Rule 53.Special School and Town Meetings

New Hampshire towns and school districts normally raise and spend money through warrant articles voted on at an annual meeting. Rule 53 covers what happens when an emergency arises that cannot wait for the next annual meeting: the town or school district files a complaint asking the superior court for permission to call a special meeting instead. The complaint has to lay out the facts showing an emergency requiring an immediate expenditure of money, and it has to identify the specific articles that would go into the warrant if the court grants permission.

The rule includes sample decree language for both a special town meeting and a special school district meeting. Each decree recites that the court, having considered the evidence, finds an emergency has arisen that may require immediate spending, and authorizes holding the special meeting with the same authority as an annual meeting. But the approval comes with a condition attached in both sample decrees: it depends on compliance with all the statutory posting and notice requirements that govern a special meeting, and the decree is not to be read as deciding anything beyond permission to hold the meeting itself.