AN ACT RELATIVE TO REFERENDUM PROCEDURE IN THE TOWN OF DARTMOUTH.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Chapter 26 of the acts of 1927 is hereby amended by striking out section 8, as amended by chapter 428 of the acts of 1953, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-
Section 8. A vote passed at any representative town meeting authorizing the expenditure of $220,000 or more as a special appropriation, establishing or abolishing a board or office, merging two or more boards or offices, fixing the term of office of town officers where such term is optional, increasing or reducing the number of members of a board or adopting or amending a by-law, shall not be operative until after the expiration of eight days, exclusive of Sundays and holidays, from the dissolution of the meeting. If within said eight days a petition signed by not less than 6 per cent of the registered voters of the town, containing their names and addresses as they appear on the list of registered voters, is filed with the selectmen asking that the question or questions involved in such a vote be submitted to the registered voters of the town at large, the selectmen, within not less than 21 days of the filing of such petition, shall call a special election for the sole purpose of presenting to the registered voters at large the question or questions so involved and said election shall be held not less than 35 days and not more than 60 days from the date of the call of such election. The polls shall be open not later than 11 o'clock in the forenoon and shall be closed no earlier than 8 o'clock in the evening and all votes upon any question so submitted shall be taken by ballot, and the check list shall be used in the several precinct meetings in the same manner as in the election of town officers. The questions so submitted shall be determined by a majority vote of the registered voters of the town voting thereon, but no action of the representative town meeting shall be reversed unless at least 25 per cent of the registered voters shall vote to disapprove such action. Each question so submitted shall be in the form of the following question, which shall be placed upon the official ballot: "Shall the town vote to approve the action of the representative town meeting whereby it was voted (the vote as it appears in the records of the town clerk)?" If such petition is not filed within said period of eight days, the vote of the representative town meeting shall become operative and effective upon the expiration of said period.