When voters head to the polls on Election Day this November, they will have an opportunity to endorse or reject the most comprehensive update of Newtown's constitutional document in many, many years. And on September 7, the Legislative Council approved two ballot questions voters will consider - as well as forwarding explanatory text to the town clerk that will be available at polling places to help residents understand the content and scope of Newtown's latest proposed Charter Revision.The Newtown Bee.During discussion, she also affirmed that council representatives would be very visible in the community up to Election Day presenting and answering questions about the charter revision. Ms DeStefano said the council would be maintaining an information station at the upcoming Newtown Arts Festival, as well as hosting Q&A forums, and publishing additional reminders and information in

It was determined some time ago that voters would be asked to approve all but one element among the sweeping refinements and improvements the last Charter Revision Commission spent about a year completing. And they would be asked separately to weigh in on whether the maximum number of Newtown Board of Education members from any one political party should be four, as proposed in the revision, or five - the maximum allowed in the current charter.

The actual ballot language approved by the council this week is as follows:

1. Shall the Charter be amended to provide that the maximum number of members from any one Political Party permitted to serve on the seven (7) member Board of Education shall not exceed four (4), (the current Charter provides that the limitation is five (5) members from any one Political Party)?

Yes_____ No_____

2. Shall the remaining Charter Amendments adopted by the Legislative Council on November 18, 2015 be approved notwithstanding the results of question number 1 above?

Yes_____ No_____

There was some spirited lobbying on the part of Councilman Chris Eide to amend the question to include terminology referring to a "bare majority." He expressed to his fellow council members a fear that if the revision passed and was challenged in court, it could be overturned because it lacked that terminology. But Town Attorney David Grogins, who was on hand at the meeting, said in his opinion that it would not.

A subsequent motion by Mr Eide to add the "bare Majority" terminology to the ballot language did not receive a second, so it was not considered. Another suggested amendment by council member Judit DeStefano to combine ballot language for question one offered by Mr Grogins with some language suggested by a council subcommittee also failed to receive a second and was not considered.

Once both questions were approved, council members spent several minutes reviewing a document containing supporting "explanatory text" before moving that information to Town Clerk Debbie Aurelia Halstead for reproduction and distribution. The explanatory document did not require council approval according to Mr Grogins.

The explanation in that document for question one is: "Approval of Question #1 limits the number of members of the Board of Education from one political party to four (4). This changes the maximum from five (5) to four (4)."

Because the explanation for question two involves the remainder of the comprehensive rewriting of the charter, it is substantially longer:

Approval of Question #2 accepts the rest of proposed changes in their entirety, comprised of organizational, non-substantive, and substantive changes made to the document including but not limited to:

a) It adds eleven (11) existing Boards and Commissions to the Charter; Water and Sewer Authority; Lake Lillinonah Authority; Lake Zoar Authority; and Newtown Health District Board, Commission on Aging, Economic Development Commission, Inland Wetlands Commission, Pension Commission, Public Safely Commission, Self-funded Health Insurance Fund Commission, Sustainable Energy Commission. It gives each Board or Commission a definition and gives a method for filling vacancies.

b) It specifically spells out the advisory roles played by the Board of Finance.

c) It revises the language of the advisory question provision set forth in Section 6-14(a) of the present Charter.

d) It eliminates the town meeting and changes the annual appropriation authority of the Legislative Council from $500,000 to $1,500,000, with a maximum aggregate authority of 1 mil (currently about $3,000,000).

e) It replaces the town meeting for disposing of real property with a multi-board approval process. It also removes the use of sealed bid as a method of sale.

The council was bound to act on the ballot questions September 7 because the deadline to submit them for approval by the Connecticut Secretary of the State's Office was the next day.

In explaining the council committee's work on the explanatory text, Ms DeStefano, who served on that panel, said it was important to provide "really clean" language with "a lot of detail." She said it was the committee's hope that voters who appear at the polls on Election Day with no prior knowledge of the charter questions on the ballot, would be able to quickly review the explanations and be equipped with enough background to cast their votes.