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126-503: Before Boston was incorporated as a city in 1822, it shared a similar manner of government to other New England towns . This meant that Boston, then known as "Town of Boston", was governed by a 7-member Board of Selectmen who would elect then among themselves an executive office of "Intendant". To serve as legislature there was a "Board of Assistants". The Assistants were given a mix of legislative and executive powers and were elected from Boston's then 12 wards. As with other New England towns

252-515: A recall referendum , recall petition or representative recall ) is a procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office through a referendum before that official's term of office has ended. Recalls appear in the constitution in ancient Athenian democracy . Even where they are legally available, recall elections are only commonly held in a small number of countries including Peru , Ecuador , and Japan . They are considered by groups such as ACE Electoral Knowledge Network as

378-722: A 1909 act of the Massachusetts General Court. In this act, the General Court abolished the offices of Aldermen, Street Commissioner, Clerk of the Common Council, Clerk of Committees, and all the subordinate offices of these officials. The act replaced and centralized these positions into the Office of Mayor and City Council. The Council, with approval from the Mayor, was given the power to create offices it saw fit and appoint and remove

504-712: A CDP which is coextensive with the entire town. CDPs are only recognized within towns, not cities. Because the primary role of CDPs is to establish "place" data for communities located in unincorporated areas, a CDP cannot be within an incorporated place. Since the Census Bureau recognizes New England cities as incorporated places, a CDP cannot be within a city. Data users from outside New England should be aware that New Englanders usually think in terms of entire towns (i.e., MCD data), making CDP data of marginal local interest. Since virtually all territory in New England outside of Maine

630-455: A borough or city can span more than one town. In practice, though, most cities in Connecticut today do not function any differently from their counterparts elsewhere in New England. See the section below on boroughs and villages for more background on this topic. There are far fewer cities in New England than there are towns, although cities are more common in heavily built-up areas, and most of

756-479: A borough, a city can cover only a portion of a town rather than being coextensive with the town. This is rare today—only one or two examples remain—but it was more common in the past. At least one borough historically spanned more than one town: the borough of Danielsonville originally laid over parts of Killingly and Brooklyn , until the Brooklyn portion petitioned to be reorganized as a fire district and concurrently

882-499: A city in 1822, the position of Intendant was replaced with Mayor, the Board of Assistants was renamed the Common Council, and the Selectmen were renamed Aldermen. With the population growing, the citizens of Boston wanted change in the system of government. Many felt a town meeting form of government was insufficient and impracticable with Boston's increasing population. Logistically speaking,

1008-521: A city, it is coextensive and consolidated with the Town of Hartford; governed by a single governmental entity with the powers and responsibilities of the Town being carried out by the entity referred to as the City of Hartford. In legal theory though not in current practice Connecticut cities and boroughs could be coextensive (covering the same geography as the town) without being consolidated (a single government); also

1134-420: A fair number of unincorporated, named communities that lie within the incorporated territory of a municipality. Connecticut is one of two New England states to have any type of incorporated general-purpose municipality below the town level, namely incorporated boroughs (Vermont has incorporated villages). There are nine remaining in the state, with one, Naugatuck , having consolidated with the town. Additionally,

1260-452: A few cases in Maine where a township or gore does not border any other unorganized land, it is treated as its own MCD rather than being folded into a larger UT. In theory, a CDP could probably be defined within an MCD representing an unorganized area. Due to the extremely sparse population in most such areas, however, there are few if any cases in which the Census Bureau has actually done so. For

1386-490: A historical example in New Hampshire, see Plantation number four . Most areas of New England never developed municipal forms based on the compact populated place concept. This contrasts with states with civil townships, which typically have extensive networks of villages or boroughs that carve out or overlay the townships. Two of the New England states do have general-purpose municipalities of this type, however, to at least

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1512-470: A limited extent. Connecticut has incorporated boroughs , and Vermont has incorporated villages . Such areas remain a part of their parent town, but assume some responsibilities for municipal services within their boundaries. In both states, they are typically regarded as less important than towns, and both seem to be in decline as institutions. In recent decades, many boroughs and villages have disincorporated, reverting to full town control. The term "village"

1638-474: A list of all New England towns and other town-level municipalities, see the following articles: Note: All population statistics are from the 2020 United States census . Connecticut contains 169 incorporated towns. Put into terms that are equivalent to the other New England states, 20 are cities/boroughs and 149 are towns. (As discussed in the Cities section of Other types of municipalities in New England above,

1764-476: A majority of electors in a district (who were electors of the district at the time of the original election) to sign a petition requesting a recall election. The recall election must not occur less than 6 months after the original election or a failed recall attempt. If the recall election is successful another election to fill the seat must be held within 3 months. Article 14 of the Constitution of Latvia enables

1890-461: A normal-sized town, these areas were known by a variety of names, including gores , grants, locations, purchases, surpluses, and strips. Sometimes these areas were not included in any town due to survey errors (which is the technical meaning of the term "gore"). Sometimes they represent small areas that were left over when a particular region was carved into towns, not large enough to be a town on their own. Some appear to have simply been granted outside

2016-550: A part of a town — within Barnstable, the seven villages correspond to districts for fire, water, sewer and elementary schooling, for instance. (In Maine and New Hampshire, the term "village corporation" is used for a type of special-purpose district.) Many villages also are recognized as places by the United States Postal Service (some villages have their own post offices , with their names used in mailing addresses) or

