Town Meeting
The Town of Lexington is governed by a Representative Town Meeting. The Town Meeting legislative arrangement is found only in New England states.
Lexington's Town Meeting is composed of 199 members:
Elected members: 21 citizens elected from each of nine precincts for three-year staggered terms; At-large members: the Board of Selectmen, Town Counsel, the School Committee chairman, the Appropriations Committee chairman, and the representative to the General Court; The Town Moderator, elected annually to facilitate all town meeting sessions and preserve order and decorum.
The responsibilities of Town Meeting are to:
Appropriate funds for operating and capital budgets for the upcoming fiscal year (July 1 to June 30); Accept certain "local option" statutes statutes of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Town Meeting convenes for a series of meetings in the spring (and other times when necessary). Sessions usually begin at 7:00 p.m. and are held at Cary Hall in the Cary Memorial Building, at 1605 Massachusetts Avenue between the Town Office Building and the Police Station. The Town Clerk reports on the actions of each Town Meeting session and takes the official minutes.
All matters of Town Meeting business are included in the Warrant. Each item of business is called a Warrant article, and Town Meeting can vote only on articles contained in the Warrant. The Board of Selectmen determines the content and order of articles in the Warrant. Citizens are afforded the opportunity of submitting warrant articles by acquiring the signatures of 10 or more registered voters.
Funds cannot be spent without appropriation by the Representative Town Meeting. This requirement is derived from the State Constitution ("Declaration of the Rights of the Inhabitants of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts"), which states that "no part of the property of any individual can with justice be taken from him or applied to public uses without his own consent or that of the representative body of the people."
A Brief History of Town Meeting in Lexington
Lexington was originally settled in 1642. Until its incorporation as a town in 1713, it was known as Cambridge Farms, a part of the Town of Cambridge. After its incorporation, all adult males who owned property in Town, called "freemen", had a voice in an open Town Meeting, the legislative body over the Town of Lexington. Attendance at meetings was compulsory.
As Town business became more complex, the townspeople "selected" certain citizens (Selectmen) to carry on Town business between town meetings. When attendance of meeting members was no longer compulsory it became important to detail what matters would be acted on during Town Meeting so that citizens could know in advance anything that was interesting to them. This notice became the Warrant, which is a notification issued to the citizens stating the time, place, and subject matter to be discussed and voted upon at Town Meeting.
In 1929, the open Town Meeting was abolished and a Representative Town Meeting form of government was established. Legislation in 1959 further defined the authority of Town Meeting. The Board of Selectmen-Executive Secretary plan was utilized from 1961 to 1969. This plan was established through an article in the Warrant requesting funds for the office, not by an act of legislation. In 1973, the town was redistricted from six to nine precincts.
Lexington has operated under a Town Meeting-Board of Selectmen-Town Manager form of government since the Town's current charter was adopted as the Selectmen-Town Manager Act of 1969.
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