The Legislative Council has approved explanatory text for the two Charter Revision questions facing referendum on Election Day, November 8.

Town Attorney David Grogins presented the text to the council at a September 21 meeting, and noted the text is a “brief summary of the questions, with the caveat that the explanatory text can not advocate for or against the passage of the charter revision questions.”

Absentee ballots, including the races for governor, US Senate, US Representative, State Senator, State Representative, Attorney General, Treasurer, Secretary of State, Comptroller, Probate Judge, and the two Charter revision questions with explanatory text, will be available Friday, October 9. (See additional details in today’s print edition.)

The first referendum question reads: “Shall the Charter be amended to provide the Sections 2-125, Sections (a) and (b) ‘Board of Finance’ be deleted from the Charter and all powers thereof to be vested with the Legislative Council.”

The approved explanatory text states that, “Approval of Question #1 will eliminate the Board of Finance from the Charter as an advisory body. All powers of the Board of Finance would thereafter be vested in the Legislative Council. Any reference to the Board of Finance will also be eliminated [from the Charter].”

“The first question is the main question in this go round,” said Grogins. “I address that singly.”

Grogins said all other proposed charter revisions are included within the second question, as the “majority of the changes relate to administrative items, with few substantive changes.” He said that most of the revisions are “very technical in nature,” and he attempted to single out revisions that voters might be “most compelled” to weigh in on.

The second referendum question reads: “Shall the remaining Charter Amendments adopted by the Legislative Council on July 20, 2022 be approved?”

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

“a) Section 1-25(a)(7). This provision redefines the term “Town Department” as the term applies to the Board of Education by exempting the Board of Education from certain duties and functions of Town Bodies which would violate other provisions of the Connecticut General Statutes applicable to the Board of Education.

“b) Section 2-01(c). The Connecticut General Statutes shall prevail over the provisions of Section 2-01(c), which allows Town Bodies to make their own rules of conduct.

“c) Section 2-05(d) eliminates the Building Appeals Board from the Charter, as does Section 2-15(d).

“d) Section 2-25(a) excuses members of a Town Body from voting on the minutes of a previous meeting at which they were not in attendance.

“e) Section 2-31(c)(1-5) describes the procedure for filling vacancies on the Board of Education.

“f) Section 2-135(a) states Town Clerk shall also be the Registrar of Vital Statistics.

“g) Section 2-160(a) states Board of Police Commissioners shall also act as the Civilian Police Review Board.

“h) Section 2-210 eliminates the Building Appeals Board.

“i) Section 3-15(e) describes the election process for the Board of Education.

“j) Section 6-20 delineates the duties of the Legislative Council relative to the Budget.

“k) Section 6-20(f)(2) defines the process subsequent to a failed annual budget referendum.

“l) Section 6-35(b) & (d) revises the requests for emergency appropriations.

“m) Section 6-35(g) modifies the procedure for emergency and special appropriations.”

Atty Grogins told the Council he is “satisfied with the wording,” and “made sure it complies with Connecticut State Statutes.”

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