Town Meeting Petition Article Forms and Submission Instructions

Instructions/Forms for Submission of Petition Articles for Town Meeting Warrant

The attached forms are intended to facilitate and clarify the process and format for submitting a petition article for insertion into a warrant for the Annual Town Meeting or a Special Town Meeting, and should be used for all petition article submissions per Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 39, Section 10*:

Ten (10) registered voters of the Town may submit a petition article for inclusion in the Annual Town Meeting warrant;

One-hundred (100) registered voters of the Town may submit a petition article for inclusion in a Special Town Meeting warrant;

*If the procedure set forth in G.L. Chapter 39, Section 10 is not followed, a petitioned article shall not appear   on the Town Meeting Warrant unless the Select Board votes to place the article on the Warrant.*

Two-hundred (200) registered voters of the Town may submit a petition to call a Special Town Meeting.

Proponents of a petition article are encouraged to secure more signatures than necessary, in the event the signatures are disqualified for any reason (i.e. non-registered voter, ineligible signature, etc.). The Town encourages petitioners to consult with an attorney to ensure the wording is in proper form to be considered by Town Meeting. The Town’s attorney is not available to the public for this purpose. The article will appear on the Town Meeting Warrant EXACTLY as submitted, including spelling and punctuation.

A petitioned article shall only be withdrawn from the Town Meeting warrant by the petitioners prior to the Select Board’s execution of the warrant.

The article will be subject to review by the Select Board and Finance Committee. The Planning Board reviews all zoning articles. Town Counsel will review submitted petition articles and opine as to their legal effect. The lead petitioner of each petition article will be notified of the date of a hearing or deliberation by the appropriate Town Board. If the respective Town Board supports the article, the Town will prepare the motion for consideration by Town Meeting. The lead petitioner is responsible for moving the article at Town Meeting.

You may copy the petition page as needed to secure enough signatures. Each separate signature page shall have the language of the proposed article appearing thereon.

In addition to submitting the attached forms to the Select Board/Town Manager’s Office by the announced deadline for any Town Meeting, it is required that the petition article wording be e-mailed as a WORD document to Administrative Assistant Terrie Cook at tmcook@mashpeema.gov