2142-520: A particular municipality. All municipalities titled as cities are classified as incorporated places, even if their population-distribution pattern is no different from that of a typical town; towns are never classified as incorporated places, even if they are thoroughly built up. The ambiguity over whether certain municipalities in Massachusetts should be classified as cities or towns, and the Census Bureau's inconsistent handling of these municipalities (see

2268-597: A principle of soviet democracy , similar recall provisions have been included in the constitutions of many other communist countries , including that of the Soviet Union . Although allowable according to law, in practice the right of recall was never used in any soviet system of government, except for an attempt in Hungary in 1989. Article 105 of the 2008 Constitution of Ecuador provides for recall of all elected officials: People in enjoyment of political rights may revoke

2394-467: A recall. Some form of malfeasance or misconduct while in office must be identified by the petitioners. The target may choose to dispute the validity of the grounds in court, and a court then judges whether the allegations in the petition rise to a level where a recall is necessary. Anna Louise Strong, member of the Seattle School board, was recalled from her position in 1918, apparently on grounds that she

2520-413: A result, Maine has developed more of an infrastructure for administration of unincorporated and unorganized areas than the other New England states. The existence of this fallback probably explains why Maine has had significantly more towns disincorporated over the years than any other New England state. There have been numerous instances of towns in Maine disincorporating despite populations that numbered in

2646-513: A similar purpose to MCDs in other states in terms of governmental function or civic-identity importance. New England towns are classified as MCDs not because they are not "incorporated" but rather the data that the census gathers on places is analyzed based on different models (those of compact settled places and open rural places) that is not well represented by the New England Town system of organization. In order to better fit their own purposes,

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2772-412: A single compact populated place. Plantations in Maine are similarly classified as MCDs. That New England towns serve, in essence, the same function as incorporated places in other states, but are not treated as incorporated places by the Census Bureau, can be a source of confusion. The Census classifications should not be understood to imply that New England towns are not incorporated, or necessarily serve

2898-423: A somewhat different manner from that of the other New England states. In these areas, towns were often "chartered" long before any settlers moved into a particular area. This was very common in the mid to late 18th century—although there were towns which predated that period and were not part of this process in southeastern New Hampshire, such as Exeter . Once there were enough residents in a town to formally organize

3024-451: A specific place must have their signatures verified in a petition in order for the recall to take place. The president, vice president, members of Congress, and the elected officials of the Bangsamoro cannot be removed via recall. Above the barangay level, there had been eight recall elections, of which at least 2 led to a successful recall of an incumbent; the most recent recall election

3150-556: A term of two years, and the three next highest a term of one year. The members of the City Council would vote among themselves as to the President of the Council for the municipal year. The Mayor would be elected to office for a four-year term and was subject to the possibility of recall after two years. Boston's current charter states there is to be a Mayor, elected to a four-year term, who

3276-423: A town and a city have become blurred. Since the early 20th century, towns have been allowed to modify the town meeting form of government in various ways (e.g., representative town meeting , adding a town manager ). In recent decades, some towns have adopted what effectively amount to city forms of government, although they still refer to themselves as towns. As a practical matter, one municipality that calls itself

3402-719: A town and another that calls itself a city may have exactly the same governmental structure. With these changes in town government, a reluctance to adopt the title of city seems to have developed, and few towns have officially done so since the early 20th century. In Massachusetts, nine municipalities ( Agawam , Barnstable , Braintree , Franklin , Palmer , Randolph , Southbridge , West Springfield and Weymouth ) have adopted Mayor-Council or Council-Manager forms of government in their home rule charters, and are therefore considered to be legally cities, but nevertheless continue to call themselves "towns". They are sometimes referred to in legislation and other legal documents as "the city known as

3528-426: A town disincorporated or a plantation surrendered its organization). The remaining eight counties contain significant amounts of unincorporated/unorganized territory. Most of these areas are in very sparsely populated regions, however. Only about 1.3% of the state's population lives in areas not part of a town, city, or plantation. (Since the 2000 Census, two towns, Madrid and Centerville, have disincorporated. Thus, at

3654-550: A town government, no further action was necessary to incorporate. This practice can lead to inconsistencies in the dates of incorporation for towns in this region. Dates given in reference sources sometimes reflect the date when the town was chartered, which may have been long before it was settled, and not the date when its town government became active. In other parts of New England, some "future towns" were laid out along these lines, but such areas would not be formally incorporated as towns until they were sufficiently settled to organize

3780-551: A town government. A typical town in the northern three states was laid out in a 6-by-6-mile (9.7 by 9.7 km) square. Each contained 36 sections, 1 mile (1.6 km) squares or 640 acres (260 ha). One section was reserved for the support of public schools. This was copied when the Continental Congress laid out Ohio in 1785–87. Many early towns covered very large amounts of land. Once areas had become settled, new towns were sometimes formed by breaking areas away from

3906-557: A town meeting as its legislative body; instead, a city's legislative body is an elected representative body, typically called the city council or town council or board of aldermen . City governments are typically administered by a mayor (and/or city manager ). In common speech, people often generically refer to communities of either type as "towns", drawing no distinction between the two. The presence of incorporated boroughs in Connecticut and incorporated villages in Vermont has influenced

Boston City Charter - Misplaced Pages Continue

4032-431: A town meeting was near impossible due to the fact there was no hall large enough to fit all eligible voters. The changes brought forward in 1822 for the reorganization of local government were passed with 2797 votes for and 1881 against. Some citizens, including John Quincy Adams , were worried the new manner of government would be susceptible to corruption and that the "pure democracy of a town meeting [was] more suited to

