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An 'Open town meeting' is a form of municipal legislature, typical in the New England region of the United States.
In Massachusetts, for example, generally the least populous towns have open town meeting form of government. Through a town charter revision process, no town with fewer than 6,000 residents may adopt representative town meeting form of government; towns with 6,000 or more residents may optionally adopt the representative town meeting form.^[1] The Board of Selectmen call the town meeting into existence by issuing the warrant, which is the list of items--known as articles--to be voted on, with descriptions of each article. The Moderator officiates the meeting by reading each article, explaining it, and making sure the rules of parliamentary procedure are followed, interprets voice votes and counts other votes. The Finance Committee makes recommendations on articles dealing with money, and often drafts the proposed budget. The Town Clerk serves as the clerk of the meeting by recording its results. Town Counsel makes legal recommendations on all articles of the warrant, to ensure town meeting is acting lawfully. All registered voters are free to attend and vote on any and all articles in the open town meeting.
Open town meetings function largely the same as a Representative town meeting, except that only elected representatives can participate or vote in the Representative town meeting.

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Notes

Compare to

★ Representative town meeting - Only elected representatives can participate and vote

★ City Council - Representative legislature for a formally-chartered city

★ Board of Selectmen - Executive council for a town

See also

★ New England town

★ Town meeting time: A handbook of parliamentary law (ISBN 0971167907)

Notes

1. See amendment LXXXIX of the Massachusetts Constitution.