Council Creates Charter Revision Panel

By Steve Bigham

After nearly two hours of deliberations, the Legislative Council finally created the much-anticipated Charter Revision Commission Wednesday night. The board will be made up of 12 Newtown residents who will begin deliberating the town’s current charter in the coming weeks.

But deciding on who should be a member of this important group did not come easy and not without a great deal of discussion on the merits and qualifications of the individuals. In the end, the council chose to vote for each candidate individually. As each name came up, members were asked to cast their votes by role call.

Those chosen were Owen Carney, Al Cramer, Ed Kelleher, Mike Floros, Harry Waterbury, Jane Sharpe, Kevin O’Neill, Joe Hemingway, Jack Rosenthal, Bill Sheluck, Ken Bigham, and George Caracciolo. Mr Sheluck, Mr Bigham, and Mr Caracciolo were not among the nine candidates that had originally been recommended by a subcommittee of the council. However, the three men were nominated and elected after the original eight men and one woman were approved. The group is made up of six Republicans, five Democrats, and one unaffiliated voter.

The formation of the Charter Revision Commission came nearly one month after council member Melissa Pilchard opposed the nomination of the original cast of nine, saying she was against two of the recommendations. She also complained that the subcommittee had not provided enough information on why those nine were selected, and, just as importantly, why 11 other candidates were not.

At the much talked about September 6 meeting, Council Chairman Pierre Rochman ruled that the issue be tabled until further information on each of the candidates could be obtained. In response, the 20 candidates were requested to submit resumes, which were then mailed out to council members.

Early on Wednesday night, council member Ruby Johnson suggested that the council refrain from creating a Charter Revision Commission at this time, saying there is already too much on the town’s agenda, Fairfield Hills being one of those items. Even Mr Rochman, who initiated efforts to form a charter panel, was having second thoughts about the idea. Doug Brennan admitted he saw no compelling items to suggest the charter needed a revision.

Member Don Studley took it one step further, suggesting that council members have not interacted well in recent months and a rift had been created over who was best suited to serve on the charter board. This may not be the best time to create another town board, he said.

But council member Will Rodgers disagreed.

“We all know the recommendations will come back to us at a busy time, but nonetheless, I would be loath to think that we could be so ineffectual that we can’t even create a [Charter Revision Commission],” he said, wondering if council members were looking to avoid awkward discussion of the candidates by simply pushing the issue off.

During one of the nearly two dozen votes taken Wednesday night, the council voted, 6-5, to go forward with the formation of the charter panel.

  Mrs Johnson, displeased that only one woman had been appointed to the panel, sought to have a second woman added to the board. However, her nomination was turned down, 6-5.