4158-460: A unique type of entity called a plantation . Beneath the town level, Connecticut has incorporated boroughs , and Vermont has incorporated villages . In addition to towns, every New England state has incorporated cities. However, cities are treated in the same manner as towns under state law, differing from towns only in their form of government. Most cities are former towns that changed to a city form of government because they grew too large to have

4284-475: A very rudimentary organization that does not rise to the level of an organized general-purpose municipal government (e.g., a town clerk 's office exists for the purpose of conducting elections for state or federal offices). In general, unorganized areas fall into one of the three categories below. During the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, as town boundaries were being drawn up, small areas would sometimes be left over, not included in any town. Typically smaller than

4410-714: Is also included in Buenos Aires City (1996). An attempt at introducing recall legislation for Canada's federal Parliament was brought in October 1999 by Reform Party opposition member Ted White through a private members bill entitled Bill C 269, the Recall Act (An Act to establish the right of electors to recall members of Parliament.) . However, the legislation stalled and did not progress past first reading . As such, no nation-wide recall statute exists, but two provinces, Alberta and British Columbia have recall laws on

4536-411: Is incorporated, CDPs do not really serve the same purpose as they do elsewhere; CDPs in New England invariably represent territory that is not "unincorporated", but part of a larger incorporated town. The extent to which such an area has its own distinct identity can vary, but is not usually as strong as identification with the town as a whole. There are numerous instances where the Census Bureau recognizes

4662-433: Is no area that is outside the bounds of a municipality. Using usual American terminology, there is no "unincorporated" land in Massachusetts. Of the 351 municipalities, the number that are cities and the number that are towns is a matter of some ambiguity. Depending on which source is consulted, anywhere from 39 to 53 are cities. The ambiguity is the result of questions around the legal status of municipalities that have since

4788-499: Is one of the few states in the region that is an exception to this rule; the Massachusetts Constitution requires a town to have a population of at least 10,000 people before it can switch its government from a town meeting form to a city form. Nevertheless, even without a hard and fast population limit for city status, the practical threshold to become a city seems to be higher in the three southern New England states than in

4914-481: Is sometimes used in New England to describe a distinct, built-up place within a town or city. This may be a town center , which bears the same name as the town or city (almost every town has such a place), or a name related to that of the town, or a completely unrelated name. The town of Barnstable, Massachusetts , for example, includes the villages of Barnstable Village , West Barnstable , Centerville , Marstons Mills , Osterville , Cotuit , and Hyannis . Except for

5040-585: Is successful if signed by at least 10% of the electorate in the MPs constituency. Successful recall leads to a by-election to fill the seat. The Act received Royal Assent on 26 March 2015 after being introduced on 11 September 2014. The UK’s first recall petition occurred in 2018. There are no recall procedures for other elected officials in the United Kingdom. Recall first appeared in Colonial America in

5166-460: Is sufficiently populated to be covered by a town or a city. In colonial times, Massachusetts also used the term "plantation" for a community in a pre-town stage of development (Maine originally got the term from Massachusetts, as Maine was part of Massachusetts until 1820, when it became a state via the Missouri Compromise ). The term "plantation" had not been much used in Massachusetts since

Boston City Charter - Misplaced Pages Continue

5292-511: Is the basic unit of local government and local division of state authority in the six New England states. Most other U.S. states lack a direct counterpart to the New England town. New England towns overlie the entire area of a state, similar to civil townships in other states where they exist, but they are fully functioning municipal corporations , possessing powers similar to cities and counties in other states. New Jersey's system of equally powerful townships, boroughs, towns, and cities

5418-448: Is the city's chief executive. The Mayor in capacity as chief executive is to approve any ordinance, order, or resolution from the City Council they see fit. The City Council is to maintain legislative functions, control of the City budget, create agencies, making land use decisions, and serve as check to the Mayor's executive. The City Councilors are to receive a salary that is half of the Mayor's salary. New England town The town

5544-424: Is the system which is most similar to that of New England. New England towns are often governed by a town meeting , an assembly of eligible town residents. The great majority of municipal corporations in New England are based on the town model; there, statutory forms based on the concept of a compact populated place are uncommon, though elsewhere in the U.S. they are prevalent. County government in New England states

5670-425: Is typically weak, and in some states nonexistent. Connecticut , for example, has no county governments , nor does Rhode Island . Both of those states retain counties only as geographic subdivisions with no governmental authority, while Massachusetts has abolished eight of fourteen county governments so far. Counties serve mostly as dividing lines for the states' judicial systems and some other state services in

5796-563: The 2015 Ukrainian local elections , voters can achieve a recall election of an elected deputy or mayor if as many signatures as voters are collected. The Recall of MPs Act 2015 (c. 25) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which mandates a recall petition to be held if a Member of Parliament is found to have committed certain wrongdoings, including any that result in a custodial prison sentence. The petitions cannot be triggered by popular initiative. The subsequent recall petition

5922-586: The Additional Articles of the Constitution , the recall of the president or the vice president shall be initiated upon the proposal of one-fourth of all members of the Legislative Yuan , and also passed by two-thirds of all the members. The final recall must be passed in a recall election by more than one-half of the valid ballots in a vote in which more than one-half of the electorate in the free area of

6048-497: The United States Census Bureau (which recognizes some villages as census-designated places and tabulates census data for them). Towns with an example of the former, such as Richmond, Rhode Island , do not have a post office themselves, but instead use villages in town or villages in nearby towns as a mailing address. This leads to a weaker town identification in such towns, with residents more strongly identifying with

