By Kim Siebert MacPhail
At the Selectmen’s October 21 meeting, Town Manager Rick Reed proposed that a Town Charter Review Committee be formed, saying Section 9-14 of the current Charter specifies a review process should take place every five years. The purpose of the exercise, according to Reed, is to study the Town Charter and make recommendations for amendments.
Town Moderator Betsey Anderson has again agreed to participate in the effort as she has done for many of the reviews since the Charter was established in 1974. By statute, other Committee members will include one Selectman, one School Committee member, one member of the Planning Board and five citizens-at-large. The recommendations of the Committee are expected to be heard at either the 2014 Annual Town Meeting in March or at Special Town Meeting 2014, a year from this November.
Reed said that the timing of the proposals—either March 2014 or November 2014— “remains to be seen.”
“It depends upon what happens in the early stages of the review and how much they find in terms of recommendations. If there really isn’t anything significant, it could be completed as part of the [March 2014] Annual Town Meeting,” Reed said.
“It’s really a two-step process because once the Charter has been adopted at Town Meeting, it also has to stand at the regular Town election,” Reed explained. “So, rushing to get it ready for Annual Town Meeting 2014 isn’t really necessary since the next annual Town election [at which it can be voted] won’t be until eleven months later. It’s not urgent to get it done by Annual Town Meeting 2014.”
“We’ll go through the process, find out who’s interested [to participate] and come back to the Selectmen for appointments to establish the Committee,” Reed concluded.
The Selectmen unanimously approved the re-formation of the nine-member Charter Committee. Town Manager Reed said he believes it will be the responsibility of the Volunteer Coordinating Committee to field interested candidates. Participants from the three specified Town boards will be determined by the members of those committees.
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