Board of selectmen - Citizendia

The Board of Selectmen is commonly the executive arm of town governments in the New England region of the United States. A town is a type of settlement ranging from a few to several thousand (occasionally hundreds of thousands inhabitants although it may be applied loosely even to huge metropolitan For the government of parliamentary systems see Executive (government. History See also History of New England New England's earliest inhabitants were Algonquian -speaking Native Americans including the The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The board typically consists of three or five members, with or without staggered terms.

Further information: New England town

History

In most New England towns, the adult voting population gathers annually in a town meeting to act as the local legislature, approving budgets and laws. The New England town is the basic unit of local government in each of the six New England states A town meeting is a meeting where the population of an entire geographic area is invited to participate in a gathering often for a political administrative or legislative purpose Day-to-day operations were originally left to individual oversight, but when towns became too large for individuals to handle such work loads, they would elect an executive board of, literally, select(ed) men to run things for them.

These men had charge of the day-to-day operations; selectmen were important in legislating policies central to a community's police force, highway supervisors, poundkeepers, field drivers, and other officials. Police are agents or agencies usually of the executive, empowered to enforce the law and to effect public and social order through the legitimatized use of force * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Before adding any more images to this * * page please do carefully consider * * whether they would be mere decoration * * or actually improve However, the larger towns grew, the more power would be distributed among other elected boards, such as fire wardens, and police departments. For example, population increases led to the need for actual police departments, of which selectmen typically became the commissioners. In Biology a population is the collection of inter-breeding organisms of a particular Species; in Sociology Police are agents or agencies usually of the executive, empowered to enforce the law and to effect public and social order through the legitimatized use of force Police Commissioner (or Commissioner of Police) is the title of the chief officer of many law enforcement agencies. The advent of tarred roads and automobile traffic led to a need for full-time highway maintainers and plowmen, leaving selectmen to serve as Supervisors of Streets and Ways. Tar is a viscous black Liquid derived from the Destructive distillation of organic matter

The term "selectman" is gender neutral. Some towns and journalist style manuals, in an example of political correctness that confuses sexual and grammatical gender, use terms not defined in state statutes such as "Selectwoman," "Selectperson," and "Select Board. " In all states the statutes use masculine forms such as Selectmen, Board of Selectmen, or First Selectman and these are the proper terms to use -- neutral in regards to the sex of the office holder(s), but consistent with the grammatical gender used in statutes.

Present

The function of the Board of Selectmen differs from state to state, and can differ within a given state depending on the type of governance under which a town operates. Selectmen is almost always a part-time position that pays only a token salary.

The basic function consists of calling town meeting, calling elections, appointing employees, setting certain fees, overseeing certain volunteer and appointed bodies, and creating basic regulations. A town meeting is a meeting where the population of an entire geographic area is invited to participate in a gathering often for a political administrative or legislative purpose An election is a Decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold formal office A fee is the Price one pays as Remuneration for Services especially the Honorarium paid to a doctor lawyer, Consultant

In larger towns, most of the selectmen's traditional powers are entrusted to a full-time town administrator or town manager. A city manager is an official appointed as the administrative manager of a City, in a council-manager form of city government In the council-manager form of government an elected city council (typically between five and 11 people is responsible for making Policy, passing Ordinances voting Appropriations In some towns, the Board of Selectmen acts more like a city council, but retains the historic name. A city council is a form of Local government, usually covering a City or other Urban area, such as a Town.

In some places, such as Connecticut, the head of the Board of Selectmen is the First Selectman, who historically has served as the chief administrative officer of the town and may be elected separately from the rest of the board. The First Selectman (sometimes Selectwoman depending on the preference of the person holding the office is the head of the Board of Selectmen in some New England towns Sometimes this is a part-time position, with larger towns hiring a full-time town administrator, who answers to the First Selectman. In some towns and cities, the First Selectman exercises the powers typically associated with mayors. A mayor (from the Latin māior, meaning "greater" is a modern title used in many countries for the highest ranking officer in a municipal government In Massachusetts, the presiding selectman is usually called the chairman and is chosen annually by his or her fellow selectmen.

History

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Further reading