Town Meeting:Rules of Debate

The purpose of Town Meeting is to vote on all the articles in the Warrant. Rules of order and procedure for the conduct of Town Meeting business are in the Town By-laws. Where rules are not dictated by statute, by-laws, or tradition, Roberts' Rules of Parliamentary Practice governs. All business is conducted through the Moderator, who presides at Town Meeting.

Each speaker always addresses the Moderator, and all questions are likewise addressed through this official. For example, "Madam/Mr. Moderator, through you may I ask the Selectmen?" No one may speak without first being recognized by the Moderator. A speaker may not be interrupted except for a point of order, a privileged motion, or to give notice of reconsideration. A person may speak only once on each question as long as others who have not previously spoken desire to speak. According to the Town Bylaws, no person may speak more than ten minutes at any one time without being recognized again by the Moderator. However, the moderator has the discretion to change this time limit. This is usually done after consulting the Town Meeting Members Association. In recent years, speakers have been limited to no more than three minutes. No member may speak more than twice on any issue, except to correct a mistake or to make an explanation, without first obtaining permission of the meeting, If, however, a motion contains distinct sections dealing with dissimilar subjects which are discussed and amended separately (as in the Operating Budget) the rule of speaking only once applies to each new section and not to the entire motion. Speaking to an amendment does not count as time toward speaking to the main motion. Any person who is not a Town Meeting Member may speak subject to the same limitations. Debate on a subsidiary motion is limited to ten minutes, and a person may speak only once for no longer than three minutes. If the subsidiary motion is an amendment, however, debate may continue for thirty minutes unless changed by vote of Town Meeting. When the Moderator starts to "call the question" with the words "All those in favor", it is too late to seek recognition by standing or proceeding to a microphone.