During its second meeting in as many weeks, the Newtown Charter Revision Commission met October 7 at the Senior Center to continue laying out plans to enhance the effectiveness, integrity, and user-friendliness of the community’s constitutional document.

With commissioner Deborra Zukowski away for the evening, colleagues Kevin Burns, Eric Paradis, Dan Wiedemann, Tom Long, George Guidera, James Ritchie, along with Chairman Jeff Capeci and Vice Chair Robert Hall picked up where they left off last week reviewing a new draft of Section 7-90 related to the acquisition and disposition of town-owned land.

The group also reviewed and discussed charter charge items categorized under “Board Composition,” along with some suggested changes to the rules of the commission.

One week earlier, the commission began its examination of Section 7-90 with the hope of eventually streamlining it. At that session, Town Attorney David Grogins asked the panel to try and simplify what he called the currently mandated and “elaborate procedure to acquire or dispose of town-owned property.”

He suggested commissioners consider language in other town charters that is effective but much less complicated.

Mr Grogins said the idea of such a complex process may have been more justified at the local level before the state initiated a recent law requiring all municipalities to conduct a “widely advertised public hearing to protect from [the] secret disposition” of town and city properties in so-called “sweetheart deals.”

During that meeting, Mr Hall, a former town attorney who handles land use litigation, volunteered to draft a new version of that charter chapter. On Tuesday, he confessed to his colleagues that he decided to “start with a fresh slate,” as opposed to trying to recast the existing language.

He told commissioners that he learned a lot by reviewing state statutes on the issue, and reviewed the ways the town might acquire parcels from private owners because of nonpayment of property taxes — whether through a lawsuit, a summary foreclosure, or a traditional foreclosure.

“The surest way to get title for nonpayment of taxes is a traditional foreclosure,” Mr Hall related. “That way the owner doesn’t have redemption rights.”

Mr Hall said that in terms of disposition of town land, his goal is to “make the sale of open space difficult.”

Regarding the disposal of other town parcels, he is suggesting to eliminate the town meeting provision in the charter, instead relying on the first selectman and the Board of Selectmen to determine if such parcels would be sold through public auction or private sale.

Mr Guidera, also an attorney, asked to include a provision mandating the town get an appraisal on any parcel it was looking at selling.

Mr Capeci told The Bee following the meeting that once the commission settled on the proposed new language for Charter Section 7-90, he would share that language among any town agencies that might be involved, before moving the provision to the town attorney for legal review.

He said the commission would likely follow the same process with other high profile changes as they come before the panel for discussion and revision.

Mr Capeci said that he has organized this latest revision process into a spreadsheet encompassing about 70 different charges, placing similar charge points into sections so they can be addressed simultaneously.

The next item of business for the charter commissioners is to examine local board and commission compositions and term limits. The panel will also weigh the possibility of extending the Board of Finance term to four years, and introduce staggered elections to that board to enhance continuity among its elected members and the business they may be handling as new board members take over.

During the previous meeting, Ms Zukowski suggested establishing a web or social media presence for the Charter Revision Commission to help enhance public participation in the revision process. But Mr Capeci said he was satisfied with residents’ ability to access news about the group’s work through The Bee, other publications, and through commission minutes and videos of their meetings.

“I think we’ve always struggled, especially early-on, with public interest,” Mr Capeci said. “But as we start making decisions about more pertinent areas, I think people will start paying more attention.”

The next meeting of the Charter Revision Commission is scheduled for 7:30 pm on October 29 at Newtown Municipal Center.