Progress Sought On Charter Review

HARWICH– It has been more than a year since town meeting approved $75,000 to address inconsistencies and ambiguities in the town charter and general bylaws, and there has been much back and forth between the select board and the bylaw/charter review committee about who should have access to those funds, and what exactly should be accomplished by spending it.

“There are places in the charter that need to be addressed, revised, or omitted,” Select Board Chair Julie Kavanagh said. “Places that don’t talk to each other, that need to be omitted or revised.”

There is little disagreement among members of the select board and the bylaw/charter review committee that the more than 35-year-old document that serves as the town’s constitution needs revision. The charter has been tweaked on several occasions over the years.

“The purpose of this article is to appropriate funds to be used to support a comprehensive review of the town’s current code, which is comprised of the Harwich Charter, General Bylaws and Zoning Bylaws. The goal of the review is to recommend changes to the elements of the town code. It is anticipated that proposed amendments to the code will begin at the next annual town meeting,” the board’s explanation accompanying the article stated.

That goal was not met.

“It is anticipated by the Finance Committee that after the consultants do their work there will be ample opportunity for public input and revisions, if needed in the formation of a new charter for the town before that document goes to town meeting,” added a finance committee explanation.

The finance committee amended the article on town meeting floor, striking the Zoning Bylaws from the code review.

Town Administrator Joseph Powers said discussions with board and committee members have generated confusion over use of the money.

“My statement has been [that] administration, through the select board, asked for funding. The select board received that funding and appropriation, so it’s the select board’s money,” said Powers. “You can either direct me to do things as procurement officer, or you can do things yourselves.”

Members of the bylaw/charter review committee have argued that the money was approved for the committee’s use in retaining a consultant as they review the charter. The committee has been reviewing the charter and submitted recommendations to the board for last May’s town meeting, but committee members said the select board did not review those recommendations.

Select Board member Michael MacAskill said last week the charter changes were sent to the board at the last minute and they did not have time to work on them. MacAskill said he is looking forward to getting those recommendations earlier this year.

“I want to start looking at the charter now. I want to move forward and do it thoughtfully,” Select Board member Jeffrey Handler said.

MacAskill said most towns use a consultant and an attorney during charter review. He said the needle has not moved forward on changing the charter here.

“With that said, I’m looking for a recommendation, and a real consultant or an attorney, and how we’re going to look at the charter on both sides. It’s vague, and a mess, who’s going to help us get to the point where it is not?” asked MacAskill.

Linda Cebula, Chair of the Bylaw/Charter Review Committee, said her committee was before the select board three or four months ago asking for a plan to move this process forward.

“I still haven’t seen one,” Cebula said. “We do need a plan, otherwise we’re just going to tread water.”

Cebula said her committee has been busy reviewing the charter, and has completed four chapters and they would be submitting proposed changes for the next annual town meeting to consider in May.

Powers recommended recruiting help from the company that inserts approved changes to the charter, general bylaws and zoning, into the town’s electronic and paper code documents, but the select board rejected that idea.

Citing the petition circulating in town seeking to establish a charter commission to examine the document, MacAskill questioned why the town would consider spending $75,000 of the taxpayers’ money, if the route that is desired is to form a charter commission.

“Nine elected people is not necessarily the direction we should be going when putting together a governing document. We should take direction from other town charters and use consultants and attorneys as we’ve said at this table before.”

“The only way you get this right is to get everybody at the table pulling in the same direction. I’m hoping that tonight we’ll get a little clarity on how that is going to happen, and to move forward,” Handler said.

Powers serves on the Massachusetts Municipal Associations Form of Government (FoG) committee, which helps communities seeking to make changes in town government. Powers said there have been discussions about Harwich, and FoG is waiting to hear from the town’s executive branch. This committee can provide all the options available to the town, Powers said.

The service is free, according to Powers. The town administrator made it clear that if FoG gets involved in the charter assessment, he, as a committee member, would not be allowed to participate in any of those discussions. The board instructed the town administrator to make arrangements for the Form of Government committee to meet with the select board.