Connecticut General Statutes

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 7-193 (2026)

Required provisions. Organization of government

✓ current as of May 2026

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section CT-CGAcga.ct.gov (official) JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

(a) Any charter adopted or amended under the provisions of this chapter shall conform to the following requirements:

(1) The municipality shall have a legislative body, which may be: (A) A town meeting; (B) a representative town meeting; (C) a board of selectmen, council, board of directors, board of aldermen or board of burgesses; or (D) a combination of a town meeting or representative town meeting and one of the bodies listed in subparagraph (C). In any combination, the body having the greater number of members shall have the power to adopt the annual budget and shall have such other powers as the charter prescribes, and the body having the lesser number of members shall have the power to adopt, amend and repeal ordinances, subject to any limitations imposed by the general statutes or by the charter. The number of members in any elective legislative body, the terms of office of such members and the method by which they are elected shall be prescribed by the charter.

(2) The municipality shall have a chief executive officer, who may be one of the following: (A) The first selectman; (B) a chief administrative officer appointed by the board of selectmen; (C) a mayor elected by the electors of the municipality; (D) a warden elected by the electors of the borough; (E) a town, city or borough manager appointed by the board of selectmen, the council, the board of directors, the board of aldermen or the board of burgesses; (F) a chief administrative officer appointed by the mayor. Any municipality having a manager as its chief executive officer may also have a mayor who shall be the presiding officer of its legislative body, shall be the ceremonial head of such municipality and shall have such other powers and duties as the charter prescribes. The powers, duties and term of office of the chief executive officer shall be those prescribed by the general statutes and he shall have such other powers and duties as the charter prescribes.

(b) Every municipality shall have all municipal officers, departments, boards, commissions and agencies which are required by the general statutes or by the charter. Each municipality may have any municipal officers, departments, boards, commissions and agencies which are specifically allowed by the general statutes or which are necessary to carry out any municipal powers, duties or responsibilities under the general statutes. All such officers, departments, boards, commissions and agencies shall be elected, appointed and organized in the manner provided by the general statutes, except as otherwise provided by the charter or by ordinances or resolutions adopted pursuant to such charter. Any municipality may, by charter or by ordinances or resolutions adopted pursuant to such charter, alter the method of election, appointment or organization of any or all of such officers, departments, boards, commissions or agencies, including combining or separating the duties of each, unless specifically prohibited from making such alteration by the Constitution or the general statutes.

(1957, P.A. 465, S. 7; P.A. 76-296, S. 1; P.A. 81-451, S. 9, 10; P.A. 85-253, S. 8, 10; P.A. 86-230.)

History: P.A. 76-296 included among those things prescribed by statute, the term of office of municipality's chief executive officer; P.A. 81-451 substituted “municipality” for “town, city, borough”, effective October 1, 1982; P.A. 85-253 applied provisions to charter amendments; P.A. 86-230 changed the manner of subdividing the section and expanded the new Subdiv. (b) by clarifying that a municipality may alter the method of election, appointment or organization of its officers, departments, boards, commissions or agencies.

See Sec. 9-167a re minority representation.

Cited. 170 C. 62; 188 C. 276; 192 C. 399; 193 C. 1; 195 C. 524; 196 C. 623; 234 C. 513.

Cited. 41 CS 295.

Subsec. (b):

Cited. 216 C. 112; 219 C. 217.

Because Subsec. authorizes commissions to be elected, appointed and organized as provided by the charter or by ordinances or resolutions adopted pursuant to such charter, and because Plainville's charter requires five affirmative votes of the town council for the adoption of any resolution, ordinance or vote, the adoption of the resolution appointing members by only four affirmative votes renders their appointment and subsequent actions null and void. 47 CA 783. Trial court properly concluded that membership amendment was authorized by statute; however, it was improper for trial court to engage in analysis of common law doctrine of incompatible offices because language of statute precludes it. 70 CA 358.

Cited. 35 CS 645.

(Return to Chapter
Table of Contents)

(Return to
List of Chapters)

(Return to
List of Titles)

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 21 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 1973–2026 · leading case: Anderson v. Ludgin, 400 A.2d 712 (Conn. 1978).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Anderson v. Ludgin, 400 A.2d 712 (Conn. 1978). · cites it 6× “465, § 7, now General Statutes § 7-193, also enacted two years before § 9-167a, permits a town, city, or borough to have as a legislative body a board of selectmen, council, board of directors, board of aldermen or board of burgesses.”

