City close to starting charter reform process
KINGSTON, N.Y. » City lawmakers could appoint a commission soon that would be tasked with reviewing the city charter and making suggestions for updating it.
“The city of Kingston Charter, which lays out the duties and functions of government, has not been significantly updated in 20+ years,” Mayor Steve Noble wrote in a letter to Common Council President Andrea Shaut. “I am excited to partner with the Common Council to create a Charter Commission that can research and develop suggestions on how we can best update our charter.”
The Feb. 28 letter asks Shaut to share the communication with the appropriate council committee “so that we can begin a joint discussion on what a
Charter Commission could look like and the process of forming one.”
The council’s Laws and Rules Committee is expected to take up the issue at its next meeting, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 18, at City Hall, 420 Broadway.
Charter reform is a topic that Shaut herself tried to move forward while she was the chairwoman of the Laws and Rules Committee, prior to being elected alderwoman-at-large. In March 2019, Shaut asked the committee to consider any charter changes that could clear up inconsistencies in the document’s language and to make sure it supports a system of strong checks and balances.
In an email Monday, Shaut said charter reform has been her hope for a long time but “it did not really move anywhere” following that presentation to the committee.
“Now that there seems to be support within the council, the executive branch and the public, I am eager for us to begin,” Shaut said. “It’s an important moment and a long time overdue. The council and the mayor will have to work together in order for first steps to be decided on, which will be how to select a Charter Commission. This is what we will be discussing at the upcoming Laws and Rules meeting.”
The last time the City Charter was amended in its entirety was 1993.
Shaut said she also will advocate for the council to host a public forum at the beginning of the charter reform process. She said that would “give citizens a chance to understand the process at the beginning, not at the end, when decisions have already been made.”
Shaut said she has not put much thought into specific portions of the charter she would like to see reformed and instead has been focusing on the process the council would follow. She said, though, that she would like to see a different way to appoint members to the city’s boards and commissions but expects to go into the discussion with an open mind.