With a growing list of people who want to talk with the Town Administrator Workgroup about governmental operations in Newtown and any potential changes, the panel decided receiving public input and calling on certain individuals to offer insights would wait until after they talked with other towns and the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) representatives.

Workgroup member and former First Selectman Pat Llodra and Chairman and Selectman Maureen Crick Owen both noted that the group’s publicly noticed meetings, held at 3:30 pm every other Monday afternoon, accommodate public participation at the beginning of each meeting.

“The meetings are open,” said Llodra. “Voters can come and share their point of view and pose questions though we can’t immediately answer them.”

Additionally, letters to the commission are noted on the record and retained in meeting minutes. The workgroup’s next scheduled meeting is set for 3:30 pm Tuesday, February 21, in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Center.

Llodra noted that there is an extensive list of people who want to talk to the commission to give their advice. Among them is former First Selectman Herb Rosenthal, who most in the group agreed they should eventually hear from after completing more groundwork.

Workgroup member and former Selectman Bill Brimmer said invited guests from town will be among the last thing the workgroup does, so it “does not ... start forming opinions.”

“We want to go into talking with the towns and CCM bright-eyed and bushy tailed,” said Brimmer.

Workgroup member Ned Simpson disagreed with the take, saying he thought that people like Rosenthal may “bring up new things we have not considered.”

Simpson also talked about the potentially lengthy time line, particularly for hiring a town administrator or town manager.

Llodra noted that if they recommend a town manager, it will be handed off to the First Selectman and Legislative Council for a potential Charter Revision Commission to consider. If they recommend an administrator, it would be handed off to the first selectman, and it would be “up to the existing first selectman or the next first selectman to create that position.”

There would also need to be a line item added to the budget, so it is unlikely such a position could even be considered for hiring until at least 2024.

Brimmer said the workgroup is an “advisory group,” with no power to enact its decision other than to make a recommendation. Since current First Selectman Dan Rosenthal has announced he would not be seeking another term, Brimmer also surmised that if their recommendation came to the next first selectman, that person “may not be ready to hire someone right away.”

The workgroup identified three basic forms of local government in Connecticut — the Mayor-Council style government, which includes Bridgeport, Danbury, Milford, Norwalk, Derby, Shelton, Ansonia, and Trumbull; a Council-Manager style government, which includes Glastonbury, Newington, Windsor, Cheshire, and Mansfield; and the Selectman style government, which includes Newtown, Bethel, Monroe, Ridgefield, Litchfield, Brookfield, Southbury, and Canton.

For towns with administrators, the workgroup wants to talk with representatives from Greenwich, Fairfield, and Wilton. For town manager governments, the group wants to talk to Glastonbury, Mansfield, Simsbury, and South Windsor.

The workgroup’s task for its next meeting is for each member to come up with a list of questions to ask of the town representatives they will be interviewing. Once the questions are submitted, they will be compiled into a formal list that will serve as their script for those interviews.

Associate Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.