Bowing to the inevitable, the selectmen voted 4–1 Tuesday night to place the question of whether to form a charter commission on this year’s Town Election ballot. Selectman Ken Swanton cast the opposing vote.
The vote was in response to a petition signed by 692 registered voters and certified by Town Clerk Janet Vellante in late January. Thanks to the vagaries of the Annual Town Election calendar, the selectmen could have postponed the question until 2017, but they didn’t. (See “Charter commission petitioners say they have met goal” in the Jan. 15 Press.)
Both Selectmen Stu Sklar and Lucy Wallace said they were not inclined to go against the wishes of the nearly 700 petition signers, two or three times the number who typically participate in Annual Town Meeting. “It’s kind of like having a root canal,” agreed Selectman Leo Blair. “It’s better to get it over with.” But Swanton didn’t like rushing into the process. “I’d like to see it done more deliberately,” he said, citing the experience of the town of Groton, whose first charter commission failed to reach consensus and ultimately disbanded.
New petition, similar goal
A new petition submitted to the selectmen this week guaranteed that in one form or another, the charter question would be up for discussion and a vote this year. The new petition, signed by 10 voters and submitted by Worth Robbins, who led the drive for the first petition, poses an alternative route to a charter. It calls on Town Meeting to create a nine-member charter committee to be appointed by the town moderator and charged with creating a charter. A petition for a warrant article signed by at least 10 registered voters must be honored. The charter, should it be successfully crafted by the committee, would then have to be approved by a future town meeting as well as a town election before being sent on to the state Legislature for approval. The new petition gives voters two bites at the charter apple: They can adopt the warrant article, assuring that some form of charter committee will be formed. Then at Town Election they can vote to form a charter commission. The authors of the second petition have written it in such a way that passage of the ballot question would take precedence and override the Town Meeting vote.
At the meeting, Robbins explained that the new petition was in part motivated by his belief that the charter issue should be discussed at Town Meeting. State requirements for formation of a charter commission do not require a town meeting vote, just a passage of a ballot question at a town election.
Ensuring action this year
In a later email, Robbins said the petitioners were grateful for the decision to put the charter question on this year’s ballot. “Not knowing if the ballot question would be this year or next year, we thought Town Meeting voters should have the option to ensure action this year,” wrote Robbins. “Now that we know the question will be on this year’s ballot, the Town Meeting article will be an opportunity to discuss the merits of a charter, and to have an alternative in case the ballot question doesn’t pass.”
He stated that he also appreciated the thinking behind Swanton’s negative vote, based on his concern that the process was moving too quickly. “The important thing now will be to encourage a good number of candidates for the nine-member Charter Commission,” Robbins wrote. “We have work to do to make sure everyone understands what’s coming.”
