Following another public hearing over proposed Charter changes, the Town Council will vote on pursuing further changes or accepting the proposal at a future meeting.

A public hearing was held on Feb. 15 for the Town Council to hear from concerned residents about proposed changes to the town charter. However, at the meeting, only one resident spoke, asking the council about minor clarifying language and the frequency at which charter revision commissions are required to be held.

The Proposed Changes

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

Following months of meetings, the CRC held a public hearing in Dec. 2022 for citizens to weigh in on the proposed charter changes. Following that step, the Town Council took control of the charter for its members to critique the proposed changes.

As part of that process, the council held the second hearing on Feb. 15. That hearing only drew a handful of citizens and lasted only 10 minutes.

The biggest change proposed by the Charter Revision Commission (CRC) is the Town’s ability to hire a Town Manager for a term not exceeding five years instead of the current maximum of three years. Additionally, the proposed changes would cancel the annual town meeting and increase the amount of money the town can appropriate without a referendum to $500,000 from $300,000. The changes would also allow the Town Manager to hire, dismiss, and advertise for town employees without the approval of the Town Council first.

Furthermore, a proposed change would remove 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.

Next Steps

Now that the second public hearing has been held, the council will debate the proposed changes at a future meeting. The council may seek additional changes to the proposed charter. If there are suggested changes, the CRC would then have 30 days to address the council’s recommendations. If there are no recommendations, the draft becomes a final proposal.

In April, the Town Council will vote to approve or reject the proposed charter changes.

Assuming the council approves the final proposed changes, the Town would have 15 months to gather public input on the proposed changes. However, any proposed changes to the charter will likely be on the ballot as part of the 2023 municipal elections. The council will officially choose the date for the public vote in June of this year.

Assuming the target date is the November election, the council will approve the ballot questions in August.

The charter requires the Town to appoint a CRC to review the document no less than every five years. Still, 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.