The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Petitions to put charter revisions on ballot fall short
HAMDEN — Residents will not be voting on a new town charter this November.
After the Legislative Council in August voted against putting the document on the ballot, community members banded together in an attempt to override the decision by petitioning for a referendum.
But they did not collect enough signatures.
They had until late September to collect 3,648 signatures, or 10 percent of Hamden’s 36,477 eligible voters, Town Clerk Vera Morrison told the New Haven Register via email.
As of Sept. 27, 1,089 signatures across 58 petition pages had been submitted to the clerk’s office, Morrison said.
Last year, Hamden convened a 15-person Charter Revision Commission to recommend changes to the town’s governing document. The process involved countless hours of meetings spanning nearly a year, after which the commission forwarded an initial draft to the council.
The council sent the charter back to the CRC with a list of adjustments to consider, most of which the CRC accepted. But when the document came to its last hurdle — a final council vote — a motion to put the charter on the ballot failed.
The news drew strong condemnations from two commissioners who had headed the board, while a Republican council member who raised questions about the process praised the development.
While the CRC unanimously passed its first charter draft, the board was split when it sent the document to the council for the final vote. That approval eked by.
Then, during an Aug. 10 council meeting where several members were absent, all three Republican members voted not to forward the charter, joining several Democrats.
The revised charter had included provisions for four-year mayoral terms and the creation of a finance board to advise the budgeting process. Other provisions aimed to increase diversity on boards and commissions and amp up civilian oversight of the Police Department.
Following the decision, Councilman Justin Farmer, D-5, announced he would spearhead an effort to petition to get the charter on the ballot.
In the past weeks, supporters of the effort announced petition-signing events and went doorknocking, and the petition made its way around town.
A table stationed near a polling location on the day of the September primary offered voters an opportunity to sign the petition. The form also could be found at the counter of Legal Grounds, the coffee bar located inside Whitney Avenue’s Books & Co.
It wasn’t enough, but that doesn’t mean the charter debate is over.
Hamden’s current charter requires that a revision process take place every decade. It does not preclude one from taking place more frequently.
Next year, the council could decide to convene another Charter Revision Commission.