CONCORD — Town officials concerned about hosting elections and meetings to adopt their budgets this spring got some leeway Friday under Gov. Chris Sununu’s latest emergency order.
The Senate recently passed a bill to allow the governing bodies of towns and school districts to postpone their March elections to the second Tuesday of April, May, June or July if they are concerned about coronavirus. It’s likely to pass the House, but not until February, making it difficult for communities to plan for March elections and meetings. The order Sununu issued Friday bridges the gap until the bill can be enacted.
Towns also would be allowed to postpone the business or deliberative session of the annual Town Meeting, when budgets are adopted, to later dates. In the event of postponement, elected officials whose terms would have expired would continue. The arrival of the pandemic last spring created confusion and raised questions about the legality of postponing such meetings. Some towns conducted parts of their meeting online and offered drive-up voting instead of the traditional in-person gatherings.