Hearing Set For Nov. 30 –

Charter Panel Seeks Direction From Townspeople

By Steve Bigham

Do you have an opinion about Newtown’s current form of government? Residents are invited to attend a November 30 public hearing at Newtown Middle School at 8 pm, where they will have the opportunity to speak their mind about how this town is run.

The hearing will be conducted by the newly formed Charter Revision Commission, which has begun its analysis of the town charter. State law, however, requires the commission to hold a public hearing prior to beginning any substantive discussion.

“We encourage everyone to attend that can attend and to bring with them their own thoughts and ideas about how the town of Newtown should be managed going forward. No idea is too outrageous or frivolous,” noted commission chairman Bill Sheluck.

“We want to know what they’re thinking,” added commission member Jane Sharpe.

Last month, the 12-member commission began its task of reviewing the Newtown charter. It has indicated that it will strive to get the public involved in the process as much as possible. The board is now looking at various ways to bring awareness to its work, including the possible creation of a charter “chat room” on The Bee’s Web site.

“Our goal is to get the public involved to the greatest extent possible,” Mr Sheluck said last week. “If we don’t do that, I think people will get the impression that these are 12 people who met in a room by themselves without a feeling for any other opinions.”

The commission, which meets every Thursday night at 7 pm at Town Hall South, has set a tentative timeline for completion by Memorial Day, 2001, which is little more than six months away.

“I know we have 16 months, but I prefer to have a more aggressive time frame, then deal with having to extend it if we have to,” Mr Sheluck said.

The chairman attended Wednesday night’s Legislative Council meeting to invite members to take part in the charter review process.

“I believe the more they are aware of our process and how we’re reaching our decisions, the more comfortable they will be with our recommendations,” he said this week.

However, the commission has made it clear that it plans to act completely independent of the council and will not provide it with regular updates.

“We decided that no we wouldn’t have a regular dialogue with the town in terms of reporting our progress,” Mr Sheluck said.

Last week, council member Will Rodgers attended the commission’s meeting to explain that the council was behind the Charter Revision Commission despite its 6-5 vote to go forward with the creation of the board. Politics, not opposition to amending the charter, appears to have been behind the council’s close vote. In addition, Mr Rodgers said he wanted to assure the commission that the council would evaluate its recommendations in “good faith.”

Changes Are Coming

Bill Sheluck said last week’s presidential election is still on a lot of people’s minds, as is the unique way the country elects its President. There are many who feel the Electoral College should be eliminated. Changes in government seem to be a hot topic these days.

“Clearly, we’re all sensitized to the whole issue of elections and public office. It truly reminded us that we do not live in a true democracy,” Mr Sheluck said. “In essence, we’re not a true democracy. We’re a representative form of government. To what extend do we want to remain a representative form of government? For example, a town manager is not elected by the people. How do we feel about that? Do we want to give up the ability to elect the chief officer of the town?”

Discussion of a town manager form of government in Newtown popped up at last week’s commission meeting. And while one member favored the idea, others struck it down, saying the town is not ready for that kind of big change. No doubt, the issue will be brought up later in the process.

Four years ago, the last Charter Revision Commission also brought up the topic for discussion, but the late Stan Karpacz, a member of the commission, made a motion to eliminate any consideration of a town manager form of government. The commission had planned to discuss the issue in more detail, but Mr Karpacz felt the issue was moot. His fellow commission members agreed.

“A town manager form of government does not work in Connecticut,” Mr Karpacz said. “My feeling is you hire someone from the outside and if it doesn’t work out you have to pay him or her off to leave. It gets expensive for the town.”

Mr Karpacz believed there is no loyalty with a town manager. Further town manager discussions were voted down, 8-1.

The idea of doing away with the board of selectmen and bringing in a town manager had been recommended by a handful of public officials as a way of streamlining the town’s government.

The November 30 public hearing on the charter will be at 8 pm in the lecture hall at Newtown Middle School.