Charter Commission Still On Hold

With School Board, Fund Balance Decisions

By John Voket

The Charter Revision Commission was able to clear several “housekeeping” matters from its agenda in the final minutes of a Tuesday night meeting. But the commissioners agreed to review a controversial matter regarding the Board of Education, and table discussion on another issue involving managing the town’s fund balance until they meet January 23.

For the second time, the Board of Education postponed scheduled Tuesday night meetings, which provided an opportunity for school board members and Superintendent Evan Pitkoff to appear before the Charter Revision Commission to vociferously oppose a decision that was originally passed in December and then reopened for consideration.

The school board and superintendent, along with two charter commissioners, who were absent the night of the decision, are taking issue with an otherwise unanimous recommendation introduced by Joseph Hemingway. He proposed increasing the number of Board of Education members to nine, districting school board members for election in similar fashion to the Legislative Council, and creating minimum minority representation which the charter panel hopes will encourage unaffiliated voters to seek office, and inspire the Democratic and Republican Town Committees to put up competing candidates in every election cycle.

Although Mr Hemingway’s proposal was discussed at length by a quorum of Charter Revision commissioners, and endorsed by a super majority as per the commission’s guidelines, commission members Guy Howard and Joan Plouffe requested the issue be reopened so they could weigh in on the matter. By reopening discussion, others, including school board members, were afforded the chance to speak to the issue in the public comment portion of the last two meetings.

While school board chairman Elaine McClure was in attendance at both charter meetings, this week she looked on as fellow board members Paul Mangiafico, Thomas Gissen, David Nanavaty, Lisa Schwartz, and Dr Pitkoff took turns reasserting their opposition to the vote. Several members referenced points of discussion among the charter commissioners, which occurred during a previous meeting, attempting to address those points or clarify concerns that were expressed at that time.

Ms Schwartz shared the sentiment of fellow school board members, asserting her opposition to two-year terms saying it was “insufficient time to acclimate to the job.” She also suggested that she might support three-year terms if the charter panel was adamant about shortening the terms, and would be more amenable to a five- or seven-member school board than one with nine seats.

“Nine is too big, and I think anybody who has been involved in the political process would agree that increasing any membership by 50 percent does not simplify or streamline things,” she said.

The Legislative Council’s education subcommittee chair Patricia Llodra, and resident Ruby Johnson also attended this week and expressed reservations on the Charter Revision Commission’s proposal.

Ms Llodra said the six-member school board configuration has been in place for more than 30 years “and it has served us well.” She also expressed concern that by districting the members, it could open up opportunities for special interest candidates to become elected to the school board.

Finance Change

During the public comment portion of the meeting, Board of Finance Chairman John Kortze and Newtown Finance Director Ben Spragg appeared to advocate the passing of a charter revision that would allow the town to manage its annual fund balance. Finance officials have repeatedly discussed the critical importance of virtually a few words in the document, which have played a role in preventing the town from receiving a bond rating upgrade.

Currently the charter stipulates that any annual surplus must be paid forward to offset tax increases in the following year’s budget. This stipulation has forced the town to create a nonrecurring so-called “stabilization fund,” which officials have tapped to stabilize the annual mil rate.

By allowing the town to establish an account funded by recurring revenues, it would bring Newtown’s financial management in line with a vast majority of other communities rated by Moody’s Investment Service. Moody’s has noted this particular charter anomaly in numerous reports including the most recent situations where the town requested, but failed to receive, an rating elevation from the agency.

Questions And Answers

Once the charter commissioners closed the public comments, they first took up the matter of the school board proposal.

Several aspects of the balloting for Board of Education members were clarified by charter commissioner LeReine Frampton, who was charged with contacting the Secretary of the State’s office over the holiday break. Ms Frampton came back with answers to questions posed, and confirmed that it was legal to increase the number of school board members to nine, to have two-year terms, and to have them elected by district.

Ms Frampton said an attorney at the Secretary of the State’s office advised that the Board of Education is not elected by minimum minority representation. Therefore, the ballot can feature additional instructions to the voter that direct them to vote for a maximum number from any party.

The ballot, however, cannot direct voters to any number from any specific party. This information was subsequently reconfirmed by Ms Frampton Wednesday.

“Any registered voter can run for any elected office provided they successfully complete a nominating petition,” Ms Frampton told The Bee following the meeting.

The charter commissioners are expected to hear about these further legal clarifications, and re-vote on the school board proposal at their January 23 meeting.

The fund balance revision was also tabled to provide time to clarify whether an appropriate level of governmental oversight could be applied in the event the purchasing authority of the town deemed it necessary to make a special or emergency appropriation from that fund. The concerns on that matter are also expected to be qualified January 23, which could allow the charter commissioners to vote on that matter, as well.

As the end of the meeting drew near, commissioners did unanimously endorse three charges. The first was regarding the council barring defense of the town in legal actions commenced against it if the town is legally permitted and advised to do so.

The second involved the Board of Selectmen granting easements for the good of the town, in lieu of granting easements only as necessary to serve or benefit town property. The third involved a charter stipulation mandating the ethics board withhold public access to complaints until said complaints are deemed valid.

Ms Plouffe requested and received the charter commission’s support in changing the wording of the proposed revision to make the issue mandatory, instead of giving the ethics board any latitude on which accusations might be made public.