There's no risk that the Sandwich Town Charter will ever be confused with the United States Constitution (and not just because one is stored in a bomb-proof, climate controlled vault deep in the basement of the National Archives while the other is stored in a manilla folder in the bottom drawer of Bud Dunham's desk!), but the principal is the same -- it lays out the framework for the operation of government
Not every Town has a charter -- which can lead to some "interesting" governmental issues. For example, the Sandwich Charter prohibits Selectmen from holding any other town office or town employment while a member of the Board. In the Town of Carver, which has no charter, two of the five Selectmen are also Town employees. That must make for interesting budget discussions.
One of the requirements of the Charter is that the Selectmen appoint a Charter Review Committee at least every 5 years to advise them on potential Charter revisions. It also allows for the Charter to be amended by Town Meeting with the approval of the State Legislature. It does not, however, specifically require that the BOS actually present the Charter Committee's recommendations to Town Meeting. This discrepancy resulted in a minor political dust-up during the last round of Charter review discussions.
Last week's BOS agenda includes applicants' qualifications. The current pool of Charter Review Committee applicants looks pretty good -- a wide variety of professional backgrounds, most of whom have the reputation for doing their homework and playing well with others. This would not be a good venue for random retaliation, excessive venom, or uninformed interrogations (unfortunately, that's what Town Meeting has become!).
After reading the Charter more than a few times over the past several years, I have a few random thoughts on potential modifications to the existing document. Please feel free to add your own.
1. Clarify what happens to Charter Committee recommendations. How about the BOS appoints the Committee and the Committee then presents their report to Town Meeting? The BOS would, however, be free to include their approval, disapproval, or proposed modifications to the CRC's recommendations. This would eliminate any chance of the BOS killing a proposal for personal or political reasons -- but by allowing BOS to attach a response, it would also ensure that the CRC didn't go too far off the tracks.
2. Modify the requirement that School Committee vacancies require a special election to be filled. State law allows that these vacancies can be filled on an interim basis by a joint appointment of a majority of the remaining members of the School Committee and the Board of Selectmen. This is the method used to fill other Town committee vacancies. This would be more economical and efficient than requiring campaigns and elections for abbreviated terms. It might also encourage members who have found themselves completely unprepared, unqualified, or conflicted to exit the Committee to make room for more qualified individuals -- without forcing the Town to pay for a Special Election. This could also help ensure there was adequate qualified representation on the Committee which controls a major part of the Town's budget.
3. Revise the current composition of the Finance Committee. All nine FinCom members are currently appointed solely at the discretion of the Town Moderator. I would propose that FinCom appointments be split between the Moderator, the BOS, and the School Committee. This would help ensure that there is always a diversity of qualified members with no single person being responsible for the appointments.
4. Improve the current budget scheduling requirements. The writers of the existing Charter did a good job of outlining a basic schedule for discussion and approval of the Annual Budget. This ensures that there will be none of the last minute budgetary surprises that other Towns experience. If people are "surprised" by the budget, it's only because they weren't paying attention -- not because the information wasn't available. I would propose tweaking the schedule to require the School Committee to hold their formal budgetary Public Hearing BEFORE they are required to submit the School Budget to the BOS. I would also specify that all budgetary documents must be made readily available online (most are now -- but it's not consistent, or required).
I also have a few "Big Picture" thoughts that probably don't have a snowball's chance in Hell -- but here goes:
1. Replace the BOS and Town Meeting with a Mayor and City Council -- this might improve accountability by actually holding somebody accountable for their job performance. This might also encourage a Leader to do what NEEDED to be done -- which may not always be the most popular option. (How have those popular decisions to minimize commercial development and defer repairwork on Town buildings worked out for us?)
