Before Filing the Grand List “Abstract"
Do the Listers Need to Sign the Certificate and Notice that Accompany the Preliminary Grand List (aka the “Abstract”) that’s Filed with the Clerk per 32 V.S.A. § 4111 at a Public Meeting?
Yes. Title 32 Section 4111 states that the book for the abstract of individual lists (aka the preliminary grand list, the abstract) must contain both “a certificate, signed by the listers, that according to their best knowledge, information, and belief they have herein set down the listed valuation of all taxable real and personal estate of each person therein named” and “a notice in writing signed by the listers that the contents thereof will become the grand list of such town and of each person therein named, unless cause to the contrary is shown” and that they “will meet at some place therein designated by them to hear all grievances and make corrections in such list.”
The answer to the question of how these documents are signed involves two laws: the joint authority statute and the Open Meeting Law. The joint authority statute provides that a public body of three or more must act by a “concurrence of a majority.” 1 V.S.A. § 172. This means that the power of a public body resides in the majority, not in any individual member. Accordingly, unless the law specifically states otherwise, no individual lister has the authority to act on their own and that includes signing any documents which are required by law to be signed by the board. The Open Meeting Law provides that a public body can only act during a public meeting. “No resolution, rule, regulation, appointment, or formal action shall be considered binding except as taken or made at such open meeting, except as provided under subdivision 313(a)(2) of this title.” 1 V.S.A. § 312(a)(1). Consequently, for the board of listers to take any action, including signing the certificate and notice that accompanies the preliminary grand list filed with the town clerk, it must do so at a meeting that is open to the public.
While there are some exceptions to the law for things like “clerical work” or “administrative matters,” the law does not define them and Vermont courts have not yet had the opportunity to interpret them. Therefore, it remains unclear exactly how and when those exceptions would apply. What is clear, though, is that – due to these two provisions of law – actions and decisions by the board of listers and all public bodies must be made at duly warned meetings.
Further support for this interpretation comes from contrasting the requirement of the “listers” to sign the certificate and notice in 32 V.S.A. § 4111 with the requirement in 32 V.S.A. § 4151(b) and (c) for “each lister” to take, sign, and attach their oaths. If the Legislature had intended to allow individual signing of the abstract’s certificate and notice, it would have used the same language that allows this for their individual oaths.
