Groton residents torn over fate of Representative Town Meeting

Officials may eliminate RTM and create annual budget referendum

Groton — The Town Council heard Tuesday from an audience divided over whether it should support the recommendations of the Charter Revision Commission to eliminate Representative Town Meeting and create an annual budget referendum.

Those who support the changes said Groton needs greater efficiency and accountability in its financial management and residents need a direct say on the budget.

Those who oppose the changes said the RTM provides a voice for all of Groton’s districts, and eliminating it would disenfranchise voters. Opponents also said a budget referendum would lead to budget battles and allow uninformed voters to cast ballots.

Mike Edgerton of Seneca Drive said he wants to vote on the budget and believes the town needs a more agile process for dealing with the budget, especially given what is happening on the state level.

“We’ve got to change, and I think that the basic ideas of voting and a board of finance will allow that to happen better,” he said.

But Chuck Stevens of Stony Hill Drive said abolishing the RTM would diminish his power as a voter, because RTM members in his district represent him.

“They drive on my streets, they walk on my sidewalks, they live in my district, they are responsive to me,” he said. “They have to be. Because every two years they have to have my vote if they want to continue to represent my interests and the interests of my district.”

Kathy Chase, a member of the

Charter Revision Commission, urged the council to support the recommendations as written. She said she’d like to stay in Groton but unless changes are made, she won’t be able to. “I want Groton to be a strong, viable community and, like a lot of other residents, I need it to be affordable,” she said.

Over the last 12 months, an average of 26 RTM members attended meetings, not the 41 elected, she said. This form of government also is being phased out in most other communities, she said.

But Patrice Granatosky, also a Charter Revision Commission member who voted in the minority, urged the council to reject the suggested changes. “I resent the fact that some people say that the RTM members do not do their jobs,” she said.

“The RTM represents the whole town of Groton,” she said. “We are a republic, we are not a democracy. So you send people to Washington, D.C., to represent you. You send people to Hartford to represent you. With the RTM, you send your neighbors to Groton to represent you. Every neighborhood in town is represented.”