6174-549: The United States Census Bureau does not classify New England towns as "incorporated places". They are instead classified as " minor civil divisions " (MCDs), the same category into which civil townships fall. The Census Bureau classifies New England towns in this manner because they are conceptually similar to civil townships from a geographic standpoint, typically exhibiting similar population-distribution patterns. Like civil townships, but unlike most incorporated municipalities in other states, New England towns do not usually represent

6300-446: The 1840s, and for many years prior to the 1860s Vermont had just one city. Even Massachusetts, historically New England's most populous state, did not have any cities until 1822, when Boston was granted a city form of government by the state legislature. In most of New England, population is not a determining factor for what makes a city or town, and there are many examples of towns with larger populations than nearby cities. Massachusetts

6426-717: The 18th and 19th centuries as what might be termed "future towns", but never saw enough settlement to actually commence operation of a formal town government. All three of the northern New England states also include at least one unorganized township that was once a town but has disincorporated and reverted to unorganized territory, generally due to population loss. Maine also has some unorganized townships that were once organized as plantations. Maine has significantly more unorganized territory than Vermont or New Hampshire. Fewer than 100 Vermont residents and fewer than 250 New Hampshire residents live in unorganized areas. In Maine, by contrast, about 10,000 residents live in unorganized areas. As

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6552-489: The 18th century. Massachusetts also once had "districts", which served much the same purpose. They were considered to be incorporated, but lacked the full privileges of a town. On August 23, 1775, in order for more representation for the Revolutionary War, 36 towns in Massachusetts and 6 in Maine were incorporated, effectively eliminating the district meaning. Maine and Rhode Island are also known to have made limited use of

6678-457: The 1970s, through home-rule petition, adopted corporate charters approved by the state legislature with forms of government that resemble city government and do not include elements traditionally associated with town government (especially, a board of selectmen and a town meeting). Of the fourteen communities that have done so, all but three call themselves a "town" in their municipal operations, and are usually referred to by residents as "towns", but

6804-450: The 20th century, however. One late instance was the separation of Sugar Hill, New Hampshire , from the town of Lisbon in 1962. It has not taken place anywhere in New England in the last fifty years; boundary changes of any type are fairly rare. Towns are the basic building block of the New England municipality system, although several other types of municipalities also exist. Every New England state has cities . In addition, Maine also has

6930-561: The 42 municipalities that title themselves as cities are recognized as cities. This includes the 39 cities that adopted city forms of government through pre-home rule procedures. The other 309 municipalities in the state are treated as towns below. The same classification is used for identifying Massachusetts cities on the list of New England towns and its attendant pages with historical census population statistics. For further information, see this section of Massachusetts government . Recall election A recall election (also called

7056-411: The 50 per cent to the 40 per cent of valid votes on the day of the elections of the challenged authority). The change in the regulation, also quickening the registration of promoters, led to a considerable increase in the number of attempts. According to its constitution , Cuba is a socialist republic in which all members of representative bodies of state power are subject to recall by the masses. As

7182-499: The Alderman. The Mayor would be presiding officer of this executive board but would not have veto power. The Mayor did, however, have the sole power to nominate candidates for city office. The Mayor and Aldermen would serve as the upper part of the City Council, with the lower part being made up of four members from each of Boston's 12 wards. These two branches of the Council would have negative power over each other. The upper part taking

7308-475: The CDP. At the same time, not all built-up places with significant populations are recognized as CDPs. The Census Bureau has historically recognized relatively few CDPs within urbanized areas in particular. Many towns located in such areas do not contain any recognized CDPs and will thus be completely absent from Census materials presenting the population of "places". Greenwich, Connecticut, is one prominent example. While

7434-410: The Census Bureau, can be another source of confusion. The Census classifications should not be understood to imply that cities are incorporated but towns are not, or that cities and towns represent two fundamentally different types of entities. The Census classifies New England municipalities strictly based on whether they are towns or cities, with no regard to the actual population-distribution pattern in

7560-448: The Census only counts cities and certain fully urbanized towns as "places" in its categorization. In other towns, those with small built-up central villages, the Census designates one or more census-designated places (CDPs) and considers all other land to be parts of "minor civil divisions". This classification is done only for the Census's own data analysis, and otherwise has no connection to

7686-514: The Killingly portion was renamed Danielson by the General Assembly. There are no legal restrictions in Connecticut that would prevent a city or borough today from similarly overlaying the territory of more than one town, provided it is not consolidated with one of the underlying towns. Cities actually developed earlier in Connecticut than in the other New England states, and were originally based on

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7812-620: The Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth's Office considers all fourteen to be legally cities. Other sources within state government often refer to all fourteen municipalities as towns, however. The U.S. Census Bureau listed all as towns through the 1990 Census. For the 2000 Census, some were listed by the Federal government as towns and some as cities, a situation that continues in Census materials since 2000. Massachusetts appears to be

7938-463: The Republic of China takes part. Other elected officials can be recalled in elections by more than 1/4 of the total electors in the original electoral district, and where the number of votes consenting to the recall is more than that of dissenting. On 6 June 2020, mayor of Kaohsiung , Han Kuo-yu , became the first mayor to be recalled . 939,090 votes within 969,259 agreed the recall. A year after

8064-466: The Statistics and Superlatives section below), further blurs matters. To fill in some of the "place" data, the Census Bureau sometimes recognizes census-designated places (CDPs) within New England towns. These often correspond to town centers or other villages, although not all such areas are recognized as CDPs. In cases where a town is entirely or almost entirely built-up, the Census sometimes recognizes

