EagleTribune.com, North Andover, MA
Merrimack Valley
Salem charter proposal ready for state review
Published: November 10, 2009
SALEM — A draft town charter that would eliminate the annual deliberative sessions and create a Town Council was sent to Concord for review yesterday.
The charter represents some changes made over the last week, including reducing the council from nine to seven members, having all councilors serve at large, and increasing the length of terms from two to three years.
The draft calls for the creation of a council and the dissolution of the Board of Selectmen. The proposed charter would eliminate the town's two deliberative sessions, during which anyone can debate and amend warrant articles.
"We've had probably on the order of 1 percent of (registered) voters who come to these sessions with an enormous power to change what goes on the ballot or to vote on things," Charter Commission Chairman Robert Campbell said.
Under the proposed change, some warrant articles would go directly to the ballot. Others would be decided by the council.
He said while people may no longer be directly voting on some issues, he thought that by electing members of the council, voters would have more influence.
"Some people look at this as a reduction in the amount of democracy," he said. "I look at it as an increase in the amount of democracy, because we're not going to leave it up to 200 people who decide to come to these deliberative sessions."
Fire Chief Kevin Breen, also a commission member, agreed.
"About letting the people decide, well, I would say that that's really not an accurate representation of what we've had in Salem," he said.
The Town Council would be made up of seven members, all at large, serving staggered three-year terms. Previous drafts called for nine councilors to represent six districts.
"I was not too happy with that and, frankly, it was because I didn't see a lot of people running," Breen said.
If only six people ran for five vacancies in a given year, he said, there would be little competition and few choices for voters.
The Budget Committee would still be responsible for presenting the town budget, but the Town Council would create a default budget. If the Budget Committee's proposal was voted down at the polls, the default budget would go into effect.
Two members of the Charter Commission, Stephen Campbell, who also sits on the Budget Committee, and Patrick Hargreaves, the commission's vice chairman and a selectman, voted against the draft.
Stephen Campbell said he did not support a council because "it takes power away from the people."
He also objected to the final decisions on the draft happening during a meeting that was not televised.
"It's a back-room deal," he said.
The end of the meeting was not televised because of a scheduling conflict with the Budget Committee, which was meeting in the room equipped with television cameras.
Breen stressed the document was only a draft.
"We can still tweak little things," he said.
After review by the state and a final report from the Charter Commission, voters will have their say in March. If the new charter is approved, there would be a two-month transition period.
Current selectmen would be required to seek election to the Town Council if they wanted to continue to serve. The first council election would be the second Tuesday in May.
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