Charter Commission Schedules First Public Hearing

HARWICH – Members of the town’s newly elected charter commission held their organizational meeting June 5, electing officers, defining what they are looking for in a consultant, and calling a first public hearing.

The nine-member commission voted unanimously to elect Linda Cebula as chair, Sandra Hall as vice chair, Jon Chorey as treasurer and Toni London as clerk.

The commission was elected to review the local government process and organization and create a new charter to replace the document that was crafted 38 years ago and amended in 2006. Voters in the annual election in May approved the formation of a charter commission by a 1,397-505 vote.

Cebula said the state statute governing charter commissions requires the body to conduct a public hearing within 45 days of the election. The commission scheduled the hearing, in which the public is encouraged to provide input, on Wednesday, June 25 at 6 p.m. in the town hall hearing room.

“We have a ton of work to get done in a short period of time,” Cebula said. 

The commission has 16 months to study and produce a revised charter that will replace the existing one. The commission has a $125,000 budget to hire a charter consultant, recording secretary and produce and mail a copy of the document to each household in town. The charter document can be approved by a ballot question vote in the annual election or it can be sent to the state legislature for approval.

 Hall, who was the chair of the initial charter commission in 1986, warned against sending the document to the legislature, saying that legislators from across the state would have the ability to change it. She said adoption through a town ballot question assures home rule control, “and we need to honor that.” 

Commission members discussed the type of qualifications they want to see in a consultant. Hall said the consultant should be able to relate changes in government processes and legalities since that last review of the charter and be capable of assessing and providing options that are better than what the town is doing now. 

Commission member Paul Doane said familiarity with the community is important.  So is adherence and understanding of Massachusetts General Laws, said commission member Richard Waystack, as well as being concise and providing clarity so there is no wiggle room for interpretation of the document. Commission member Louis Urbano said a problem solver is needed, “someone who can go outside the box.”

 How to locate a consultant and what one will cost was another topic of conversation. Hall said she has talked with officials at the Collins Center, a government agency, which operates out of UMass Boston. Hall said she did not receive a clear answer. The response on costs, she said, was that it depends on how much a consultant is used.

 Commission members agreed to do research on charter consultants and see if there is an association in the state. It was agreed that Doane would look into communities across the state which have recently approved charters, including Amherst and Watertown, to see who served as consultants.

Cebula’s message to the members was to read the charter, bring a copy to every meeting, and reach out and talk to the public about what they want to see in the document. Commission members will also be charged with looking at existing charters in each of the towns on the Cape to see how things are done.

The commission voted 7-2 to hire a recording secretary. Dissenting votes were cast by Doane and Waystack. Doane said that all that was needed was the clerk to register motions and votes with limited detail of discussions for the minutes. Hiring a recording secretary was an unnecessary expense, Doane said.

There was some back and forth on whether members should put together a list of issues that the commission would examine. Doane took exception with that idea, saying that the commission does not want to give the impression that it is coming to the task with an agenda. 

 “We’re a body to hear ideas and present them, we listen to people, rather than represent an open slate,” said Doane.

It was agreed the commission would dive into the recent work of the town’s bylaw/charter review committee. Cebula was chair of that committee, which presented two reports to the select board after a complete review of the charter. No action was taken on the reports, she said.

The commission is scheduled to meet Tuesday, June 17 at 6:30 p.m. in town hall to plan an agenda for its first public hearing on June 25.