8190-512: The Town of ..." Greenfield, in December 2017, dropped the "town" designation, which some called "embarrassing" and which legislators said made paperwork more difficult. Common parlance labeling a community a "city" or a "town" may have more to do with its current size, whether its current size or its historical size and reputation. In addition to towns and cities, Maine has a third type of town-like municipality not found in any other New England state,

8316-524: The Town of Greenwich appears in MCD materials, the Census Bureau does not recognize Greenwich as a "place". In New Hampshire and Vermont, the Census Bureau treats each individual unorganized entity (township, gore, grant, etc.) as an MCD. In Maine, it seems, due to the extent of unorganized area, the Census Bureau typically lumps contiguous townships, gores, and the like together into larger units called "unorganized territories" (UTs), which are then treated as MCDs. In

8442-611: The U.S., except that it uses the town as its basic unit rather than the county. Even though the Census Bureau does not treat New England towns as "incorporated places", it does classify cities in New England as such. The rationale behind this is that cities are likely to be more thoroughly built-up and therefore more readily comparable to cities in other states than towns are. Boroughs in Connecticut and incorporated villages in Vermont are also treated as incorporated places. That New England states, in general, regard cities and towns on equal footing, yet they are handled in two different ways by

8568-556: The US Census Bureau treats Groton Long Point as a borough, as an act of the state legislature gives it the same powers as a borough, although it has never formally organized as one. They were once more numerous. Many of those that remain are very small. Connecticut also has at least one remaining city ( Groton ) that is within, but not coextensive with, its parent town . A second non-coextensive city, Winsted , still exists on paper, but its government has been consolidated with that of

8694-649: The US subnational level, in 1923 and 1933, to Cordoba and Entre Ríos provinces, respectively, both in Argentina. There, recall exists at the provincial level in Chaco (introduced in 1957), Chubut (1994), Córdoba (1923, 1987), Corrientes (1960), La Rioja (1986), Rio Negro (1988), Santiago del Estero and Tierra del Fuego (1991); other provinces include it for their municipalities, namely, Entre Ríos (1933), Neuquén (1957), Misiones (1958), San Juan (1986), San Luis (1987). It

8820-470: The actual organization or legal status of New England towns. The census bureau does uniquely recognize towns, however, in that it classifies metropolitan areas in New England on the basis of town boundaries rather than county boundaries as it does in other parts of the U.S. Unique to New England is the New England city and town area , which is analogous to Metropolitan Statistical Areas in other parts of

8946-647: The books. The province of Alberta enacted recall legislation for Members of the Legislative Assembly in 1936 during the Social Credit government of William Aberhart . The legislation was repealed after a petition was introduced for the recall of Aberhart himself. In 2020, the Government of Alberta announced it will introduce a bill allowing recall elections for Members of the Legislative Assembly, municipal governments, and school boards. This bill, Bill 52,

9072-505: The borough concept. At one time, all cities were non-coextensive; the practice of making cities coextensive with their towns was a later adaptation intended to mimic the city concept that had emerged in the other New England states. Over time, many non-coextensive cities have expanded to become coextensive with their parent town. As with boroughs, many have also disincorporated and reverted to full town control. These two trends have combined to make non-coextensive cities very rare in recent times;

9198-625: The boundary with New York State , housing the Stratford Shoal Light , is not part of any town and is administered directly by the United States Coast Guard . In general, inhabited minor off-shore islands are administered as part of a nearby town and in some cases, are their own independent towns, such as the town of Gosnold , Massachusetts, which encompasses the Elizabeth Islands . Unlike municipalities in most other states,

9324-415: The built-up area around a town center as a CDP, resulting in a CDP that bears the same name as the town. In these cases, data for the CDP is, in general, meaningless to local residents, who seldom draw any particular distinction between the built-up area around the town center and outlying areas of the town. A local source citing data for such a community will almost always use the data for the entire town, not

9450-457: The by-election for their former seat. Twenty-six recall petitions have been launched as of 2020 ; of the six completed petitions returned to Elections BC, five were rejected for having too few valid signatures. The sixth, on the recall of MLA Paul Reitsma , was halted after Reitsma resigned in 1998 during the secondary verification stage. In Colombia, the recall referendum was included by the constitution in 1991. The constitutional replacement

9576-471: The character of the people of New England ." This new government was to have a Mayor as chief executive officer who was elected to a one-year term, eight Aldermen , as well as one member of each ward being elected to a School Committee. The School Committee, along with the Aldermen and Mayor, would be in charge of education in the City. The Mayor was not an independent actor and instead would operate alongside

9702-404: The corresponding electoral registry. In the case of the President of the Republic, the support of a number not less than fifteen percent of those registered in the electoral registry will be required. Mayors may be recalled in 11 out of the 16 states of Germany . In a majority of these states recall elections are indirect, meaning that they only take place after a motion of no confidence from

9828-434: The district concept. Districts have not been at all common since the first half of the 19th century, and there have not been any districts anywhere in New England in over a century. Maine is the only New England state that currently has a significant amount of territory that is not sufficiently populated to support town governments; thus, it is the only New England state that still needs the plantation type of municipality. For

9954-400: The evolution of cities in those states. In Connecticut in particular, the historical development of cities was quite different from in the other New England states, and at least technically, the relationship between towns and cities is today different from elsewhere in New England. Just as boroughs in Connecticut overlay towns, so do cities; for example, while Hartford is commonly thought of as

