Stonington ― After years of discussion, the Board of Selectmen has voted unanimously to consider the town’s charter and has appointed five members to a Charter Revision Commission.

Selectmen created the commission last week and provided members with five proposed changes to the charter to consider by April 1 of next year. The commission also can recommend changes other than those suggested by the board.

The town charter is a legal document outlining how the town is governed and how town resources are managed and local laws established.

Voters will decide on recommended revisions to the charter at the election in November 2025.

The Charter Revision Commission members are: former Selectwoman June Strunk, and attorney and former Charter Commission member Raymond Trebisacci, both Democrats, Stonington Community Rowing Inc. board member David Lee, a Republican, Board of Finance member Lynn Young, unaffiliated, and former Tax Assessor Marsha Standish, independent.

The commission will consider: changing the town clerk and tax collector from elected positions to hired positions; adjusting Board of Selectmen terms from two to four years, including the first selectman’s term; adding two alternate members to the Water Pollution Control Authority board and making the charter gender neutral.

In January, Town Clerk Sally Duplice, who will retire Jan. 1, 2026, urged the Board of Selectmen to consider changing the charter to ensure the town would have a certified town clerk when her term expires.

If the commission recommends changing the two positions to hired ones, the November 2025 vote would coincide with the election of a new town clerk, whose term would not expire until January 2030.

The Board of Selectmen suggested the commission consider a number of other items, including formatting and editorial changes, term limits, the addition of a clause that would allow the removal of a first selectman from office under specific circumstances and allowing the registrars of voters to determine the number of voting districts in town, with any decisions requiring approval by a town meeting.

The public will have a chance to comment during three public hearings required by state law.

The last revision of the town charter was approved by voters in 2015.

Changes adopted at that time included expanding the finance board from six to seven members and reducing members’ terms from six to four years, increasing the term of the town clerk and tax collector from two years to four years and limiting school board and finance board members to three consecutive terms with one term off before being eligible to serve again.