By Connecticut State Statute Chapter 99 on Municipal Charters and Special Acts, towns are required to review and update their Town Charters every ten years; Newtown has been doing charter reviews every five years.

The review of the charter is an important process to update a municipality’s charter, its governing document similar to the Constitution that is the basis of all federal law in the United States. States also have State Constitutions. A charter is routinely updated to more accurately reflect the needs of the community, clean up language to be more specific or less confusing, and reflect changes that may have already been instituted by legislative actions.

Newtown's previous Charter Revision Commission began its work in 2021 and finished in June 2022, and was made up of three Democrats, three Republicans, and one Independent, detailing proposed changes and recommending the elimination of the Board of Finance. Though most of the changes passed muster with voters in November 2022, the elimination of the Board of Finance did not, being defeated nearly two-to-one.

Approved by voters were a number of smaller changes, including redefining the term “Town Department” so the Board of Education could be exempted from certain duties and functions of Town Bodies, which violated provisions of the Connecticut General Statutes; eliminating the Building Appeals Board that had not been seated or active in recent memory; allowing members of boards and commissions to abstain from votes on minutes for meetings where they were not in attendance; changing the method for filling vacancies in the Board of Education to be consistent with the Legislative Council; making the town clerk the registrar of vital statistics; empowering the Police Commission to also act as a Civilian Police Review Board; and modifying procedures for emergency appropriations.

This year, the Council on January 21 formed two committees to assist with the charter revision process. The Appointments Committee, chaired by Eric Paradis, will advertise and recruit candidates, interview them, then select members to serve on the new Charter Revision Commission. The Charge Committee, chaired by Keith Alexander, will solicit input from other town boards and commissions and staff, review and organize potential revisions, and create a formal charge document that will guide the Charter Revision Commission.

The Appointments Committee consists of Legislative Council members Eric Paradis, Donna Rahtelli, Ben Ruben, Jordana Bloom, Lily Mac Hugh, and Chris Gardner. Paradis will chair and Rahtelli will vice-chair. As reported from the March 4 Legislative Council meeting, the Appointments Committee is reviewing ten potential applicants and may accept all ten; they are: Democrats Brandon Moore, Herb Rosenthal, Maureen Crick Owen, Dan Honan, Peter Schwarz, and Aiden Music; unaffiliateds Barney Molloy and Will Drew; and Republicans John Zachos and Tracy Pertoso.

Some of the more eye-catching charges under consideration include: considering eliminating automatic budget referendums; referendum timeline changes to increase voter turnout; updating the charter to shift the town clerk from an elected role to an appointed one; considering merging duplicative appointed Town committees or dissolving appointed committees whose functions no longer meet the needs of the Town; updating the charter to clarify and strengthen the role of the Board of Ethics; and the threshold amount for special appropriations of $1.5M in the charter should be reconsidered with inflation in mind.

There are many more.

By the time this reaches print, the Council is expected (though may not have, depending on actions taken at its March 18 meeting) to have chosen the number of members, who the members are, and what the final charges are that the Charter Revision Commission will take up.

The decisions on what charges to take up are not indications of final results — as shown by voters rejecting the proposed elimination of the Board of Finance five years ago. The proposed elimination was the determination of that CRC when asked to look at possible options for the finance board, including possibly giving it more power or a different role.

This review is the beginning of a long process that The Newtown Bee will be monitoring and continuing to report on, as it could change a number of things with large ramifications for residents.