Vote Yea or Nay
By Robin Vinci | Editor at October 20, 2023 | 2:30 pm | Print
On Nov. 8 there will be three charter revision questions on the voting ballot. The first two seem to be clear to many. Question 3 continues to bring some inquiries.
On Wednesday night the Common Council held an informational session regarding the Charter Revision Referendum Questions.
No one spoke in public audience, but members of the Charter Revision Commission and Council members voiced their concerns and explained more details.
Question #1 is “Shall the City Charter be amended to change the term of office of the Mayor from a two year term to a four year term, which change shall first apply to the municipal elections of 2017?”
Question #2 is “Shall the City Charter be amended to change the term of office of the Collector of Taxes from a two year term to a four year term, which change shall first apply to the municipal elections of 2017?”
Question #3 involves 11 items. The question is – “Shall the City Charter be amended to make changes to conform to state statutes and make technical, administrative and other changes and clarifications?”
One of the 11 questions in Number 3 has caused some controversy in the City and public officials attempted to clarify it at the meeting. It is “to require the Common Council to review, establish, and act upon rates of compensation for elected officials in every even numbered year.”
Michael Carrier, head of the Charter Revision Commission, said there are suggestions concerning raises, but most times the decision of raises gets tabled and people are not properly compensated.
“There is some confusion that there is automatic raises and that is not what we are recommending at all,” said Carrier. “It is just a matter of taking it up and seeing if we are good the way we are so that in time we don’t get hit with this huge increase.”
Charter Revision Commission Cathy Cheney said some of what has been in the public is incorrect.
“It has always been the Common Council’s charge to set compensation for elected officials. That is not new,” said Cheney. “The Council always had the power to give themselves raises. We changed two things. We took it out of an election year so there is no political will. And we added one word “act”, because we want the work done in committee to be brought to a vote. The change would not take place until the following election.”
Cheney said there has been no changes since 2007 in salaries.
“We are not giving anyone powers they don’t already have,” Cheney added.
Alderman Carlo Carlozzi said that his issue is still with Question 3 and the way the questions are structured. He questioned why so many items were bundled in one question.
“People are not going to sit there and vote on 14 questions,” said Carrier. “We will be lucky if they answer any of the questions. After three questions, we are wasting our time.”
“I have a problem when we are taking something that has been in the charter for all these years in an election year. I think the people who wrote the charter knew what they were doing. They put it in an election year so when Alderman vote on compensation they need to be able to justify their decision to the people,” said Carlozzi. “People will vote for an increase in a non-election year because they are hoping people will forget. There has been an ongoing movement to do this and I think it should have been taken out of question 3.”
“Most of these questions only affect the working of City Hall and are not things people will think about,” said Ald. Lou Salvio.
“I think at the end of the day with the issues of compensation that all the positions that we are looking at are grossly underpaid from the Mayor on down,” said Ald. Jim Sanders Jr. “The chance of these passing are 50/50. I am personally committed to making sure that if Number 3 does not pass, that in 2017 the compensation commission comes up with a schedule and implement it before we leave office.”
The following list explains each section of the Charter affected by Question #3 and the new Charter provisions that would take effect if Question #3 is approved:
(a) to change the effective date of the Charter to January 1, 2017.
(b) to require the Common Council to review, establish, and act upon rates of compensation for elected officials in every even numbered year.
(c) to add the Board of Public Works to the Charter. Move the section regarding The Central Purchasing System, including its subsection regarding The Purchasing Agent, to a new section under The Department of Finance.
(e) pertaining to the Parks and Recreation Department and amend the current language to include parks and recreation in the list of departments.
(f) to require that the Mayor’s proposed budget and proposed capital projects budget be published in a newspaper within seven business days and require posting on the City website.
(g) to require the preparation and submission of a five-year Capital Projects Budget.
(h) to make the 2016 amendments to the Charter take effect on January 1, 2024 and any amendments applying to municipal elections apply first to the municipal elections of 2017.
(i) to allow the Board of Water Commissioners to change the billing cycle from semi-annually to monthly or quarterly and to require that bills are due and payable within 30 days.
(j) to require the Board of Water Commissioners to add interest at a rate of 1.5% per month on delinquent water bills.
(k) regarding Retirement and Pension of Elected Officials to revise the definition of an elective official in this section to include time served as an elective official when there was an appointment by the Common Council to fill a vacancy of an elective office.
