Government

© Gene Higgins

The  responsibility for over seeing many of the functions provided by the Town is given to the Select Board which is composed of 5 elected residents. They are responsible for the municipal budget, highway budget, local ordinances, over sight of the Town Plan and Zoning Ordinance, and listening to a never ending range of complaints, problems, and suggestions that the people bring to them.

The Town Clerk is responsible for running the Town Office, recording deeds, liens, permits, births, marriages, deaths, surveys,voter check list, elections, licensing dogs, and probably an endless list of other requests from residents and people all over the world. The Clerk is only answerable to the Voters.

The Town Treasurer is responsible for paying all bills at the Select Board’s direction, collecting property taxes, and maintaining financial records.

The Auditors check the Town books and put together the Annual Town Report that goes out to all voters and property owners.

The Road Commissioner has over sight of the road crew and the projects they undertake within the bounds of their voter approved budget.

The Town Moderator runs the annual Town meeting, now an informational meeting before voting by Australian ballot.

The first and second Constable have limited law enforcement powers depending upon their level of training by the State.

The Delinquent Tax Collector is responsible for collecting property taxes that were not paid by the September 10 and February 10 deadlines.
The School Directors are now part of a larger School Board that is responsible for the Union School.
The Library Trustees run the Rosalind Keshin Kittay  library.
The Listers are responsible for assessing the value of all of the taxable real estate in Rupert.
The Justices of the Peace are responsible for maintaining the voter check list, serving as part of the Board of Civil Authority, and may officiate at marriages.
All of the above are elected positions. In addition there are appointed positions, made by the Select Board, that include:  Zoning Administrator, Health Officer, Pound Keeper, and Fire Warden.  A few others, such as weigher of coal, fence viewer, inspector of lumber, etc., are relics of the past.

Note that meeting minutes for the Planning Commission and the Development Review Board as well as the Zoning Administrator’s report are all to be found in Documents-Meeting Minutes page.