Clinton Charter Hearing Scheduled for Feb. 15
The Town Council has scheduled a public hearing for proposed changes to the town charter on Wednesday, Feb. 15, at 6 p.m.
In the summer of 2022, the Town Council appointed a new five-person commission to review the Town Charter, a document that outlines the roles and bylaws for the different boards, commissions, and town departments in Clinton.
The Charter Revision Commission (CRC) was charged with considering potential changes such as the ability to hire a town manager for a term of longer than three years, increasing the amount of money the Town can appropriate without a referendum, and the cancellation of the required annual town meeting. The CRC was also able to consider other proposed changes members deemed appropriate.
In December 2022, the CRC held a public hearing for citizens to weigh in on the proposed charter changes. With that step now complete, the proposed changes have been turned over to Town Council for review.
As part of that process, Town will hold another public hearing where the public can weigh in on the proposed changes. At a meeting in January, the Council voted to hold the hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 15.
The Proposed Changes
The changes proposed by the CRC include the ability to hire a Town Manager for a term not to exceed five years instead of the current max of three years. Additionally, the proposed changes would cancel the annual town meeting and increase the amount of money the Town can appropriate without a referendum to $500,000 from $300,000. The changes would also allow the Town Manager to hire, dismiss, and advertise for Town employees without the approval of the Town Council first. Additionally, a proposed change would remove the requirement for the Town Council to appoint a search committee to fill the vacancies in town departments. The Town Manager would then have the ability to appoint or hire people for the roles.
Next steps
Now that the Council is in charge of the proposed changes, they may seek additional changes following the public hearing. If there are suggested changes, the CRC would then have 30 days to address the Council’s recommendations. If there are no recommendations, the draft becomes a final proposal.
In April, the Town Council will then vote to either approve or reject the proposed charter changes.
Assuming the final proposed changes are approved by the council, the Town would have 15 months to gather public input on the proposed changes. However, it is most likely that any proposed changes to the Charter will be on the ballot as part of the 2023 municipal elections. The Council will choose the date for the public vote officially in June of this year.
Assuming the target date is the November election, the Council will approve the ballot questions in August.
The Charter requires the Town to appoint a CRC to review the document no less than every five years, but given the large change in government structure that the Town underwent, it was suggested by other towns’ town managers that Clinton appoint a new CRC about sooner than that to work out any issues that council members may have noticed.
The last time the Town appointed a CRC was in 2018, when a major charter revision was proposed that changed the form of government from the board of selectman model to the current town manager-town council model. Citizens approved the proposed change in November 2018, and the new government went into effect in November 2019.