Council Poised To Appoint

A New Charter Revision Panel

By Steve Bigham

A new Charter Revision Commission is expected to be in place within the next week or so. All that is left to do is pick the nine individuals who will take on the task of reviewing how Newtown’s town government conducts its business.

As of this week, the Legislative Council’s ad hoc Charter Revision Committee has a list of 19 candidates to serve on the board – seven Republicans, seven Democrats and five unaffiliated voters. The committee, headed by Joe Borst, will then interview each of the candidates to determine who will serve.

On Wednesday, the ad hoc committee met to review its list of candidates and to formulate generic questions so that each candidate gets asked the same thing. It will conduct interviews with the candidates August 23-24. The committee must still decide whether it wants to take three Republicans, three Democrats and three unaffiliated voters or some other combination.

Mr Borst said the Charter Revision Commission, once assembled, will act as an independent body. Once its work is completed, the panel will make its recommendations for charter revision to the full council. The council is then empowered to approve or reject the recommendations before putting them on the ballot at the November, 2001 election.

 State law mandates that Connecticut towns update their charters only every five years, and Newtown’s charter was revised just over three years ago. But Council Chairman Pierre Rochman this past spring suggested a committee be formed to amend the way Newtown is governed right now. Soon after his announcement, the council chairman formed a committee of council members to ensure that the Charter Revision Commission is made up of only the best candidates.

Atop Mr Rochman’s list of needed changes is the elimination of Newtown’s age-old “town meeting” form of government. In recent years, that process has been dominated by a small number of residents who show up with a specific agenda, according to Mr Rochman.

“A very small group of people can spend some very serious dollars. I’m very concerned that this town is being influenced by special interest groups,” said the council chairman, who became disillusioned by this year’s budgetary process, during which two special interest groups coaxed the council into approving a budget with a 2.92 mill increase.

e.

Mr Rochman will also call for a more powerful first selectman and the elimination of the Board of Selectmen. Currently, he said, there is too much redundancy between the selectmen and the council. In addition, a more powerful first selectman would be able to react to issues and situations faster – like the president of a company, for example. As part of this, Mr Rochman said earlier this year that he would like to see the Legislative Council strengthened and increased from 12 members back to 18 – where it used to be until a charter revision commission reduced it by six a decade ago.

Many council members believe some budget dates need to be revised to make for a smoother budget process. For one thing, Mr Rochman said, the town is forced to look at the budget before the state completes its own budget. This forces the council to do a lot of guessing on the revenue side.

Council members say they have been disappointed with the lack of change made by recent Charter Revision Commissions, especially the one back in 1996-97, whose biggest revision was to change the charter to read that the town’s finance director can be removed “without cause.” Opponents of that move said it stripped the finance director of his right to due process.

In years past, council members have each submitted individual suggestions for charter changes. This year, Mr Rochman plans to have the council prioritize and vote on the issues so they do not come across as wish lists.

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal says it is imperative that the same number of members from each political party make up the board. Government revision should be as non-partisan as you can get, he said.

By law, there can be anywhere between 5 and 15 members on a charter revision panel. Neither party may have a majority and no more than one third of the commission may hold office as local officials. No Legislative Council members or selectmen may serve on the commission.

Under the charter, the Legislative Council is empowered to appoint a Charter Revision Commission to review the charter and any recommendations made by the council.

The charter, which was last revised in 1997, was first adopted in 1961.

Council member Will Rodgers believes the budget’s public hearing needs to be held at the beginning of the budget process rather than at the end. By the time the hearings take place the budget has already been sent. Granted, he said, it can be re-opened, but it may be too late. Public participation is permitted throughout the budget process. However, those meetings are attended by special interest groups only, he said.

“The public hearings are supposed to be a bit more general, and I’d like to see them up front,” Mr Rodgers said.

The council member also suggested the town re-examine having separate votes for the Board of Selectmen and Board of Education budgets.

Mr Rosenthal believes the town could use a stronger first selectman, especially as the town continues to grow. He believes Newtown needs a government more like that of Monroe, where there is a first selectman, a council, and a board of finance.

“There would be more accountability for the first selectman. People assume that the first selectman has more authority than he or she really does. The first selectman in Newtown either gets too much credit or too much blame for things,” he said.

Council member John Kortze believes there is always room for improvement, but says the town works pretty well as it is right now.

For council member Peggy Baiad, two things come to mind. “Newtown has outgrown the town meeting. I think things should go directly to referendum. When I think of a town meeting I think of some little town in Vermont or New Hampshire,” Mrs Baiad said.

Also, the council member said she would like to see the selectmen and school board budgets presented separately at the polls.

Finance Director Ben Spragg was out of town this week, but in the past he has urged the Charter Revision Commission to significantly streamline the budget process and vote on all spending, including capital projects, in one referendum. All projects that require bonding should be on the same ballot with the town’s annual municipal/school budgets, he said three years ago.

Town Clerk Cindy Simon said a new Charter Revision Commission should remove the charter clause that states that the finance director can be removed without cause.

“What is the purpose of that?” she wondered.

She disagrees with the idea of going back to 18 council members.

“I thought the council has been working very well together the last couple of years,” she said. “I thought the government had been working pretty well, lately.”

As for the elimination of the town meeting, Mrs Simon has spoken out in favor of that move in the past. However, it never gets eliminated, so why convene a commission just for that, she said.

“They turn it down every time. They don’t want to get rid of it,” she said.