Charged with considering a possible change to the way Newtown government is run, a recently-appointed Town Administrator Workgroup began laying a foundation for its work, including naming Maureen Crick Owen as chair.

First Selectman Dan Rosenthal, acting as a mediator for the first meeting before stepping back to an advisory role, explained at the January 9 meeting that a town administrator position is an idea that has been around for “at least ten years.”

He previously took the idea as far as requesting the Legislative Council to charge the Charter Revision Commission with considering the position in 2021, but the council decided to charge the CRC with another high profile consideration — whether to eliminate the Board of Finance.

The eventual proposed charter change to eliminate the finance board was then voted down by residents last November.

Rosenthal was also concerned that if a charter change was proposed to include a town administrator or town manager, that it may be a “bridge too far” for the public to accept the change. There was added concern that if they did and the role was not effective, the town’s governing document would have to be changed again to eliminate the position.

More recently, however, Rosenthal discovered there was a second option after learning Wilton had hired a town administrator position without a charter change.

As a result, Newtown’s workgroup is proceeding with the idea that the first selectman would still be a full-time position and still be charged with everything it is charged with in the charter, while considering how a professional town administrator would manage how the municipality runs in its day-to-day routine.

Rosenthal said creating a town administrator position could, metaphorically speaking, give the town an ability to kick the tires on a town manager style of government without formally committing to the time-consuming process of including it in a future charter review.

Rosenthal noted that in many cities, a mayor could have a staff of three or four people to assist them with different aspects of governance, while he only has his administrative assistant. A town administrator would handle day-to-day functions such as managing staff, leaving the first selectman considering overall policy.

Rosenthal said he did not want to lead the workgroup or be accused of leading the workgroup to the conclusion he wants, so he asked them to not only consider a town administrator position, but other forms of government that could require a charter change, as well as if any change is needed at all.

If the group does decide to recommend a form of government requiring a change to the Town Charter, then its final report would be a recommendation to the Legislative Council asking it to form a new Charter Revision Commission charged with reviewing that change.

Workgroup members spent time asking questions of Rosenthal to help them understand the charge before them, and began dividing up information gathering work, with members Bill Brimmer and Pat Llodra each volunteering to contact neighboring towns to ask about their forms of government.

The workgroup also assigned itself and Rosenthal some homework — each member should come back with a list of what it considers should be tasks the workgroup will perform or assign its members to accomplish its review. Llodra felt that the group should frame and articulate the work before it before blindly jumping in.

“We can straw dog lists of tasks and then mix and merge them,” said member Ned Simpson.

The workgroup also asked Rosenthal to write up a formal charge for what he is asking of the workgroup, for them to base their work around.

The group plans to meet at 3:30 pm every other Monday. Their next meeting is scheduled for January 23.

Associate Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.