10080-484: The exception rather than the rule in the New England system, and the number of New England residents who live in them is extremely small in comparison to those who live in towns and cities, even in Maine. Most such areas are located in very sparsely populated regions. Much of the barely inhabited interior of Maine is unorganized, for example. The majority of the unincorporated areas in New Hampshire are in Coos County , and

10206-399: The holders of these offices. The Council was also given power of approving the budget, as presented by the Mayor. The City Council was also to be given power of land use (with exception of School land), and the purchase and sale of that property. The Council was to have nine members. The three candidates with the highest number of votes would serve a term of three years, the three next highest

10332-797: The hundreds. While these were not large communities, they were large enough to realistically operate a town government if they wanted to, but simply elected not to. In Vermont and New Hampshire, disincorporation has, in general, not been brought up for discussion unless a town's population has approached single digits. In general, coastal waters in the New England states are administered directly by either state or federal agencies and are not part of any town. Several towns, however, have chosen to include all or part of their corresponding coastal waters in their territory. Coastal waters include human-made structures built within them. In Connecticut, for example, an artificial, uninhabited island in Long Island Sound at

10458-490: The incorporated villages in Vermont, these "villages" are not incorporated municipalities and should not be understood as such. Towns do sometimes grant a certain measure of recognition to such areas, using highway signs that identify them as "villages", for example. These informal "villages" also sometimes correspond to underlying special-purpose districts such as fire or water districts, which are separately incorporated quasi-municipal entities that provide specific services within

10584-464: The largest municipalities in the region are titled as cities. Across New England as a whole, only about 5% of all incorporated municipalities are cities. Cities are more common in the three southern New England states, which are much more densely populated, than they are in the three northern New England states. In early colonial times, all incorporated municipalities in New England were towns; there were no cities. Springfield, Massachusetts , for instance,

10710-608: The laws of the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1631. This version of the recall involved one elected body removing another official. During the American Revolution , the Articles of Confederation stipulated that state legislatures might recall delegates from the Continental Congress . According to New York Delegate John Lansing, the power was never exercised by any state. The Virginia Plan , issued at

10836-487: The lowest amount of successful recalls as only 25 were removed. In 2011, there were at least 150 recall elections in the United States. Of these, 75 officials were recalled, and nine officials resigned under threat of recall. Recalls were held in 17 states in 73 different jurisdictions. Michigan had the most recalls (at least 30). The year set a record for number of state legislator recall elections (11 elections) beating

10962-612: The majority of the unincorporated areas in Vermont are in Essex County . Two additional counties in New Hampshire and three additional counties in Vermont contain smaller amounts of unincorporated territory. In Maine, eight of the state's sixteen counties contain significant amounts of unorganized territory (in essence, those counties in the northern and interior parts of the state). Four other counties contain smaller amounts. Most of these areas have no local government at all; indeed, some have no permanent population whatsoever. Some areas have

11088-422: The mandate of popularly elected authorities. The request for revocation of the mandate may be submitted once the first and before the last year of the period for which the authority in question was elected. During the management period of an authority, only one process of revocation of the mandate may be carried out. The revocation request must be supported by a number not less than ten percent of people registered in

11214-563: The manner established by law upon decision of a majority of the electors. As a principle of soviet democracy , similar recall provisions have been widely copied in the constitutions of other communist countries , including those of Cuba , China , Vietnam , North Korea , and countries in the Eastern Bloc . Although allowable according to law, in practice the right of recall was never used in any soviet system of government, except for an attempt in Hungary in 1989. In Taiwan , according to

11340-788: The most rarely used form of direct democracy . The processes for recall elections vary greatly by country and can be originated in different ways. This can be done in two ways: The scheduling of a recall outside of normal elections causes additional expense. For example, the 2021 California gubernatorial recall election cost taxpayers $ 300 million for an election that the governor won 61.9% to 38.1%. Many recall elections take place in off-years , resulting in much lower voter turnout than regularly scheduled elections. Some recall elections have different rules than normal elections, requiring voter education and outreach. The recall referendum arrived in Latin America shortly after its introduction at

11466-499: The municipal council of the city . A supermajority vote is normally needed to start the recall process from the council. Four states also allow the direct recall, where citizens may sign a petition to trigger the recall vote. introduction (Percentage of Voters) (percentage of citizens) vote The recall of members of the state parliaments of Germany exist in five states ; Bavaria , Berlin , Brandenburg , Bremen , and Rhineland-Palatinate . All of these states only allow for

11592-443: The only New England state where this issue has arisen, though other New England states also have municipalities that have adopted what amounts to city forms of government but continue to call themselves "towns". In the other New England states, it does not appear that any need to officially label such municipalities as "cities" has been identified. For purposes of determining the "largest town" and "smallest city", in this article, only

11718-530: The only one currently incorporated is the city of Groton , located in the southwestern part of the town of Groton, Connecticut . In Vermont, if a village becomes a city, it does not continue to overlay its parent town, but breaks away and becomes a completely separate municipality. Most cities in Vermont today are actually former villages rather than former towns, and are much smaller than a typical town in terms of land area. The above process has created several instances where there are adjacent towns and cities with

11844-411: The original existing towns. This was an especially common practice during the 18th and early 19th centuries. More heavily populated areas were often subdivided on multiple occasions. As a result, towns and cities in urbanized areas are often smaller in terms of land area than an average town in a rural area. Formation of new towns in this manner slowed in the later part of the 19th century and early part of

