Commission OK’s Charter Update Final Draft

 HARWICH – The charter commission approved its final draft document in its Aug. 27 session and will be sending the updated version of the town’s constitution to state agencies for review. The commission has scheduled a public hearing in October.

The updated charter will require annual election ballot approval before it is implemented.

The commission conducted 56 public meetings over the past 14 months, going through the charter that was initially approved in 1986 to improve clarity and make several major adjustments. The commission spent a lot of time adjusting wording, seeking to clarify the intent of provisions in the document.

 “I feel like we plugged the holes that we needed to plug,” said commission member Sandra Hall. “We clarified things that we needed to clarify.”

 “This has been a lot of work,” added commission Chair Linda Cebula. 

The commission began the exercise of updating the charter with nine elected members. At the Aug. 27 session there were just five members present: Jon Chorey, Brendan Lowney, Richard Waystack, Hall and Cebula. They declared the vote to support the updated charter unanimous.

The proposed charter provides for an open town meeting-select board-town manager form of town government, which would change the title of the chief executive from town administrator to town manager. Filling the town manager position would require a vote of four members of the select board under the proposal. Among the town manager qualifications are five years of educational, executive and administrative experience. 

The proposed provisions would also add a fall town meeting to be held in the first week of October to consider planning, zoning, and other matters relating to bylaws, including those involving an appropriation.

The document would also establish an elected by law/charter review and compliance commission which would review warrant articles relating to the charter and general bylaws. The commission would also be responsible for the initial review of inquiries concerning the charter and bylaws. If the commission determines that an inquiry warrants further assessment, the inquiry would be sent to the hearing officers for a formal hearing. The hearing officers would be the town clerk, the town moderator, and one member of the commission. If an inquiry concerns one or more of the hearing officers, the commission would appoint a registered voter as a hearing officer only for that specific hearing, according to the draft. 

There are also some proposed adjustments to the five-year capital plan, including establishing the first year of the plan as the capital outlay budget. However, any capital outlay budget project which has not been included on any prior capital outlay plan, or is being moved to the capital outlay budget from a prior capital outlay plan, years three to five, would require a two-thirds vote of town meeting in order for that project to be included in the capital outlay budget, according to the draft proposal.

Cebula said the language was negotiated with the town administrator, capital outlay committee and the commission.

 “This is one of the few committees, councils, or commissions that I’ve served on in this community in my 40 years that acted on consensus rather than a vote on every item that we did, and that consensus changed with more information,” said Waystack. “And with all of us, I think we all did compromise. I don’t think anyone stood firm on anything. That is a remarkable process.”

 “This has been a fun group,” said Cebula. 

As for pushback, Hall said she has not heard much from residents. She cited the creation of the charter compliance commission as a potential area of controversy, but added that she has heard very little about any issues. 

 “We’ve heard no pushback and we’ve had our ears to the ground,” said Cebula.

The commission met the deadline for completion of the work, said Cebula, and must file the document with the state Attorney General’s Office and the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities by Sept. 21 for review. The commission plans to publish the full document in The Chronicle in late September and hold a public hearing on the updated version of the charter on Oct. 22. Any recommendations from the state agencies will be addressed and the final document will be submitted to the state in November.

Cebula said the commission will begin the first of the year conducting educational sessions leading up to the adoption vote in the May annual election.