Salem's draft charter would eliminate Town Meeting, create Town Council
SALEM — The town Charter Commission has created a draft of a new town charter it will propose to voters in March. The panel soon will submit the draft charter for state review.
The nine-member commission has been meeting since June. The draft version of its proposed charter includes switching to a Town Council form of government and eliminating Town Meeting, sending all warrant articles either to the ballot on voting day or rolling them into the town's operating budget.
The state will take up to 30 days to review the draft, then the commission will have another 30 days to finalize it.
"We've defined what we want, now we'll work on getting it into final form," Charter Commission Chairman Bob Campbell said.
Once a final version is cemented, the commission will need to explain the proposal to voters. Any proposed changes will have to be approved by voters at the polls in March.
The proposed new charter would replace the town's five selectmen with a nine-member town council. The seats would represent six districts, with three at-large representatives. The positions would be two-year terms. Selectmen currently serve three-year terms.
Two of the more controversial items the panel dealt with while developing the charter were whether to keep a town Budget Committee and whether to do away with deliberative sessions, Campbell said.
"I think there's some feeling among a few commission members to keep the same form of government we have," Campbell said.
The plan is only a draft, but there likely won't be any major changes to it before March.
"We'll get legal counsel to look at it to make sure it goes along with statutes, but I don't think we would change the substance of what we are doing," Campbell said.
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