Opinion

Poor Town Meeting attendance: A recipe for amending the Charter?

|In My Opinion – John Salisbury|

On November 8, 2022, voters overwhelmingly voted to approve a charter for New Gloucester. The vote for the charter was 1917 in favor, 1102 against and 138 did not cast a vote. The total count was of 3157.

What a contrast in the number of voters, 43, who turned out for the Monday, November 22nd special town meeting. One person suggested that even if the vote had been by referendum the number of citizens who voted would still have been small in contrast to the general election on November 8th.

There is only one way to describe the attendance at the special town meeting…. pathetic!

I would remind everyone that 64% of the 370 voters who responded to the Charter Commission survey wanted a minimum number of voters attendance requirement for town meetings. Like a number of other voter survey preferences, the Charter Commission choose not to include such a provision in the Charter.

I agree with the NGX opinion piece of Colleen Strickler who voted to approve the Charter but will be looking to make it better.

As adopted, the NG Charter provides for the creation of a Charter Commission in five years after the effective date of the new Charter: July 1, 2023. That means a Charter Commission will be created July 1, 2028 by whomever serves on the Select Board at that time. In my opinion that is too long to wait to make some improvements.

I would also like to point out that single-subject charter amendments can be initiated by either the Select Board or the voters at any time. The key procedures in the state law are listed below. The full provisions can be found at this link:

30-A MRSA §2104. Charter amendments; procedure

  1. Municipal officers.  The municipal officers may determine that amendments to the municipal charter should be considered and, by order, provide for notice and hearing on them in the same manner as provided in subsection 5, paragraph A. Within 7 days after the hearing, the municipal officers may order the proposed amendment to be placed on a ballot at the next regular municipal election held at least 30 days after the order is passed; or they may order a special election to be held at least 30 days from the date of the order for the purpose of voting on the proposed amendments.  
    . . .
  2. Petition by voters.  On the written petition of a number of voters equal to at least 20% of the number of votes cast in a municipality at the last gubernatorial election, but in no case less than 10, the municipal officers, by order, shall provide that proposed amendments to the municipal charter be placed on a ballot in accordance with paragraphs A and B.  . . .

— John Salisbury

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