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11/16/2023 09:08 AMWhen Clinton voters turned out to the polls earlier this month, ballots weren't just cast for the candidates. Voters were asked to weigh in on changes to the town's charter, approving the revised charter 1,396 to 906.
Clinton’s Town Charter is the document that outlines the roles and bylaws for the different boards, commissions, and town departments in Clinton. In the summer of 2022, the Town Council appointed a new five-person Charter Revision Commission (CRC) to suggest proposed changes to the document.
CRC chairperson Dolly Mezzetti said she was “glad” that the changes passed. Mezzetti pointed out that several of the changes approved by voters were minor changes that removed references to the now-disbanded Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance.
There were, however, more substantial changes to the charter that were made.
Charter Changes
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.
“A longer term for manager made sense as in the future a person might come from out of state,” Mezzetti said, adding that a person with only a three-year job guarantee might be reluctant to move their family to a new state.
A second substantial change would increase the amount of money the town can appropriate without a referendum to $700,000 from the current $300,000.
Other proposed changes would allow the town manager to hire, dismiss, and advertise for town employees without the approval of the Town Council first.
Further proposed changes 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 be able to appoint or hire people for the roles. The changes would also cancel the annual town meeting held each January, where boards and commissions give updates on the previous year’s actions.
The Journey to Passing
When the CRC was first formed, the Town Council asked the CRC to consider recommended changes such as the ability to hire a town manager for a term of longer than three years, 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 was required to weigh in on the specific proposed charges from the council; however, the CRC was also free to consider other proposed changes that members deemed appropriate. Throughout the fall of 2022 and winter of 2023, three different public hearings were held for the citizens to weigh in on the proposed changes and add suggestions they had.
Originally, the CRC had agreed to change the amount the town could appropriate to $500,000; however, at a March Town Council meeting, council member Dennis Donovan suggested further raising that number. 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 and asked the CRC to consider a $700,000 limit. The CRC agreed to the suggestion.
The final proposed charter was filed with the town clerk later in March, which left it up to the council to either approve or reject the entire proposed document. At a meeting in April, all council members voted to approve the proposed changes except for Carrie Allen (D). Allen said she was “very opposed” to the amount of money the town could appropriate without going to a referendum under the proposed charter.
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.
The current charter requires the town to appoint a CRC to review the document no later than every five years, but given the large change in government structure that the town underwent in 2019, 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.