11970-575: The outset of the Philadelphia Convention of 1787, proposed to pair recall with rotation in office and to apply these dual principles to the lower house of the national legislature. The recall was rejected by the Constitutional Convention. However, the anti-Federalists used the lack of recall provision as a weapon in the ratification debates. Only two governors have ever been recalled. In 1921, Governor Lynn Frazier of North Dakota

12096-527: The perceived problem of squabbling and dysfunctional municipal governments. Article 142 of The 1936 Constitution of the Soviet Union gave the right in theory to recall deputies in legislatures at all levels of government: Article 142. It is the duty of every deputy to report to his electors on his work and on the work of the Soviet of Working People's Deputies , and he is liable to be recalled at any time in

12222-524: The plantation. A plantation is, in essence, a town-like community that does not have enough population to require full town government or services. Plantations are organized at the county level and typically found in sparsely populated areas. There is no bright-line population divider between a town and a plantation, but no plantation currently has any more than about 300 residents. Plantations are considered to be "organized" but not "incorporated." Not all counties have them; in some southern counties, all territory

12348-650: The recall of the entire Saiema , though not of specific representatives: In Mexico , the State of Yucatán was the first to introduce the recall in 1938. The mechanism, which had never been used, was declared unconstitutional 72 years later by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation . A similar mechanism introduced in Chihuahua in 1997 was also declared unconstitutional and consequently eliminated from law. Despite these precedents,

12474-423: The recall of the entire legislature by triggering a new election, the recall of individual members is not allowed. Article 18, Section 3 of the Constitution of Bavaria provides, that the entire Landtag can be dismissed by referendum on petition of 1 Million citizens, with elections of a new Landtag to be held up to six weeks after the recall referendum. Section 69 of the Constitution of Kiribati provides for

12600-812: The recall was later included in the states of Oaxaca (1998), Morelos (2011), Guerrero (2013), Zacatecas and Aguascalientes . Early policies of the New Zealand Labour Party included support for "the recall". Recall regulations were introduced in Peru by the Democratic Constituent Congress ( Congreso Constituyente Democrático ) which drafted a new constitution after Alberto Fujimori 's autogolpe in 1992. Between 1997 and 2013, more than 5000 recall referendums were activated against democratically elected authorities from 747 Peruvian municipalities (45.5% of all municipalities). This makes Peru

12726-427: The recall. Since the time the mechanism was regulated by Law 134 in 1994, until 2015, 161 attempts led 41 referendums and none of them succeeded since the threshold of participation was not reached. In 2015, a new law (303/2015) reduced the number of signatures required to activate a recall referendum (from 40 per cent to 30 per cent of the total of votes obtained by the elected authority) and the threshold (dropping from

12852-421: The relationship between towns and cities in Connecticut is different from the other New England states, at least on paper; thus, in the technical sense, all 169 of the above municipalities are really towns, with 20 overlaid by a coextensive city or borough of the same name.) Together, these 169 municipalities cover the entire state. There is no unincorporated territory, but, as in all New England states, there are

12978-439: The remaining 32 are organized as plantations. These 485 organized municipalities together cover much of, but not all of, the state's territory. Of Maine's sixteen counties, only four are entirely incorporated. Four other counties are almost entirely incorporated, but include small amounts of unincorporated/unorganized territory (three of these four counties were entirely incorporated or organized at one time, but lost that status when

13104-551: The required number of signatures was not collected—and it was abolished in the course of constitutional revisions in Aargau (1980), Baselland (1984) and Lucerne (2007). The only successful recall so far happened in the Canton of Aargau in the year 1862. However, the possibility of recalling municipal executives was newly introduced in Ticino in 2011, with 59% of voters in favor, as a reaction to

13230-576: The riding sign the petition and the petition is validated by Elections BC , the Chief Electoral Officer informs the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and the member in question that the member has been recalled and their seat vacated. A by-election is called by the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia as soon as possible to fill the vacant seat. The recalled MLA is permitted to run in

13356-474: The role of Selectmen from the old system and the lower part taking the role of the open town meeting. The two parts were to have similar executive power in order to quell concerns from some citizens as to what they saw as a deterioration of the traditional form of New England democracy. Following the incorporation of Boston as a city in 1822 and formation of a city government, the next time large changes were made to local government came in 1854. Boston's population

13482-453: The same ballot. In the 2003 California recall election, over 100 candidates appeared on the replacement portion of the ballot. In other states, a separate special election is held after the target is recalled, or a replacement is appointed by the Governor or some other state authority. The largest amount of recalls in the United States were held in 2021, as 529 officials faced recalls, but it had

13608-506: The same name. In all cases, the city was originally the "town center" of the town, but later incorporated as a city and became a separate municipality. All three of the northern New England states ( Vermont , New Hampshire , and Maine ) contain some areas that are unincorporated and unorganized, not part of any town, city or plantation. Maine has significantly more such area than the other two states. While these areas do exist, their importance should not be overstated. They are certainly

13734-651: The southern New England states while providing varying (but generally limited) services in the more sparsely populated three northern New England states. Towns date back to the time of the earliest English colonial settlement , which predominated in New England, and they pre-date the development of counties in the region. Areas were organized as towns as they were settled, throughout the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Town boundaries were not usually laid out on any kind of regular grid, but were drawn to reflect local settlement and transportation patterns, often affected by natural features. In early colonial times, recognition of towns

13860-417: The target is permitted to submit responses to the stated reasons for recall. The minimum number of signatures to qualify a recall, and the time limit to do so, vary among the states. In addition, the handling of recalls, once they qualify, differs. In some states a recall triggers a simultaneous special election, where the vote on the recall, as well as the vote on the replacement if the recall succeeds, are on

