Section 4. Town Moderator, Powers and Duties4-4
Section 4. Town Moderator, Powers and Duties4-4 (a) In General – The town moderator shall preside and regulate the proceedings at town meetings so as to preserve order and decorum. The town moderator shall decide all questions of order, subject to a motion to appeal the ruling of the chair as provided by law, by by-law or by the rules of parliamentary procedure. Every ruling involving a question of order shall be entered into the records of the town meeting by the town clerk. The town moderator may appoint another voter to perform the duties of the town moderator subject to the approval of Town Meeting in order to speak on an article appearing in the warrant, if ill or called away, or in any other instance where it might be construed a conflict of interest for the town moderator to preside. (b) Parliamentary Guidelines - In all matters of parliamentary procedure not provided for in the constitution and laws of the Commonwealth, the town by-laws, town policies, procedures and practices, the town moderator (and the voters) shall be guided by the principles of fairness, clarity, and efficiency, in that order. In determining any parliamentary question, the town moderator shall give due regard to the entire body of scholarship encompassing parliamentary 4-1A Inserted under article 2, STM June 2, 1969. 4-3 Article IV, Section 3 of these By-Laws was deleted in its entirety by action taken under article 18, ATM April 29, 1996. 4-4 Section 4 replaced under article 35, ATM April 26, 2006. 10 procedure, but with particular emphasis on the most recently published edition of Town Meeting Time, a manual of parliamentary procedure published by the Massachusetts Moderators Association, but resort may also be had for guidance to other authorities and examples of parliamentary procedure, including reference to rules and rulings of state and local legislative bodies.