CHAPTER III

THE TOWN

The Town: its History. From the earliest settlements in America the town as a local unit of government has held a conspicuous place. It was established in this country by the first settlers and down to the present moment continues to perform important local duties in this state and in several states. As we have seen in Chapter II, the state is divided into small units called school districts (10,498 in 1915). We are now to observe that it is also divided into small units considerably larger than the school district, and for quite a different purpose. These units are called towns and number 947. The territory embraced by the boundaries of a town constitutes a little republic by itself, with specific duties to perform with reference to town affairs. These duties are defined by laws passed by the state legislature, which body also determines the number and size of towns. The reason for town government is that, as in the school district, there are many local matters, such as caring for the poor, prevention and punishment of crime, the building and care of roads and bridges, all of which pertain to the town, that can better be attended to by those immediately interested than by those larger divisions of the state to which the larger and more general affairs of government are delegated.

Town Government. Like the government of the nation, state, and county, the government of the town is divided

THE "BREAD LINE" AT MIDNIGHT RECEIVING CHARITY (above), AND A POLICEMAN MAKING THE STREETS SAFE (below) Many of these men in the "bread line" are idle because of vicious habits for which they alone are responsible and which make them undesirable as workers in any business

into three departments: namely, legislative (the town meeting), executive (as represented by the supervisor, clerk, assessors, collector, overseers of the poor, superintendent of highways, constables, and school directors), and judicial (justices of the peace).

The Town Meeting. The actual government of the town centers in the town meeting. This meeting is a gathering of voters of the town assembled according to state law for the sole purpose of considering the business of the town, and for the election of officers to carry out the expressed wishes of the voters assembled. Any qualified voter may propose to his assembled townsmen any question which the law permits towns to consider, and this will be discussed by the voters present and decided by a majority vote. The people, as in the school meeting, are the government, dealing directly with local affairs pertaining to the immediate interests of the town. But a distinction is made as to who constitutes the people. Only male citizens twenty-one years of age may vote in a town meeting. Women who are property owners, twenty-one years of age, may vote on questions for raising money. In the American system of government the town meeting represents the largest area directly controlled by the assembled voters. This form of government is a pure democracy and, because of its limited application as to area, has become extinct in the national form. The county, state, and nation are forms of representative democracy, or republican in form, as this kind of government, about which we will learn more later on, is sometimes called.

Time of holding Town Meetings. At the present time the town meeting is not held uniformly in all the counties of the state. In the counties of Chenango,

Otsego, St. Lawrence, Schuyler, Tioga, and Tompkins, town meetings are held on the second Tuesday in February; in Cayuga, Cortland, and Schoharie counties, town meetings are held on the third Tuesday in February; in Wyoming and Yates counties, town meetings are held. on the last Tuesday in February; in Essex and Franklin counties, town meetings are held the first Tuesday in March; in Livingston County, town meetings are held the second Tuesday in March; in Columbia and Hamilton counties, town meetings are held the third Tuesday in March; in Nassau and Suffolk counties, town meetings are held the first Tuesday in April; in the remaining counties of the state, except those included within the boundaries of New York City, town meetings are held the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

Powers of the Town Meeting. The assembled voters in a town meeting may consider any business pertaining to the welfare of the town not prohibited by federal or state law. They may elect town officers supervisor, clerk, assessors, collector, overseer of the poor, superintendent of highways, school directors, constables. Any qualified voter of the town is eligible to any office unless he already holds the office of county treasurer, district superintendent of schools, or school trustee, in which case he cannot hold the office of supervisor, since the supervisor distributes the state school money for his town. The officers of the town are elected by secret ballot in the same manner that state officers are chosen. The ballot contains the names of the various candidates, and the voting is supervised by inspectors of election. After the voting is finished, the meeting is open for general business by the presiding officer, who is one of the justices of the peace. The town clerk is clerk of the town meeting. Any or all of the

above duties may be performed at a special meeting of the town called for this purpose by the supervisor, together with certain other town officers, and upon the application of twenty-five taxpayers living within the town.

The Supervisor. The supervisor is the chief executive officer of the town. In addition to his duties as town officer he represents the town in the board of supervisors, the legislative branch of the county government. As town officer he receives two dollars a day for time actually spent in performing his duties; as county officer, four dollars a day. As town officer his duties are to receive and pay out all money raised for the public work of his town except that intended for the support of the poor and for highways, which goes to the respective officers in charge of this work for the town; to receive and disburse the public school fund for the various districts of his town; to act as a member of the town board. The supervisor is elected for two years.

The Town Clerk. The town clerk is custodian of the town records and is clerk of the town meeting. He not only keeps the records of the town and the proceedings of the town meeting, but also records births, deaths, marriages, and files certificates, chattel mortgages, and other such papers as are required by law to be filed in his office. He receives two dollars a day for the time actually spent in the discharge of his duty, and fees for other duties. He is a member of the town board and assists the supervisor in preparing a list of jurors.

The Assessors. Each town elects three assessors to appraise the property of individuals residing in the town, in order to determine each property owner's share of the state, county, and town taxes. It is their duty to prepare

1 Cities, like towns, have assessors with similar duties.