Chapter 44: Cities and Wards

All cities now or hereafter incorporated shall have, exercise and enjoy all the rights, immunities and privileges of, and shall be subject to all the duties incumbent upon, or appertaining to, the town corporations to which they succeed.

Each city shall file by January 1, 1973 with the secretary of state a copy of its then existing charter as one document incorporating all amendments thereto. Amendments adopted after said date shall be filed in like manner within 10 days of their adoption.

Each city may, subject to approval by the city council, voluntarily contribute funds, services, property, or other resources toward any county or state project, program, or plan, subject to the annual renewal of the voluntary contribution by the city council.

All provisions of statutes, now made or hereafter enacted relating to towns, shall be understood to apply to cities; and all provisions relating to the selectmen and town clerks of towns shall be construed to apply to the mayor and aldermen and clerks of cities, respectively, unless a different intention appears.

In accordance with the provisions of RSA 44:2, no candidate for a city office shall file for more than one seat on a city or school district board, commission, committee, or council.

The administration of all the fiscal, prudential and municipal affairs of any city, and the government thereof, shall be vested in one principal officer called mayor, a board of aldermen, and a common council, and the said mayor and aldermen and common council, in their joint capacity, shall be called the city councils.

Each ward into which a city may be divided by law, or in pursuance of law, shall be a town for the purpose of the election of governor, councilor, state senator, representative to the general court, all county officers, senator and representative in congress, and electors of president and vice-president of the United States, and in all matters relating to jurors.

All boundaries of wards, other than those boundaries which are coterminous with the boundaries of municipalities, shall follow easily identifiable physical features. For the purposes of this section, physical features include public and private ways, public utility lines, railroad tracks, and surface waters. Ward lines shall be clearly shown on a map of suitable scale. Those portions of physical features with names and used as ward boundaries shall be clearly labeled on the ward map.

Any person having his or her domicile within the city, qualified to vote as provided in RSA 654:1 through 654:6 and whose name is on the checklist shall be qualified to vote in city elections. The supervisors of the checklist shall prepare, post, and revise the checklist for city elections in the same manner as for a state election as provided in RSA 654:25-654:31.

The ward clerk shall deliver to his successor in office all records, record books, journals, files, papers and other things whatsoever held by him in his capacity of clerk.

All meetings of the voters for the election of county, state, or United States officers, who are voted for by the people, shall be held in their respective wards at the time legally appointed for those elections respectively.

The selectmen and clerk of each ward shall perform the same duties in relation to jurors as are incumbent on like officers of towns subject to RSA 500-A.

All statutes heretofore passed applying to particular cities shall remain in force.

Salaries of all city officials and employees, excluding court personnel, shall be fixed in accordance with the provisions, if any, of the respective city charter; otherwise by the governing body of the city.

A public hearing on the annual budget of every city shall be held before the final adoption of said budget at such time and place as the city council shall direct, provided that notice of such public hearing shall be published by the city clerk at least one week in advance of said hearing, and posted, together with a summary of the budget as submitted, in 2 public places at least one week in advance of said hearing.

Every city, by its council, may establish a contingency fund to meet the cost of unanticipated expenses that may arise during the year. Such fund shall not exceed one percent of the amount expended by the city for city purposes, exclusive of school department costs, capital expenditures and amortization of debt during the preceding year. A detailed report of all expenditures from the contingency fund shall be made annually by the treasurer and published in his report.

I. The meeting of the voters of each ward for the election of city and ward officers shall be held on such day as may be fixed by law or by ordinance of the city council but in no event shall it be held in conjunction with a biennial election; and all ward and city officers who are chosen by the people shall hold their respective offices for the term and from the day fixed by law or ordinance, and until others are appointed in their stead. The prohibitions in this section shall not apply to a special election held to fill a vacancy for the office of a city or a ward officer.

II. In the event of a weather or other emergency as described in RSA 669:1, the election may be postponed and rescheduled in the manner provided in that section, except that all references to the moderator shall be deemed to refer to the city clerk.

Three selectmen, a moderator and a clerk shall be elected in each of the wards, who shall have the powers, perform the duties, and be subject to the liabilities, of those officers in towns, so far as relates to the warning of meetings, conducting elections, counting and declaring votes, recording the same, making returns of the votes received and certificates of elections, and all other matters relating to elections.

In all elections by the voters in their wards the polls shall be open not less than 4 hours and may be opened not earlier than 6 o'clock in the forenoon of the day of election, nor later than 8 o'clock in the evening, as the city councils in said cities shall determine, at least 30 days prior to elections; and but one ballot shall be had during the day of each officer to be voted for.

All cities shall provide for absentee voting at city elections. The provisions of RSA 669:26 through 669:29 shall apply, except that all the duties performed therein by the town clerk shall be performed by the city clerk.

In all elections of city and ward officers the person having the highest number of votes for any office shall be elected; and if a number of persons greater than the number to be chosen shall severally receive the largest and an equal number of votes, so that no choice is made, the balloting shall be continued till the requisite number of persons shall be chosen; but no balloting shall be begun between sunset and sunrise.

The ward clerk shall record the votes and proceedings of all ward meetings, shall enter upon the record the names of all persons voted for and the number of votes given for each, in words, at length; and shall, within 7 days after any meeting of the ward, deliver to the clerk of the city in which the ward is situated a certified copy of the record of the meeting, which copy shall be preserved as a part of the records of the city. He shall receive for such copy $1.

Upon the written application of 10 percent of the registered voters in any city, presented to the city clerk prior to the municipal election, the city clerk shall insert on the ballot to be used at said election the following question: "Shall fluoride be used in the public water system?" Beside this question shall be printed the word "yes" and the word "no" with the proper boxes for the voter to indicate his or her choice. If a majority of those voting in a water system that serves one municipality at said election does not approve the use of fluoride in the public water system for said city, no fluoride shall be introduced into the public water system. If fluoride has, prior to said vote, been so introduced, such use shall be discontinued until such time as the majority of those voting in the town approve the use of such fluoride. After such popular referendum, the city clerk shall not insert the aforementioned question relative to the use of fluoride in the public water system on the ballot to be used at the municipal election for a minimum period of 3 years from the date of the last popular referendum, and only upon written application at that time of not less than 10 percent of the registered voters of said city. The procedure for a referendum on the use of fluoride in a city that is part of a water system serving more than one municipality shall be the procedure in RSA 485:14-a.

If 25 legal voters of a city shall, before the expiration of 15 days from the date of an annual or biennial municipal meeting, apply in writing to the city clerk for a recount of the ballots cast at said meeting on a question affecting said city only, the clerk shall appoint a time for the recount not earlier than 7 days nor later than 10 days after the receipt of said application. The applicants for such recount shall pay to the city clerk for the use of the city a fee of $25. At the time appointed, the city council shall meet in convention and shall recount the ballots under such rules of procedure as they shall determine.

If, in case of a recount of such votes, it shall appear that the result of the voting on said question is other than that declared upon a canvass of the votes by the city council after a municipal election, the city council shall declare the result found by it upon such recount and such declaration shall be final unless the result is changed upon appeal to the superior court.

Cities holding elections on days other than those of state elections shall be governed by the provisions of RSA 658 and 659 in the choice of city and ward officers insofar as such provisions are not inconsistent with city charter provisions or other state statutes.

In cities which use more than one ballot during any city election, each ballot shall be of a different color, or display a differently colored header on white paper, than any other ballot used at the election.