Leaders consider public’s view of charter revisions

CROMWELL » Having heard from the public and the Town Council, the Charter Revision Commission will revisit its proposed changes in the existing charter.

The commission will meet at 7 p.m. Monday in Town Hall to discuss comments members received from both the public and council during a special hearing last week.

The seven-member commission, whose members include Board of Education Chairman Michael Camilleri and former first selectman Paul Beaulieu, has been at work revising the 2011 charter since March 2016. Among the proposals it has put forward is appointing rather than electing the town clerk and the tax collector. The panel has also proposed increasing the length of the terms of town council members and including the mayor from two to four years.

Doing so would bring the council into conformity with the Board of Education, the Board of Finance and the Planning and Zoning Commission, commission members say. The panel hopes

to complete its work on the revisions in time for proposals to be placed on the November ballot.

This past week, the group held a public hearing to hear from residents in which 20 people attended. It quickly became clear the election/appointment of the clerk and collector and the length of the terms of town councilors were of prime interest.

Mertie L. Terry, the last elected first selectman in Cromwell, challenged the idea of extending the terms of councilor from two to four years. “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it,” Terry said.

“Why, after all this time, would you think it necessary to change the elective terms of the councilors?” Terry asked.

Under the present setup, “we have a nice mix of experienced and new members,” she said.

She pointed to Deputy Mayor Richard R. Newton, who has been a member of the Board of Selectmen/ Town Council for 34 years, and serves alongside Samantha C. Slade, who is in her first term on the council.

“We need continuity,” Terry said,

Over the years, “the townspeople have expressed their confidence in their duly elected representatives,” Terry said. The current system “gives voters the opportunity every two years to make their wishes known,” she said.

She also opposed appointing rather than electing the clerk and the collector. “In a democracy, we don’t take their power away from the people, we leave it in the hands of the voters,” Terry said.

Amanda Drew joined Terry in calling for retaining the election of the clerk and the collector.

Perhaps the most original proposal of the evening came from resident Ken Smith. He suggested elevating the mayor from what is now largely a ceremonial role to instead the chief executive officer of the town — while also retaining the town manager.

“I’m a ‘small-D democrat,’” Smith said, adding, “I don’t have a problem with the town manager’s position — or the person doing the job.” But Smith said, the current charter “places too much power in the hands of one person.”

Town Manager Anthony J. Salvatore said he supported appointing the clerk and collector because the jobs are becoming complex and involve more legal expertise.

Appointing the two positions would be no different than filling any other town office, Salvatore said. “We don’t elect the director of finance, the police chief or the director of public works because of the technical knowledge those offices require,” Salvatore said. “This is certainly not uncharted territory.”

The charter commission proposes that the existing clerk and collector would be appointed to their positions.

The counselors then weighed in the proposed revisions. Initially, a majority of the councilors said they were “on the fence” about extending the terms from two to four years.

Mayor Enzo Faienza made the case for extending the terms, saying the first year a counselor serves on the board generally involves becoming acclimated to the new job. Then, just when the new councilor is beginning to get comfortable in the position, he or she has to prepare for another election, Faienza said.

But ultimately, four of the councilors said they would prefer to keep the existing two-year terms.

The councilors supported appointing the clerk and collector. And then, unexpectedly, it was faced with the question of what constitutes a quorum of the meeting.

Councilors (led by Newton) said they assumed four out of seven was a quorum. But during the review of the charter, the commission discovered the 2011 charter established five members as a quorum.

Faienza, who chaired the 2011 commission, admitted after the meeting he doesn’t remember why the 2011 charter established five members as quorum. In an email earlier this week, Faienza advocated changing it back to four.

Following the meeting, Salvatore said he hopes the commission will clarify the question. “What I don’t want to see is only four councilors show up for a meeting — and then they can’t act” if the requirement remains at five, Salvatore said.

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