Committed To A

Second Chance For The Charter

To the Editor:

First of all, I want to thank both the Charter Revision Commission members, for working very diligently with over 40 meetings in an 11 month period in order to develop their proposals, and also the more than 1,900 people who signed the petition to allow the public to vote on all of the proposed changes.

As we now know, there is a problem, the effective date of the changes will take place 30 days after approval. The commission correctly intended that these major changes would take place after a two year transition period. I have a particular problem with eliminating the Board of Selectmen four or five days after they take the oath of office. In addition, I have spoken to a number of voters who might have been in favor of some or all of the proposed charter revision proposals, but are either conflicted or planning to vote “no” because of the effective date problem.

I also believe that questions one and two should be considered together and should not have been divided by the council. As a result, the two questions need to either pass or fail together to avoid serious problems with implementation. All things considered, I am in agreement with the sentiments you expressed in your editorial of October 12, 2001. The proposed amendments should pass or fail on their merits unimpaired by other considerations, such as the “30 days” effective date. A “no” vote on the questions and reappointment of the commission as recommended by The Bee is the best option to accomplish that objective.

To that end, I have received a commitment from all of the Democratic council candidates: First District, Fran Pennarola, Dan Rosenthal; Second District, Peggy Baiad, Joe Hemmingway, Tim Holian; Third District, Amy Dent, Jim Shpunt, Gene Vetrano. They will ask all of the most recent Charter Revision Commission members if they are willing to serve and appoint them to a new commission. That commission will be charged with making appropriate modifications to the current proposals so that they can be put on the ballot for the 2002 election, to be effective in 2003 as everyone had intended.

I ask the Republican first selectman candidate and the Republican council candidates to make the same commitment. If they also make that pledge, the voters can be assured to have a second chance to consider the proposals next year.

However, if the changes do pass, I am confident that with my many years of experience in local government and with the cooperation of the elected leaders of both political parties and the public, we will do our best to effectively implement the changes. With their help, I will appoint the best people that I can to serve on the Board of Finance in a non-partisan manner.

Herbert C. Rosenthal

First Selectman

45 Main Street, Newtown               October 16, 2001