, through the Selectboard, to take, in addition to the water rights and appurtenances thereof, already owned or acquired by said Town, the waters of any fountains, springs, ponds, or streams for the purpose of affording said Town or any of the inhabitants of the Town of Chester a supply of water for fire, domestic, and other purposes, and may acquire the same by purchase or by right of eminent domain, and in like manner may take and hold such real estate as may be necessary for preventing the pollution of the water supply of said Town water system, provided that said Town shall not take water nor a supply thereof, so as to deprive an owner of water of an amount sufficient for his or her domestic and agricultural uses, without such owner's consent.
24A V.S.A. § 111-404
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 24 Appendix - Municipal Charters|Chapter 111 - Town of Chester|App § 111-404. Aqueduct and reservoir; laying of pipes

§ 111-404. Aqueduct and reservoir; laying of pipes|The said Town is hereby authorized and empowered through its Selectboard to maintain its present aqueduct and reservoir to conduct the water thereof to and distribute the same and for this purpose may enter upon and use any land through or over which it may be necessary for said aqueduct to pass, and may thereon lay and construct such pipes, reservoirs, and appurtenances as may be necessary for its complete construction and repairing of the same; and may also for the purposes aforesaid, dig up or occupy any common, highway, street, or bridge for the purpose of laying, constructing, or repairing such aqueduct and appurtenances thereof.
24A V.S.A. § 111-405
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 24 Appendix - Municipal Charters|Chapter 111 - Town of Chester|App § 111-405. Petition to contest compensation for taking or use of land

§ 111-405. Petition to contest compensation for taking or use of land|When any person shall be dissatisfied with the award of the Selectboard as made in any of the cases mentioned in the two preceding sections, or if a person disputes the necessity of taking of any lands or streams for the purposes mentioned in said sections, such person may petition the Windsor County Court for an inquiry into such necessity or a reassessment and award of damages, and such proceedings shall be had in said Court on said petition as are provided by law in the case of an appeal from the action of Selectboard in taking lands for highway purposes. Said petition shall be served on the Clerk within 30 days next after said award shall be filed in the Town Clerk's office as aforesaid, and at least 12 days before the term of Court to which it is returnable, but nothing in said proceedings shall prevent the Selectboard from entering upon such land and using said water after the award shall have been made as herein set forth, and the amount thereof tendered by them, if the petition mentioned in this section is for a reassessment and award of damages only.
24A V.S.A. § 111-406
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 24 Appendix - Municipal Charters|Chapter 111 - Town of Chester|App § 111-406. Providing water to Chester and other municipalities

§ 111-406. Providing water to Chester and other municipalities|Said Town may sell and furnish water to any person or corporation for domestic or other purposes, except power for manufacturing and mechanical purposes, within or without said Town and lay all pipes necessary to furnish water to all such persons.
24A V.S.A. § 111-407
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 24 Appendix - Municipal Charters|Chapter 111 - Town of Chester|App § 111-407. Malicious damage to water system

§ 111-407. Malicious damage to water system|Any person who shall maliciously disturb or injure said aqueduct, reservoir, springs, streams, or fountains, named or referred to in this act, or swim or bathe in the waters of said reservoir, springs, streams, or fountains supplying such reservoir, shall be liable to be prosecuted therefor by the Grand Juror of the Town or the State's Attorney of the county wherein such offense is committed by information, complaint, or indictment, and on conviction thereof shall be fined not less than $5.00 nor more than $100.00 and costs of prosecution and shall be liable, to said Town for all damage resulting to it by such disturbance-injury or pollution with full costs, the same to be recovered by said Town in an action on the case founded on this statute.
24A V.S.A. § 113-101
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 24 Appendix - Municipal Charters|Chapter 113 - Town of Colchester|App § 113-101. Corporate existence retained

§ 113-101. Corporate existence retained|The area and inhabitants within the current boundaries of the Town of Colchester shall continue to be a municipal corporation by the name of the Town of Colchester. (Amended 2015, No. M-1, § 2, eff. Jan. 27, 2015.)
24A V.S.A. § 113-102
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 24 Appendix - Municipal Charters|Chapter 113 - Town of Colchester|App § 113-102. General law; application

§ 113-102. General law; application|Except when changed or modified by this charter, or by any lawful regulation or ordinance of the Town of Colchester, all of the statutes of the State relating to municipalities shall apply to the Town of Colchester.
24A V.S.A. § 113-103
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 24 Appendix - Municipal Charters|Chapter 113 - Town of Colchester|App § 113-103. Powers of the Town

