About Town Clerk’s Office

The mission of the Town Clerk’s Office is to register, record, issue and preserve vital records; provide records management, licensing, and permitting services and processes; review and certify various official documents to ensure that the town is compliant with various laws and requirements and to coordinate and administer elections.  The Clerk’s Office is accountable to 10 state agency departments:  Secretary of State Elections Division, Secretary of State Records Management Division, Attorney General Municipal Bureau, Attorney General Open Meeting Law, State Ethics Commission, Office of Campaign and Political Finance, Department of Public Health Vital Records, Department of Revenue Division of Local Services, the Jury Commission and the Department of Fire Services.

Functional Responsibilities of the Town Clerk’s Office:

REGISTRAR OF VITAL RECORDS –

• Reviews for accuracy and registers and maintains all vital records (birth, death, and marriage certificates).
• Produces certified copies of vital records upon request.

RECORDING OFFICER/KEEPER OF OFFICIAL TOWN RECORDS –

• Records and certifies all votes passed at Town Meeting.
• Submits bylaw amendments to the Attorney General’s Office for review, borrowing articles to the Department of Revenue and requests for Special Acts to the Legislature.
• Maintains up to date version of the General Bylaws.
• Maintains records of Town Meeting acceptance of public streets and adoption of MGLs.
• Accepts and records Zoning Board of Appeals, Planning Board, and other Special Permits and/or Decisions; certifies and provides final decisions to applicants for filing at the Registry of Deeds.
• Posts/records all public meeting notices/agendas and amended notices for the town on the town website; maintains legally required documents.
• Stamps and files public meeting minutes.
• Administers and records Oath of Office to all members (elected and appointed) of boards, commissions, and committees and advises members of obligations under Open Meeting Law and Conflict of Interest Law.
• Maintains Conflict of Interest annual training records for all municipal employees including all board and committee members and receives and files Conflict of Interest disclosures.
• Maintains Cemetery Deeds.

LICENSING & PERMITTING –

• Issues Business Certificates (also known as “dba” certificates) and processes Certificate of Withdrawals.
• Issues Dog Licenses.
• Issues Raffle & Bazaar Permits.
• Issues Certificate of Registration for entities holding a license and permit for the storge of Flammables, Combustibles, or Explosives Materials.

CHIEF ELECTION OFFICIAL –

• Maintains voter lists and pertinent information; supervises all voter registration.
• Manages all procedures for local and state elections including absentee voting, vote by mail, in-person early voting and Election Day voting.
• Issues and processes nomination papers and prepares the ballots for Town elections.
• Maintains campaign finance records of candidates and committees.
• Recruits, trains, instructs and supervises the election officers.
• Records and publishes all election results.
• Retains custody of the ballots and voting lists in the event of a recount.
• Transmits election results as well as the complete list of town officers to the Secretary of State within 24 hours of each election.
• Serves as a member of the Board of Registrars registering all voters, records the party enrollment of each voter in the annual register, and receives and certifies the signatures of the voters on all petitions.
• Prepares, distributes, receives, reviews for accuracy and records Town Annual Census files.
• Compiles and distributes the official City/Town Street Listing Book.

The Town Clerk also serves as the Parking Clerk, accepting payments for parking citations within the Town of Hamilton and provides notary services for certain documents.