Present
The function of the board of selectmen differs from state to state, and can differ within a given state depending on the type of governance under which a town operates. Selectman is almost always a part-time position that pays only a token or no salary.
The basic function consists of calling town meetings, calling elections, appointing employees, setting certain fees, overseeing certain volunteer and appointed bodies, and creating basic regulations.
In larger towns, most of the selectmen's traditional powers are entrusted to a full-time town administrator or town manager. In some towns, the board of selectmen acts more like a city council, but retains the historic name.
In some places, such as Connecticut, the head of the board of selectmen is the first selectman, who historically has served as the chief administrative officer of the town and may be elected separately from the rest of the board. Sometimes this is a part-time position, with larger towns hiring a full-time town administrator, who answers to the first selectman. In some towns and cities, the first selectman exercises the powers typically associated with mayors. In Massachusetts, the presiding selectman is usually called the chairman and is chosen annually by his or her fellow selectmen.
Read more about this topic: Board Of Selectmen
Famous quotes containing the word present:
“What if this present were the world’s last night?
Mark in my heart, O Soul, where thou dost dwell,
The picture of Christ crucified, and tell
Whether that countenance can thee affright,”
—John Donne (1572–1631)
“A great biography should, like the close of a great drama, leave behind it a feeling of serenity. We collect into a small bunch the flowers, the few flowers, which brought sweetness into a life, and present it as an offering to an accomplished destiny. It is the dying refrain of a completed song, the final verse of a finished poem.”
—André Maurois (1885–1967)
“It is very considerably smaller than Australia and British Somaliland put together. As things stand at present there is nothing much the Texans can do about this, and ... they are inclined to shy away from the subject in ordinary conversation, muttering defensively about the size of oranges.”
—Alex Atkinson, British humor writer. repr. In Present Laughter, ed. Alan Coren (1982)