City’s charter lacks guidance for updating it

KINGSTON, N.Y. » Lawmakers have so far been able to make headway in the process of updating the city charter.

Common Council President Andrea Shaut said during a recent meeting of the council’s Laws and Rules Committee that the charter itself doesn’t specify how the process should be carried out.

“Our current charter doesn’t actually say how to do it,” Shaut said. “Some charters say it has to happen every 10 years and you have to follow [specific] laws . ... Our charter doesn’t it, so therefore we have to follow our state law, and that has three different options.”

Lawmakers could establish a charter commission themselves or ask city residents if a commission should be established. The council then would determine the number of commission members and the method of appointing them.

The commission also could be created by the mayor, who would be required to appoint between nine and 15 members.

Kingston also could be forced to create a commission if presented with petitions that have signatures totaling at least 15% of the number of city residents who voted in the November

2018 election. There were 9,368 votes cast in Kingston in that election, meaning 1,405 signatures would be required.

Ultimately city residents would vote on any proposed changes to the charter.

Mayor Steve Noble said the commission should start with members appointed by elected officials because the issues involved in updating the charter might be too confusing for residents. Noble said it’s the role of a lawmaker-appointed commission to inform voters about the pertinent issues.

“Educating the public on what the charter is and what it isn’t is really a critical part of all this, and I think that’s what would be a concern of mine if we were to ask the voters right away,” the mayor said. “... I just think it would be hard to educate people in that regard when they may not fully understand all the different issues that exist.”

Alderman Jeffery Ventura Morell, D-Ward 1, said the current charter fails to address some issues that have been encountered by city officials.

“One was the functions of the different departments, and there seems to be a lot of redundancy there,” he said. “Another issue was the formation and the makeup of commissions.”