§ 113-103. Powers of the Town|(a) The Town shall have all the powers granted to towns by the Constitution and laws of the State together with all the implied powers necessary to carry into execution the powers granted; it may enact ordinances consistent with the Constitution and laws of the State of Vermont or with this charter, and impose penalties for violations thereof not in excess of a fine of $100.00, together with the costs of prosecution, or imprisonment for not more than 60 days, or both.(b) The Town of Colchester may adopt, amend, enforce, and repeal ordinances relating to any aspect of municipal concern for the peace, order, health, safety, comfort, protection, morality, and general welfare of the Town and of its citizens.(c) The Town may acquire real property within its corporate limits for any Town purpose, in fee simple or any lesser interest or estate, by purchase, gift, devise, lease, or condemnation, or without its corporate limits by purchase, gift, devise, lease, with approval of the voters, consistent with the Constitution and laws of the State of Vermont, and may sell, lease, mortgage, hold, manage, and control such property as its interests may require.(d) In this charter no mention of a particular power shall be construed to be exclusive or to restrict the scope of the powers which the Town would have if the particular power were not mentioned.(e) The Town may merge with political subdivisions within its boundary after approval of the voters in elections to be held by both the Town and political subdivision involved.
24A V.S.A. § 113-104
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 24 Appendix - Municipal Charters|Chapter 113 - Town of Colchester|App § 113-104. Additional powers

§ 113-104. Additional powers|In addition to powers otherwise conferred upon it by law, the Town is authorized:  (1) To adopt and enforce ordinances relating to making and installing local improvements including curbs, sidewalks, storm drains, and water and sanitary waste systems; apportioning part of the expense of such improvements against property owners who benefit thereby; providing for the collection of such assessments and penalties for nonpayment; provided however:  (A) That in absence of an ordinance no assessment shall be made by the Selectboard until it has received a petition in writing from 50 percent of the owners of property fronting on such local improvements as proposed. Upon receiving such petition, the Selectboard may order the proposed improvements to be made. (B) That no assessment shall be made in excess of the actual benefit to the land so assessed as determined by the Selectboard after notice to and hearing of the owners of the property assessed. (C) That the total assessment made on account of any such improvements shall not exceed 50 percent of the cost of such improvement and the remaining cost of such improvement shall be borne by the Town.  (2) To adopt and enforce ordinances requiring the installation of curbs, sidewalks, and storm drains in a manner specified by the Town as a condition precedent to the issuance of a building permit. (3) To adopt and enforce ordinances regulating signs and billboards. (4) To adopt and enforce police ordinances regulating the parking, operation, and speed of motor vehicles upon Town and State aid streets and highways; to adopt police ordinances regulating the use of firearms, air rifles, and devices having a capacity to inflict personal injury; to adopt and enforce police ordinances prohibiting the use of firearms, air rifles, and devices having a capacity to inflict personal injury in specified areas, but only with approval of the voters. (5) To adopt and enforce ordinances relating to regulation, licensing, or prohibition of the storage and accumulation of garbage, ashes, rubbish, refuse, and waste materials. (6) To create and maintain a Police Department. (7) To establish a policy whereby the Selectboard may determine it to be in the public interest to plow those private roads serving two or more year-round residences, which had previous to January 1, 1997, have the Town providing winter road maintenance. (Amended 2015, No. M-1, § 2, eff. Jan. 27, 2015.)
24A V.S.A. § 113-105
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 24 Appendix - Municipal Charters|Chapter 113 - Town of Colchester|App § 113-105. Ordinances; enforcement; adoption

§ 113-105. Ordinances; enforcement; adoption|(a) The Selectboard may provide monetary penalties or injunctive relief for the breach of any ordinance authorized by general law or this chapter; may prosecute any person violating the same through the Town legal counsel or police officers who for such purposes shall be informing officers and may maintain actions to restrain actual or threatened violations of the same. The establishment of any fine or penalty shall be by ordinance.(b) Ordinance-making authority granted to the Town by this charter and general law shall be exercised in accordance with sections 106 through 109 of the charter. (Amended 2015, No. M-1, § 2, eff. Jan. 27, 2015.)
24A V.S.A. § 113-106
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 24 Appendix - Municipal Charters|Chapter 113 - Town of Colchester|App § 113-106. Introduction; first and second readings; public hearing

§ 113-106. Introduction; first and second readings; public hearing|(a) Every ordinance, repeal of an ordinance, or amendment to an ordinance shall be introduced in writing. The enacting clause of all ordinances shall be "The Selectboard of the Town of Colchester hereby ordains...". If the Selectboard passes the proposed ordinance upon first reading it shall cause the proposed ordinance to be published in its entirety or a concise summary of it in the Selectboard's designated newspaper of general circulation in the Town at least once, together with a notice of the time and place, when and where there will be a public hearing to consider the same for final passage. The first publication shall be at least 15 days prior to the date of said public hearing.(b) At the time and place so designated or at any time and place to which the hearing may from time to time be adjourned, such ordinance shall be available in written form for the public. (Amended 2015, No. M-1, § 2, eff. Jan. 27, 2015.)