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08/07/2018 04:00 PMThe Charter Revision Commission (CRC) has presented its recommend changes to the Board of Selectmen (BOS), which decided to hold a public meeting on the proposed changes—including the possible switch to a town manager form of government—on Wednesday, Aug. 15.
The public hearing will be held at the Town Hall at 6:30 p.m. Copies of the charter are available at the Town Clerk’s office and on the town website www.clintonct.org.
At the Aug. 1 BOS meeting, the board announced that the proposed charter changes were reviewed by an attorney from Shipman & Goodwin, who did not make any substantial changes to the proposals. The attorney did suggest some changes in wording to the proposed changes.
First Selectman Christine Goupil said that the goal is to get the charter changed on the November ballot with an effective date of 2019. Goupil said that would give the town a year to prepare for any changes that need to be made. For example, if the town did vote to change to a town manager form of government, it would give the town time to advertise the town manager position and vet candidates.
Goupil said that when she ran for first selectman in 2017, she was in favor of the town manager form of government and she still is. Goupil said she thinks the town manager position would be a chance to “get politics out” of running the town. By hiring a professional town manager, Goupil said the town could widen its candidate pool to people outside of Clinton. Under the current system, the town’s top spot is open only to town residents willing to serve full-time as first selectman.
“Whether that’s what the town wants remains to be seen,” Goupil said. “Ultimately, it’s the town’s decision.”
Earlier in 2018, the CRC held a public hearing to present two proposed charter revisions to the town. One proposed charter would retain the current form of town government, but included significant changes, such as prohibiting someone from serving on two elected positions concurrently, increasing the Board of Finance (BOF) to seven members (it is currently a six-member board), allowing departments heads to transfer up to $500 in their budgets with approval from finance director, and requiring that special appropriations of $250,000 or more, excluding emergency situations, be sent to referendum.
The second proposed charter included a change to a town manager form of government. Under a town manager form of government, a professional, accredited town manager answerable to a seven-member town council would act as the town’s chief executive, taking on many of the duties handled by the current first selectman. The elected town council would hire or fire the town manager. The CRC estimated that the town manager salary would start at around $126,000.
In this form of government, the town council would be composed of the four candidates who get the highest number of votes in an election elected to a four-year term, and the next three highest vote-getting candidates elected to a two-year term. The hiring or firing of the town manager would require at least a 5-2 majority vote by the town council.
Under the town manager form of government, the BOF would be eliminated. Instead, the town manager would work with the finance director and department heads to propose a budget. The proposed budget would be presented to the town council, which would need to approve the proposed budget before sending it to referendum.
CRC Chairman Dennis Donovan said that after the public hearing, the BOS will hold a meeting to discuss the public’s input on the proposed charter changes and then make their recommendations to the CRC. The CRC would then hand the BOS back a revised proposal for the BOS to consider putting on the ballot in November.
For the charter change proposals to be included on the November ballot, the questions need to be submitted to the town clerk by Sept. 6. If the BOS were to schedule a separate vote on just the charter changes, the changes would need to pass with a 15 percent majority of registered voters.