2. Assuming #1 goes down in flames, how about replacing Open Town Meeting with a Representational Town meeting where members are elected by precinct? Town Meeting attendance is abysmal and the most common complaint is that people don't want to sit for hours arguing over irrelevant minutiae -- particularly when nobody is discussing (or seems to understand) the Big Picture issues. It's even more painful when people arrive at Town meeting without having done any homework -- they have no understanding of the issue under discussion -- but absolutely no reluctance to jump in and offer their extensive commentary, complaints, or (unanswered) questions. This has lead to an increase in people jumping to the microphone to "move the question" rather than endure more mind-numbingly irrelevant discussion. While this tactic does move the meeting along, it also may be cutting off potential relevant discussion. (But by 11 PM, that seems like a fair trade!)
What else?
9 comments:
This was never an issue before you wash-ashores started building subdivisions where I used to go squirrel hunting. Blah, blah, went to nursery school there ... blah, blah, used to milk the cows at that farm... blah, blah ... before Quaker Meetinghouse was paved, blah, blah, ...when Wing was the only school, blah, blah, never needed a traffic light, blah, blah ... The schools take 153% of the Town's budget, blah, blah ....
I move the Question!
Yup, you got a snowball's chance in Hell!
There are a few in Town who seem to think somebody made them King, Queen or divine Ruler.
I say: let’s put them in an octagon death match, charging an admission to spectators to help fund the new Senior Center/Library.
Whoever emerges alive (and the winner) gets to rule Sandwich by fiat; give relatives and lovers town jobs and otherwise maintain the status quo.
This won’t improve anything for sure (and it won’t likely hurt either) it just sounds like a nice idea and a terrific way to once and for-all decide who’s really in charge.
What if we turn all of Sandwich into a 55+ community? No kids. No kidding.
Close all the schools (saves a bundle).
No fields, no play grounds, eliminate the Recreation Dept (saves more).
Sell all school property to assisted living community developers (raises a bundle).
Build new library and senior center.
Can’t see the downside – honestly.
Good suggestions Bob with the exception of representational town government. That is another layer of small town politicians. Frankly, that we don't need in my opinion.
Sandwich was without a charter until 2001. There is at least one town on the Cape that has no charter. The Selectman there (or at least some of them) like it that way because it gives them more freedom in how they do their job and conduct their business.
If the Charter review committee thinks that the form of our government needs to change, they must recommend a Charter Commission be elected to bring that forward. In other words a Charter Review Committee can't make recommendations of large scale change.
The most interesting historic fact of all to me, as one of those vile wash-washores, is that when Sandwich changed it's form of government, going from full time Selectman working everyday at Town Hall to non-professional Selectman with the Town Manager running the town, Sandwich didn't have a Charter. From what I've heard accountability was in place with Selectman actually working full time.
The last thing we need is to pay 5 people to be King! You can't get accountability with 5 people -- too much finger pointing.
I like the Mayor idea --- pay somebody to do the job, if they do it badly, get rid of them. Now the TM points at the BOS, and the BOS points at each other (or the TM -- depending on the wind and the issue).
Somebody has to make a decision and do something... (Ironically, despite the prolonged discussion of PAYT -- people still claim they weren't "involkved"!)
Mayoral is a great idea for this size town. It would provide accountability and maybe we could progress. Make sure you tell the Charter Review Committee. In the past it was three full time Selectmen who were paid and two who were not I think. But I do believe mayoral would serve this town better.
The most important thing the Charter Review committee needs to do is recommend we vote in a Charter Commission so we have a chance at substantive changes to our charter to create and appropriate effective town government. The second most important thing they do is tighten up the charter to keep the BOS from discussion school business at their meetings inappropriately. Why is there a school item on the BOS agenda for tonights meeting? Looks like with one recent elected official...here we go again.
Cheering for the members of the BOS that clearly stood up for the schools last night by saying school business needs to be in the hands of the School Committee. Way to go guys! That's been a long time in coming. Let's hope it lasts.
Not cheering for the members of the BOS after watching the so called tri-board meeting Thursday. Charter Review Committee do your work this time and really look at our form of government!
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