Town Charter Revision Questions
1) Why are we rushing to form this committee with no prior planning or discussion by the Town Council?
No one is rushing to form this Charter Revision Comission. The need to update the Charter has arisen several times during the past decade. The last time a Charter Revision Commission was created was in 1999. Its recommendations were not adopted. There are now provisions that conflict with current town government and potentially with state law
The Council’s Standing Rules of Procedure section 9.01 explicitly empower the Steering/Liaison Committee to “initiate and develop proposals for consideration by the Council.” That covers putting “charter revision” on Steering’s agenda and forwarding a recommended resolution to Council.
Throughout the FY2025-26 budget discussions, members of the community asked about Charter requirements and suggested it be reviewed. Some even took time to do their own research about Charter Revisions and the wording of other towns’ Charters.
Every year we are challenged by our Charter mandated timeline and the fact that it starts too early for having firm data on which to base our budgeting. During our budget deliberations, I shared several times with the Town Council that state statute would allow us to - on an annual basis - adjust our budget timelines without opening the Charter. Each time I raised this, I noted that what we really need to do is make the change to the Charter so that we aren’t changing dates every year. That’s bad public policy.
As Council Chairwoman, I did due diligence prior to suggesting to the Steering Committee Chairperson that this go on a Steering agenda. I spoke with our partners at CCM (CT Conference of Municipalities) and their attorneys, reviewed the Charter toolkit CCM provided me, and met with our own town attorneys to discuss process, statutory requirements, and costs.
The Resolution for establishing the Charter Revision Commission was drafted by our town attorneys who have guided many towns and cities through this process.
The Resolution, as well as the CCM toolkit, key pages from the toolkit, and a copy of the current Charter were all on the July 28, 2025 Steering agenda that was published the week before the meeting. All town councilors and citizens had the opportunity to review the documents. Additionally, the Town Manager provided a summary sheet for the Aug 4, 2025 agenda. All of the documents were e-mailed to Town Councilors.
Executive Assistant Laura Stone has also created a specific page on the town web site where all the documents that have been discussed thus far can be found.
2) Are you planning any public hearings to discuss revisions to the Town Charter? Shouldn't we have done that before forming this committee?
As is outlined in the CCM toolkit and as was explained by me at the Aug. 4 meeting, this process has specific statutory requirements. Those include holding a public forum prior to the Commission starting any “substantive work” and later on to present the Commission’s proposed changes.
The Commission can choose to hold additional meetings, as well as to ask members of the community or town staff to provide input relevant to the work they do.
3) I went back to look at several Town Council meeting agendas and I could not find any mention of a possibility of forming a Charter Revision committee. When was this discussed by the Town Council prior to today's meeting?
See question 1
4) When was this issue referred to the Steering Committee by the Town council for consideration?
See question 1
I will add that it is the Town Council Chair and the Steering Chair’s authority to draft agendas and bring issues forward using the process that makes the most sense.
5) Was Monday, July 28th the first and only time the Steering Committee discussed the possibility of forming a Charter Revision committee?
At the July 28 Steering meeting the Town Council spent time discussing the statutory process, statutory requirements and the draft Resolution. The Steering Committee voted unanimously to move the proposal forward to the Town Council. No Steering Committee members requested revision to the draft Resolution. This means your caucus member, Julie Blanchard, voted to move the Resolution forward as written.
6) When has this Town Council ever discussed considering suggesting changes to the Town Charter? Please identify any Town Council meeting at which it was discussed and determined that Charter requirements for budget dates and dollar amounts are outdated and should be revised.
Please see question 1.
7) Was the formation of this committee discussed with the other Democrat members of the Town Council outside of our meetings?
The Steering Committee Chair and I discussed this proposal while deciding whether to put it on the Steering agenda and what the process entails. This is what the Council Chair and Steering Chair have the responsibility to do.
8) If you move forward, how will you guarantee the non-partisan make-up of the committee?
As is outlined in the CCM toolkit and as was explained by me at the Aug. 4 meeting, this process has specific statutory requirements, including that no more than a “bare majority” of members belong to the same political party. Thus in our case, only 4 of the 7 members can belong to the same political party.
9) Are there any political affiliation requirements being placed on the members of the committee or is it completely up to the discretion of the majority on the Town Council?
There is no discretion. As with all of our Boards and Commissions, all appointees must be “resident electors” of the Town of Coventry. Their party affiliation - or unaffiliated - status doesn’t matter other than for purposes of the “bare majority” rule. The only resident electors not allowed to serve on the Commission are Town Council members, per our Town Charter section 3-1, as interpreted by our town attorneys.
10) When the committee makes its' final report to the Town Council, can the Town Council choose (vote to choose) only some of the recommendations to bring forward or does the committee's report have to be voted on at a town-wide ballot in its' entirety?
The short answer is both. The Council will vote to either accept or reject each of the Commission’s proposals. If they are accepted, the revisions must go to referendum for a vote by resident electors. If the Town Council rejects any revisions, the Commission can choose to rework their draft. There are several paths that might be taken and I encourage you to read the information in the CCM toolkit, as well as the pages I specifically separated out from it that outline the entire process and the if/thens.