Government

New Canaan Election Hub 2016 [UPDATE]

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Bookmark this article for Tuesday, when NewCanaanite.com will post regular updates on voter turnout and results as numbers come in on Election Day. [ELECTION RESULTS CAN BE FOUND HERE.]

 

Update 7:34 p.m. Tuesday

Moments ago, New Canaan surpassed its 2012 total for votes cast by local electors. Stay tuned for a standalone article with final results from New Canaan, and beyond. Update 3:37 p.m. Tuesday

As of 3 p.m., a total of 8,491 New Canaan electors had cast ballots—about 78 percent of the total number of voters who exercised their rights during the 2012 national election. Update 1:05 p.m. Tuesday

As of 1 p.m., more than half of New Canaan’s registered voters had cast ballots (see table below).

Government

League of Women Voters, Charter Revision Commission Hold Info Session at Town Hall

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The most widely discussed suggested change to New Canaan’s major governing document that voters will face on Election Day came as a result of careful study of several neighbors and deliberate consideration of the town’s municipal structure, officials said Tuesday night. In recommending that New Canaan remove the first selectman from the role of chairing the Board of Finance, the volunteer panel charged with studying the Town Charter looked around and found that the funding body was elected, rather than appointed, in nearby towns, members of the Charter Revision Commission said during a League of Women Voters of New Canaan information session. “And so what we tried to do was find the best check and balance for the system that we have,” commissioner Kate Hurlock said during the session, held at Town Hall. “Because for all of the interviews that we did, it was overwhelmingly clear that the people that we spoke to wanted to keep the Board of Finance appointed and for reasons of the complexity of our budget and the size of our town and the talent in our town, it made sense to preserve that. So preserving that, how could we ensure a check and balance in that environment?

News

Letter: Background on Charter Revision Question #3

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As part of the team which researched this issue for the Charter Revision Commission (CRC), I thought some background might be helpful. The chairmanship of the Board of Finance (BOF) has been discussed for decades and was highlighted by many during the CRC’s 90-plus interviews. Those supporting election, expressed this achieved a more equitable balance of power and responsiveness to the community. In canvassing similar Connecticut towns, including Avon, Darien, Fairfield, Madison, Ridgefield, Simsbury, Westport and Wilton, all maintain an elected BOF, with the Chair elected from the respective membership. In fact, a majority of towns in Connecticut have an elected BOF.

News

Letter: Best Practice for New Canaan

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There are five Charter Revision questions on the ballot this Nov. 8. The one that has received the most attention is whether the first selectman of New Canaan should be the chairman of the Board of Finance or not. Currently, thefirst selectman, with the Board of Selectmen, appoints the Board of Finance members, chairs the meetings and casts a tie-breaking vote. Speaking from over 20 years’ experience in operations and compliance in the financial services industry, this is not optimal from an operational standpoint.

News

Letter: Vote ‘No’ on Question Three

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To Editor, New Canaanite:

As a member of the Charter Revision Commission, I voted against recommending removal of the first selectman from continuation as the chairman of the Board of Finance and the elimination of the requirement that Board of Finance members be New Canaan “taxpayers”. I recommend a ‘No’ vote on question #3:

Shall the current Charter be changed so that the First Selectman, although remaining an ex-officio member of the Board of Finance, will no longer serve as Chairman of the Board of Finance, and the Board of Finance will choose its Chairman from its regular members? If the proposed change is approved, the appointed Board of Finance will be totally unaccountable to the voters of New Canaan. The present requirement that the first selectman serve as chairman of the Board of Finance without vote except in the case of a tie, originated in the 1935 Charter of the town of New Canaan. The argument that after 80 years of fiscally responsible government there is now a need for an additional check to balance the power of the Board of Selectmen evidences a misunderstanding of the responsibilities of the town’s governing bodies.