Government

‘It Is Our Constitution’: Public Hearing Wednesday on Suggested Changes To Town Charter

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The volunteer panel charged with studying and recommending changes to New Canaan’s major governing document is calling for residents to make their voices heard at a public hearing to be held Wednesday night. New Canaan’s Charter “is our Constitution,” according to Dave Hunt, chairman of the Charter Revision Commission, which has been meeting regularly since last fall. “It is serves that function, so it sets the stage for the standards for all of government,” he said. “So our task is to review that and try to have the best possible government for the town of New Canaan, and to make changes where we see an opportunity to make things better, understanding that you have to think about consequences that may be in the opposite direction.”

The public hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Town Meeting Room. A draft copy of the commission’s report to the Town Council can be found here on the town website and as a PDF at the end of this article.

Government

‘We Should Embrace Things That Are Unique To New Canaan’: First Selectman Questions Suggested Change out of Charter Revision

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In suggesting that the first selectman should no longer serve as chairman of a major funding body in municipal government, the volunteers now studying New Canaan’s main governing document are creating a problem where none has ever existed, the town’s highest elected official said. It doesn’t appear that any active members of the Board of Finance favor making a change to the group’s chairmanship, First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said in an interview. “Certainly it is a unique situation in New Canaan but it is one that absolutely works,” he told NewCanaanite.com. “It is almost like the Charter Revision Commission has sought to create a problem that did not exist.”

“The volunteers that are the active on the Board of Finance are very, very pleased with the present setup of things and have found it extremely workable for them. I believe that they want to get answers as to what was the driving force for Charter Revision Commission to suggest such a change when such a change was not brought to the Charter Revision Commission by members of the Board of Finance.”

The comments follow the Charter Revision Commission’s votes in favor of changes to the role of the first selectman with respect to the finance board.

Government

Charter Revision: Panel Questions Role of First Selectman on Finance Board

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A panel charged with studying New Canaan’s governing document is weighing whether to recommend a change that could see some duties removed from the town’s highest elected official with respect to one of its major funding bodies. New Canaan is unique in that members of its Board of Finance are appointed by a group led by the first selectman, who then serves as chairman of that same finance board and, as an ex-officio member, casts tie-breaking votes (and no others), as per the Town Charter. Though no problem has emerged or is expected to develop now, with First Selectman Rob Mallozzi in place, it may pose a problem of “down the road,” Kate Hurlock, a member of the Charter Revision Commission, said at the group’s regular meeting. “It is not an issue now, it’s down the road creating checks and balances so that if there is an appointed board, that there is then a balance on the other side,” Hurlock said during the meeting, held at Town Hall. “If the first selectman is appointing the board then there is a balance on the other side in terms of setting the agenda and voting.”

Members of the commission are charged with studying the Town Charter, with an eye on recommending updates for a town-wide vote on Election Day.

Government

Meet the New Canaan Charter Revision Commission

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Members of a newly formed commission charged with studying the governing document of New Canaan—with an eye on recommending updates for a town-wide vote on Election Day 2016—on Wednesday voted a former delegate to the state legislature as their chairman. John Hetherington of Valley Road will serve as chairman of the Charter Revision Commission, following a unanimous vote at the group’s first meeting, held at Town Hall. See the gallery above for some background on each of the commission’s 10 members, as they introduced themselves in turn at the meeting. After commissioners been sworn in by Town Clerk Claudia Weber, Town Council Vice Chair addressed the group. Asked during an interview after the meeting about the importance of the task before them, Karl said: “The importance is that these folks who know New Canaan like the back of their hand are going to look at the Charter, the DNA of the town, and review anything that should be changed or revised, and it hasn’t been done in 10 years.”

Commissioners agreed to set a schedule whereby they would meet twice per month with an eye on getting a draft proposal to the Town Council next April.

Government

Charter Review: Town Spent $46,000 Last Year in Print Newspaper Public Notices

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The town spent about $46,000 last fiscal year advertising public notices in local print newspapers—a practice that officials call expensive for taxpayers and which may change as a soon-to-be-appointed commission reviews New Canaan’s major governing document. The Town Council has sketched a timeline whereby a Charter Revision Commission will be appointed, with an eye on recommending updates to the Town Charter that would appear—following multiple public hearings and reports, as required by state law—on the ballot for the November 2016 general elections. Among changes to consider—as recommend by a committee of the Town Council five years ago, following interviews with the heads of town departments and municipal boards and commissions—is this (see pages 185-188 of this council meeting’s public packet): “Some commissions are bound by [state] statutes which require the entire content to be published. Are there ways to notice meetings in a more cost-effective way (e.g. website, referral to website in public notice)?”

Asked about the public noticing issue in particular, Town Councilman Penny Young—who had served on the 2010 committee—said “the idea was posed for several reasons.”

“One is the cost involved in taking an ad out, in printing it in the newspaper. And secondly, the development of other media modes that had not existed 10 years ago as they do now.