Delaware General Assembly

Senate Elections & Government Affairs 1/8/26

Awaiting consideration in Committee

1/8/26

Seigfried

AN ACT TO AMEND THE CHARTER OF THE VILLAGE OF ARDEN.

This Act deletes the current Charter of the Village of Arden and replaces it with a new charter that differs in several respects. Among other changes, this Act adds a preamble to the Charter; amends the boundaries of the Village to include the Sherwood Forest Addition and the Mill Race Addition; adds definitions of certain terms; provides that regular meetings of the Town Assembly are to be held at the Gild Hall or other suitable public physical or virtual venue in the village; clarifies and amends the procedures for Special Town Meetings; clarifies and revises the procedures for enacting, amending, and repealing ordinances; provides that a referendum may be called by a majority vote at a Town Assembly Meeting; adds a non-voting, alternate member to the Board of Assessors; removes a provision for the election of the Board of Assessors, which is transferred it to a village ordinance; requires the Board of Assessors to assess the community standard of living, in addition to the full rental value of leased lands; removes provisions for the election of the Budget Committee and the budget referendum voting process, which are transferred to an ordinance; updating language relating to responsibilities of the Budget Committee; provides that if a budget referendum fails, then the town will use the previous year's budget until a new budget can be approved; removes provisions relating to the election of the Registration Committee, which are transferred to an ordinance; revises the fines and penalties that may be imposed by a Justice of the Peace for violations of the Charter or village ordinances and revises the appeals process for convictions thereof; simplifies the Charter's provisions for town law enforcement officials; requires that town contracts must be witnessed by a second Village official, in addition to signed by the Chair of the Town Assembly; deletes the section of the Charter relating to fire, zoning, and housing codes, as those subjects are already handled by New Castle County; replaces gender-specific language with gender-neutral language; and makes other, minor changes to the language of the Charter.

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