Windham Taxpayers Ass'n v. Bd. of Selectmen, 662 A.2d 1281 (Conn. 1995). · cites it 8× “General Statutes § 7-193 (a) (1) provides: “Any charter adopted or amended under the provisions of this chapter shall conform to the following requirements: (1) The municipality shall have a legislative body, which may be: (A) A town meeting; (B) a representative town meeting;…”

Sadlowski v. Town of Manchester, 538 A.2d 1052 (Conn. 1988). · cites it 7× “The term “legislative body” is defined by General Statutes § 7-193 (a) (1) as follows: “(A) A town meeting; (B) a representative town meeting; (C) a board of selectmen, council, board of directors, board of aider-men or board of burgesses; or (D) a combination of a town meeting…”

Bd. of Educ. v. Naugatuck, 800 A.2d 517 (Conn. App. Ct. 2002). · cites it 10× “General Statutes § 7-193 (a) (1). The borough operates under a charter that is its organic law.”

Simons v. Canty, 488 A.2d 1267 (Conn. 1985). · cites it 7× “The plaintiffs maintain that Watertown’s authority to hold recall elections stems from four independent entitlements: article tenth, § 1, of the Connecticut constitution; 5 General Statutes § 7-193 (a); 6 *529 General Statutes § 7-148 (c) (7) (H) (xiii); 7 and municipalities’…”

Buonocore v. Town of Branford, 471 A.2d 961 (Conn. 1984). · cites it 7× “” Because we conclude that the Home Rule Act; General Statutes §§ 7-187 through 7-201; does not authorize a municipality to restrict the candidacy for elective office of unclassified state employees, we find error. This conclusion makes it unnecessary to discuss the issues of…”

City of Norwich v. Hous. Auth. of Norwich, 579 A.2d 50 (Conn. 1990). · cites it 5× “The court then turned to General Statutes § 7-193 (b), a provision enacted as part of the Home Rule Act, that provides in relevant part: “Every municipality shall have all municipal officers, departments, boards, commissions and agencies which are required by the general…”

Bd. of Educ. v. Town & Borough, 778 A.2d 862 (Conn. 2001). · cites it 2× “” General Statutes § 7-193 provides: “(a) Any charter adopted or amended under the provisions of this chapter shall conform to the following requirements: “(1) The municipality shall have a legislative body, which may be: (A) A town meeting; (B) a representative town meeting;…”

Sansone v. Clifford, 592 A.2d 931 (Conn. 1991). · cites it 2× “Thus, it would exempt Ansonia’s charter provision for appointment of a building inspector with a term of two years, adopted in 1961, from the requirement of a four year term for a “building official” to administer the code, which was not enacted until 1967.”

Rettig v. Town of Woodbridge, 41 A.3d 267 (Conn. 2012). · cites it 4× “General Statutes § 7-193(b) provides in relevant part that "[e]ach municipality may have any municipal *274 officers, departments, boards, commissions and agencies which are specifically allowed by the general statutes or which are necessary to carry out any municipal powers,…”

Cook-Littman v. Bd. of Selectmen of the Town of Fairfield, 184 A.3d 253 (Conn. 2018). · cites it 2× “**769 "The purpose [of the act] is clearly twofold: to relieve the General Assembly of the burdensome task of handling and enacting special legislation of local municipal concern and to enable a municipality to draft and adopt a home rule charter or ordinance which shall…”

Dumais v. Underwood, 707 A.2d 333 (Conn. App. Ct. 1998). · cites it 3× “” General Statutes § 7-193 provides in relevant part: “(b) Every municipality shall have all municipal officers, departments, boards, commissions and agencies which are required by the general statutes or by the charter.”

Show all 21 citing cases →

— Conn. Gen. Stat. § 7-193(b) — 1 case

Rettig v. Town of Woodbridge, 41 A.3d 267 (Conn. 2012). “General Statutes § 7-193(b) provides in relevant part that "[e]ach municipality may have any municipal *274 officers, departments, boards, commissions and agencies which are specifically allowed by the general statutes or which are necessary to carry out any municipal powers,…”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.