Charter Revision Process Gets Underway

By John Voket

Newtown is looking for five to 15 good men or women who want to make history, albeit in a very low-key way. In late December, the Legislative Council formally endorsed its ad hoc Committee for Charter Revision to begin the process of searching for appointees to a soon-to-be formed Charter Revision Commission.

A subcommittee to formulate a charge or charges to the formal commission was formed this week, electing Council Chairman Will Rodgers to serve the charge panel in a similar capacity. Council member Joseph Borst was elected to serve as chairman of the ad hoc committee.

These actions are the first formal steps in a renewed process to seat a Charter Revision Commission. An attempt to seat a CRC in 2005 was unsuccessful in developing enough candidates willing to come forward and submit a letter of intent and resume in order to qualify for consideration.

As a result, the council agreed that the resume aspect of the qualification process would be scrapped in favor of a questionnaire that would be completed during each contender’s interview process. On Wednesday, Mr Borst and other members of the ad hoc panel finalized that questionnaire.

Since the last attempt to seat a CRC, Mr Rodgers submitted the names of individuals who either came forward formally or informally expressing possible interest in serving. But this week, the council chairman put out a call to anyone previously approaching him on the matter to get in touch with Mr Borst directly to reconfirm their interest.

“I turned in to Mr Borst what I believe to be a complete list of all the people who have spoken to me about the commission since last spring,” Mr Rodgers said. “But I would encourage them all to reconnect with Joe in case a name or two might have been inadvertently dropped.”

Mr Borst wrote in a letter in this week’s Newtown Bee that the committee will be looking to interview “any elector in the town of Newtown, regardless of party affiliation, who has a sincere interest in improving our government so it can be more efficient and make the most effective use of our tax dollar…”

He goes on to indicate there are few requirements for a citizen to participate, if chosen.

“All that is required is your name, address, party affiliation, and availability for a brief evening interview,” Mr Borst writes. “By law no more than one-third of the selected candidates may hold any other town office.”

Both Mr Borst and Mr Rodgers concurred that no potential candidate for the CRC should come forward with the idea he/she will affect any single aspect of the charter.

Mr Rodgers said the only preparation he might suggest for potential CRC hopefuls would be to obtain a copy of the current charter and review it.

Mr Borst said that Mr Rodgers would eventually provide the charge to the endorsed commission members after his subcommittee refines the exact language necessary to provide an appropriate level of guidance.

“They can either look at literally every line and punctuation mark, or specifically address the items put forth in the formal charge,” he said.