Dec. 15, 2022 - Summary of discussion/decisions
Below is a summary from the Charter Commission Chair:
  1. We will have 6 councilors and a mayor. The mayor will be elected at-large (entire town), and we will have some number of districts for the councilors. Specifics are still being discussed, but current proposals are 3 districts with 2 councilors each, or 4 districts with one councilor each and 2 councilors elected at-large.
  2. Districts will be roughly equal population, contiguous, and compact (no gerrymandering). Redistricting will occur on a set schedule (5 or 10 years), and can be triggered if one district grows too much larger than the others.
  3. 25 signatures will be required to appear on the ballot for any position in a district, and 50 for any of the at-large positions.
  4. All positions will be elected to 4 year terms, staggering them so some are elected every 2 years.
  5. We have proposed an increase in pay for elected officials in the interest of expanding our candidate pool. Councillors will be paid $1000/mo (up from $300/mo), and the mayor $1500/mo (up from $500/mo), with yearly increases tied to the same CPI metric the town uses for contractor pay. This will also remove from the Council the power to set or change their own pay.
  6. We will be writing a more clearly defined section on vacancies on the Council, and how those vacancies will be filled.
  7. We will be writing an Ethics and Transparency section into the charter.

Please remember that decisions are not yet final and will be up for discussion again until the final Draft is submitted in May. Questions or comments can be submitted to the Charter Commission through an online form. Members of the public can also plan to attend in-person engagement meetings the third Thursday of the month beginning in January. 

View the recording of the Dec. 15 meeting.

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