Draft Charter Published For Community Review, Outreach Campaign Planned
Legislative Council Chair Mary Ann Jacob is encouraging townspeople to read, discuss, and save the printed Charter Revision draft in this week’s edition of The Newtown Bee that will be the focus of a broad public outreach and education initiative planned for 2016.
The comprehensive charter revision was recently accepted by the council, and by statute, must be published in a local newspaper with substantial local readership on or before December 19. So instead of running it as a classified advertisement in The Bee, the council decided to publish the draft for public review as a special section.
That way, the charter draft can be retained by residents to refer to as a planned, multifaceted informational campaign rolls out ahead of balloting to endorse or reject the revision — or select parts of it — on Election Day 2016.
A draft of proposed revisions is also available for review online at newtown-ct.gov under the Boards & Commissions Charter Revision Commission link, or can be obtained in person at the town clerk’s office in Newtown Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street, during regular business hours, Ms Jacob noted.
“The web and handout in the town clerk’s office will have the identical content of the section available in The Bee,” she added. Extra copies of the insert can also be picked up at The Newtown Bee offices at 5 Church Hill Road while supplies last.
Along with a full reconfiguring of the content and flow, Ms Jacob said there are a few things that will be new for residents, including a proposal for three significant and structural changes.
“We’ve completely rewritten it, so it may be a challenge for people to understand the differences, because you can’t put the revision [draft] alongside the current charter to see how a ‘Section A’ compares to ‘Section A’ in the revision,” she said.
Structural Changes
So in the coming months, Ms Jacob said the council is going to provide outreach and information to help residents see where the overlays exist in the new design, understand some of the “structural” changes proposed, and the resulting action if they are approved by voters.
Ms Jacob said one primary revision proposes a 4-3 party split for the purposes of minority representation on the Board of Education. Currently, the charter follows state statutes allowing a 5-2 ratio for minority representation.
If that revision passes — either as a standalone ballot measure or as part of an overall revision question on the 2016 ballot — the next local election will seat school board members under a 4-3 minority standard. If that revision fails, the current 5-2 split remains in effect.
A second structural change involves new language setting forth the process by which the town can sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of public land.
A third major change, if approved, eliminates the current town meeting form of government for approving large public expenditures, and would create a guideline for putting a package of projects before taxpayers for individual approval or rejection during the annual budget referendum.
A draft of proposed revisions is also available for review online at newtown-ct.gov on the town clerk’s page, or can be obtained in person at the town clerk’s office in Newtown Municipal Center during regular business hours, Ms Jacob noted.
“The web and handout in the town clerk’s office will have the identical content of the section available in The Bee,” she added. Extra copies of the insert can also be picked up at The Newtown Bee offices at 5 Church Hill Road while supplies last.
“An important aspect of this charter revision was that we’ve been hearing the current charter is unreadable. But I think that’s because once the original document was approved, subsequent [approved] revisions were kind of built or wedged into the existing document, like the creation of the Board of Finance or the special appropriation process,” Ms Jacob said.
“But the [proposed] rewrite changed the language and structure of the document from one that is board and department-focused to process-focused. So now users will be able to read and follow government processes more clearly.”
Ms Jacob said among other proposed charter changes are the inclusion of a number of added financial controls to help protect and track the spending of taxpayer funds and municipal revenues.
Multifaceted Campaign
By early next year, the council chair plans to seat an ad-hoc charter revision communications committee, who will be charged with researching and implementing myriad ways of informing the community about the proposed revisions, so they will be prepared for the related question or questions they will face during the Presidential election next November.
“We’re blessed with the opportunity of having a lot of time to engage the public on the [proposed] revisions in meaningful ways,” Ms Jacob said. With that in mind, she plans to research the successful tools Newtown’s appointed current Community Center Commission used promoting a recent survey.
“The Community Center Commission reached over 3,000 people who completed their survey,” Ms Jacob said. “We barely get that many people coming out to vote.”
Knowing that different people are exposed to different media, Ms Jacob foresees a combination of print reports in The Bee, separate printed informational products besides the revision special section, as well as Internet, social media, and direct community engagement in the form of public gatherings during which proposed revisions will be explained and discussed.