13986-452: The three northern New England states. In Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, almost every city has at least 10,000 people, and all but a few have at least 20,000. In Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, however, there are a number of cities with fewer than 10,000 people, and there are five (three in Maine and two in Vermont) with fewer than 5,000. Over time, some of the distinctions between

14112-399: The time of the 2000 Census, Maine had 22 cities, 434 towns, and 34 plantations, for a total of 490 organized municipalities. Also since the 2010 Census, Sanford adopted a new charter that included designation as a city.) Massachusetts contains 351 municipal corporations, consisting of cities and towns. These 351 municipalities together encompass the entire territory of Massachusetts; there

14238-517: The town meeting was still to be the primary democratic body of Boston and these executive offices would govern when in between these general sessions. Due to the growing population of port cities like Boston, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts passed an amendment in 1820 to allow the General Court to define and grant city forms of government to towns over 12,000 people. When Boston voted to become

14364-444: The town of Winchester for many years, making it more of a special-purpose district than a true municipality. Winsted is no longer recognized by the Census Bureau as an incorporated place, although data is tabulated for a Census Designated Place that is coextensive with that of the original city. As of the 2020 census, Maine contains 485 organized municipalities, of which 23 are incorporated as cities, 430 are incorporated as towns, and

14490-621: The usual town structure, sometimes in areas where it was probably not contemplated that towns would ever develop. Over time, those located in more populated areas were, in general, annexed to neighboring towns or incorporated as towns in their own right. No such areas exist today in Massachusetts, Connecticut or Rhode Island, but some remain in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. All three of the northern New England states contain some town-sized unorganized entities, referred to as "unorganized townships" (sometimes, just "townships") or "unorganized towns". Most of these are areas that were drawn up on maps in

14616-451: The village they live in. However, villages or CDPs have no existence as general-purpose municipalities separate from the town (if they even have any legal existence at all), and are usually regarded by local residents as a part of the town in which they are located, less important than the whole. It is possible for a Connecticut borough or Vermont village to become a city. In Connecticut, cities overlay towns just as boroughs do, and, just like

14742-460: The world's most intensive user of this mechanism. Article 10 of the 1987 constitution of the Philippines allows for the recall of local officials. The Local Government Code, as amended, enabled the application of the provisions of the constitution. Elected officials from provincial governors to the barangay (village) councilors are potentially subject to recall. At least 15% of the electorate in

14868-430: Was recalled during a dispute about state-owned industries . In 2003, Governor Gray Davis of California was recalled over the state budget . Additionally, in 1988, a recall was approved against Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona , but he was impeached and convicted before it got on the ballot. In Alaska , Georgia , Kansas , Minnesota , Montana , Rhode Island , and Washington , specific grounds are required for

14994-586: Was a town for the first two centuries of its existence. The entire land areas of Connecticut and Rhode Island had been divided into towns by the late 18th century, and Massachusetts was almost completely covered early in the 19th century. By 1850, the only New England state that still had large unincorporated areas was Maine ; by the end of the 19th century, most areas in Maine that could realistically be settled had been organized into towns. Early town organization in Vermont and much of New Hampshire proceeded in

15120-499: Was growing rapidly, from 43,298 in 1820 to 138,788 in 1850, and with the increase in population many felt the need to once again reform the government. The main changes made were the expansion of the Board of Aldermen from eight members to 12, the enlargement of the School Committee to six members from each ward, and the removal of the Mayor's right to vote at executive board meetings. The modern government of Boston can be traced to

15246-411: Was launched as an answer to the movement known as la séptima papeleta (the seventh ballot), which requested a constitutional reform to end violence, narcoterrorism, corruption and increasing citizenship apathy. The definition of recall referendum in relation to programmatic vote was approved. It obliges candidates running for office to register a government plan which is later on considered to activate

15372-527: Was passed and received Royal Assent June 17, 2021, and came into effect on April 7, 2022. British Columbia's Recall and Initiative Act , enacted in 1995, provides a process for recalling members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia . Voters in a provincial riding can petition to have their Member of the Legislative Assembly removed from office once said MLA has been in office for at least 18 months. If over 40 percent of registered voters in

15498-442: Was settled as a "plantation" (in colonial Massachusetts, the term was synonymous with town) as early as 1636, but the city of Springfield was not established until 1852. The oldest cities in New England date to the last few decades of the 18th century, (e.g. New Haven, Connecticut , was chartered as a city in 1784). In New England, cities were not widespread until well into the 19th century. New Hampshire did not have any cities until

15624-452: Was supporting extreme labour positions. In the November 2010 general election, Illinois passed a referendum to amend the state constitution to allow a recall of the state's governor, in light of former Governor Rod Blagojevich's corruption scandal . In the other eleven states that permit statewide recall, no grounds are required and recall petitions may be circulated for any reason. However,

15750-597: Was the 2015 Puerto Princesa mayoral recall election . While recalls are not provided for at the federal level in Switzerland, six cantons allow them: The possibility of recall referendums (together with the popular election of executives, the initiative and the legislative referendum) was introduced into several cantonal constitutions after the 1860s in the course of a broad movement for democratic reform. The instrument has never been of any practical importance—the few attempts at recall so far have failed, usually because

15876-431: Was very informal, generally connected to local church divisions. By 1700, colonial governments had become more involved in the official establishment of new towns. Towns were typically governed by a town meeting form of government, as many still are today. Towns originally were the only form of incorporated municipality in New England. The city form of government was not introduced until much later. Boston , for instance,

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