A long and winding road to new town government
Published on October 25th, 2000
STONEHAM, MA - Townspeople can change town government in one of three ways: a Home Rule charter commission, special municipal legislation, or through passage of permissive legislation for minor changes.
Stoneham citizens are circulating a petition asking folks to support the charter commission approach.
Some of these citizens are looking to make big changes or at least to make big change an option. So either a charter commission or special municipal legislation makes sense.
The special legislation route was the only option for big change before passage of the Home Rule amendment to the Massachusetts Constitution in 1966. The State House has to pass the legislation, and the Governor must sign it for changes to take effect.
Under the Home Rule amendment a town does not have to go through the State House to make radical changes to local government.
But the process is still lengthy, and state officials are involved:
Any city or town upon petition of 15 percent of the registered voters may vote to elect a nine-member charter commission to prepare a charter. Citizens vote whether or not to elect a charter commission as a municipal ballot question and elect the commission on the same ballot; the top nine vote-getters make up the charter commission.
A charter serves as the basic framework of the government structure, identifying officials to be elected and appointed, size and composition of the legislative body, appointment authority, operating and capital budget preparation, organization of departments, etc.
A charter commission has a maximum of 18 months to prepare a proposed charter but may choose to complete the task in 10 months. Following its election, a commission considers the options for changing local government and seeks participation from the residents via public meetings and hearings, publication of a preliminary report, and issuance of a final report.
The Attorney General's Office reviews the final proposal and directs the city or town on how to properly phrase the ballot question.
To take effect, a charter proposal must be adopted by a majority of the voters a minimum of two months after the AG's OK at the next regular municipal election.
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