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04/21/2011 12:00 AMUnder a town manager structure, should the Board of Selectmen be assigned the town's main budgetary and policy responsibility? Would the Board of Finance become unnecessary under this type of government? These were among the questions with which the town's Charter Commission grappled at last week's meeting, the first held after a majority voted last month for a town charter based on a town manager structure.
Two out of three members of the commission's tax and finance subcommittee reported that their recommendation was in fact to eliminate the Board of Finance under a town manager structure.
Member Sid Holbrook reminded the commission of the town selectmen's written charge to address six issues in a draft town charter: the designation of the legislative body of the town, the designation of the chief executive of the town, a code of ethics, if town budgets should automatically go to a referendum vote, and the structure of town bodies and whether the various officials serving in town government and on town boards and commissions should be elected or appointed.
Said commission member Bob Schreck, "These six points play right into what we're trying to do."
Chairman John Ferrara agreed, saying, "Each of those sections [of the charge] would be addressed by the subcommittees."
Though there was some initial disagreement, a consensus developed that it would be preferable to present a draft charter based on a town manager to the public rather than just presenting one section first, such as the one addressing just the designation of the town's chief executive.
"We have to make it a cohesive draft document and then get the town's reaction. We have to show how things flow under a town manager form," said Schreck.
"The sooner and the more you get the town, the public, involved the better," Holbrook said.
After much discussion, the group agreed that each of the Commission's three subcommittees would bring to the Monday, April 25 Commission meeting a progress report that would include proposed drafts of their assigned charter sections.
When the Commission's business meeting ended, Ferrara heard comments from members of the public. Town resident Bob Traut, a member of the town's Charter Study Committee between 2005 and 2007, expressed his opposition to drafting a town charter before a need for one had been proven.
"Is there anyone who can prove a town charter is needed?" said Traut. "Professionals should study the reasons for [Westbrook to have] a charter and document the cost implications for [pursuing] a town charter versus using town ordinances and working harder to make the current form more effective."
Ferrara explained to Traut that the Charter Commission, unlike earlier charter study committees, was officially charged by the town's Board of Selectmen to draft a town charter and bring it to the selectmen by Nov. 27, 2011.
Ferrara suggested that Traut's concerns should be presented to the Board of Selectmen instead of the Charter Commission since it was the selectmen who organized the Charter Commission and charged them to draft a charter. No other public comments were offered.
The Charter Commission's next meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 25 at 7 p.m. in the Mulvey Center Multi-Media Room.