Stonington voters to decide on five charter changes
Stonington ― On this year’s presidential ballot, voters here will also decide whether or not to approve five changes to the town charter.
The changes, which appear as separate questions on the ballot, include reductions and increases to the membership of town boards and commissions, changing two town positions from elected to hired, and increasing the term of the first selectman.
The Board of Selectmen approved a Charter Revision Commission draft report specifying the recommended changes in July, and voted to have the changes appear as separate questions on the ballot, giving voters more control over the revisions to the charter.
Last revised in 2015, the town charter is the legal document that outlines how the town is governed and how town resources are managed and local laws established.
In two questions, voters will decide whether or not to approve the commission’s recommendation to change the tax collector and town clerk’s positions from elected to hired.
Former and current tax collectors and town clerks including current Town Clerk Sally Duplice, who will retire Jan. 1, 2026, had previously urged the commission to ensure the town would have a certified town clerk when her term expires by changing the position to a hired one. In its recommendations, the commission detailed a hiring process so that the positions will not be political appointments.
If the commission had waited until 2025 to submit its draft report, the recommended changes would have coincided with the November 2025 election of a new town clerk, and changes could not become effective until 2030, potentially leaving the town without a qualified individual to handle the complicated management of town records, legal compliance with election laws and other responsibilities.
Former and current tax collectors had also previously noted the high levels of knowledge required for the tax collector’s job, pointing out that, as an elected official, the tax collector is not required to have any education, and if the individual does not do the job, the town has no way to remove them.
A third question will ask voters to approve a hiring process for the two positions that is in line with the process the town uses for other positions, so that the positions will not be political appointments.
Voters will also decide whether to increase the term of the first selectman from two to four years, beginning with the 2025 municipal election.
The commission had been asked to increase the terms of all selectmen on the board, but elected to change just the first selectman’s term noting that two-year terms for the other board members in order to give the public the opportunity to balance any “excesses in power of the First Selectman.”
Supporters of the change say a four-year term will help attract more and better candidates because they would be assured of a four-year job. Opponents say a two-year term makes the first selectman more responsive to voters because he or she can be voted out of office in less than two years.
Lastly, voters will decide whether to approve adding two alternates to the Board of Assessment Appeals, the Shellfish Commission and the Water Pollution Control Authority and reducing membership on the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission by two and maintaining a board of 12 on the Commission on Aging by reducing regular membership by three and adding three alternates.
The charter commission decided to recommend the changes to boards and commissions to counterbalance the difficulties in recruiting members and in having enough members attend meetings to have a legal quorum.
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