At a public hearing on Dec. 7, the Charter Revision Commission (CRC) received feedback from the public about proposed changes to the Town Charter. Those proposals now go to the Town Council for review.

Earlier this summer the Town Council appointed a new five-person commission to review the Charter for potential changes. The Town Charter is a document that outlines the roles and bylaws for the different boards, commissions, and town departments in Clinton.

In the summer, the Town Council formally charged the CRC with considering nine proposed changes. Some were minor fixes such as removing references to the now-disbanded Board of Selectmen. Other changes, though, were more significant.

Among those proposed changes, the Council is asking for is the ability to hire a town manager for a term of longer than three years. Other major proposed changes include increasing the amount of money the town can appropriate without a referendum and the cancellation of the required annual town meeting.

By statute, the CRC must weigh in on the specific proposed changes from the Council. However, the CRC can also propose additional changes that members of the commission or members of the public suggest. Before the CRC got to work a public hearing was held in August where the public was able to suggest more proposed changes for the council to consider.

At the public hearing on Dec. 7, residents got a first look at the proposed changes the CRC has come up with thus far. The proposed changes have been posted on the town website and hard copies are available for public inspection in the town clerk's office.

The Proposed Changes

Among the changes proposed by the CRC are:

1. The ability to hire a Town Manager for a term not to exceed 5 years instead of the current max of three years

2. The cancellation of the annual town meeting

3. Increasing the amount of money, the town can appropriate without a referendum to $500,000 from $300,000.

4. The ability for the Town Manager to hire, dismiss, and advertise for town employees without the approval of the Town Council first.

5. Removing the requirement for the Town Council to appoint a search committee to fill the vacancies in town departments. The Town Manager would then have the ability to appoint or hire people for the roles.

The Public

Members of the public also weighed in on their own proposed changes.

Town Council member Dennis Donovan, who made clear he was speaking for himself and not for the council, said that he would like to see a provision in the charter that prohibits members of the Town Council from serving on other boards in addition to the Town Council, citing a potential for conflicts of interests.

Phil Sengle echoed those sentiments and said he would like to see the CRC add a proposed change that would allow for the Town Manager to receive a contract offer of longer than five years if five or more Town Council members agree to it. Sengle said that might promote bipartisanship.

“If it’s an idea that’s good for Clinton, it’ll get at least five votes,” Sengle said.

He also recommended making the Board of Assessment Appeals an appointed position and making the Town Council vote each year on who should be chairman of the Town Council.

Donald Hansen however asked that the CRC keep the maximum length for the Town Manager contract at three years. Hansen argued that the town could find itself in a situation where a town manager accepts a long-term contract, then two years into the deal the manager leaves for whatever reason and the town would be on the hook for a substantial amount of money that needed to be bought out.

At a Town Council meeting on Nov. 16, council member Tom Hollinger voiced a desire to see an addition to the charter that would set attendance requirements for boards and commissions. Town Manager Karl Kilduff advised Hollinger to attend the public hearing and bring up that request if he felt strongly about it, but Hollinger did not attend the meeting.

Hollinger told the Harbor News that upon further investigation it was discovered his suggestion would violate a state statute that concerns elected officials.

Next steps

With the public hearing now over, the proposed changes will be turned over to Town Council for review next month. Once the revisions reach Town Council, the Council may seek additional changes.

An additional public hearing over the proposed charter changes will be held, this time by the Town Council, sometime in early 2023. The CRC would then have 30 days to address the Council’s recommendations. If there are no recommendations, the draft becomes a final proposal.

The Town Council will be expected to vote to either approve or reject the proposed charter changes after its public hearing is held.

Assuming the final proposed changes are approved by the council, the public will be responsible for either approving or denying the proposed changes.

If the proposed changes are approved by the Council, the Town would have 15 months to gather public input on the proposed changes. However, it is most likely that any proposed changes to the charter will be on the ballot as part of the 2023 municipal elections.

The Charter requires the town to appoint a CRC to review the document no less than every five years, but, given the large change in government structure that the town underwent, it was suggested by other towns’ town managers that Clinton appoint a new CRC about sooner than that to work out any issues that council members may have noticed.

The last time the town appointed a CRC was in 2018 when a major charter revision was proposed that changed the form of government from the board of selectman model to the current town manager-town council model. Citizens approved the proposed change in November 2018, and the new government went into effect in November 2019.