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03/05/2023 06:15 AMIn a last round of proposed charter edits, the Town Council will ask the Charter Revision Commission (CRC) to reconsider raising the threshold for the amount of money the town can appropriate without a referendum. The commission will consider the request before finalizing the proposed charter changes.
On Feb. 15, the council held a public hearing over proposed changes to the town charter, which outlines the roles and bylaws for the different boards, commissions, and town departments in Clinton.
The hearing lasted only 10 minutes and featured one speaker. With that hearing out of the way, the document was returned to the Town Council for members to propose additional changes.
At a meeting on March 1, the Town Council asked the CRC to reconsider raising the amount of money the town can appropriate without a referendum. Under the current charter, the town may appropriate up to $300,000 without a referendum. When the council formed the CRC, it asked the CRC to consider raising that number, which the commission did by proposing a raise to a $500,000 limit.
However, at the March 1 Town Council meeting, council member Dennis Donovan suggested further raising that number beyond what the CRC had recommended.
Donovan cited the increasing costs of items in the current economy and argued that $500,000 still might be too low for some of the projects the town may consider spending money on.
The council agreed with Donovan that the threshold should be increased. Council member Chris Passante suggested a $750,000 limit, but council members Carrie Allen and Carol Walter said they felt that number was too high and that that may put off taxpayers. On the other hand, $600,000 was thought to be too low. The council agreed that $700,000 was a fair amount to request.
Town Council Chairman Chris Aniskovich pointed out that there is still taxpayer oversight with the appropriations in the form of special town meetings where citizens can approve or deny the appropriation request. Typically, those town meetings are sparsely attended compared to referendums, though.
With a recommendation from the council, the CRC will now meet again to consider the request. The commission can approve or deny the request and will submit a final draft of its proposed changes to the council in April.
The Proposed Changes
In the summer of 2022, the Town Council appointed a new five-person commission to review the Town Charter for potential changes. After several months of work, the CRC presented its list of proposed changes in December.
The most significant change proposed by the CRC is the ability to hire a Town Manager for a term not to exceed five years instead of the current three-year maximum. The council members debated asking for a revision to eliminate a five-year contract limit at the March 1 meeting but ultimately agreed not to.
Besides raising the appropriation level to $500,000, other proposed changes would allow the Town Manager to hire, dismiss, and advertise for Town employees without the approval of the Town Council first.
At the March 1 meeting, Allen inquired about having the council members meet the final candidates for potential hires prior to them being hired. The other council members did not share enthusiasm for the move.
Aniskovich argued that part of having a town manager form of government is utilizing the manager’s experience in personnel matters to run the town.
“That’s why we have a town manager. I would put my trust in the town manager, not just being Karl, any manager in the future,” Aniskovich said.
A further proposed change to the charter 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 council has recommended a change, the CRC has 30 days to address the recommendation.
In April, the CRC will file a finalized charter proposal with the town, and the Town Council will then vote to either 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, 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 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.