Several members of the Board of Finance pleaded with the newly regrouped Charter Revision Commission Tuesday night in a public hearing at Town Hall to not “reduce the Board of Finance to rubber stamp status.”
A town charter is the list of rules that serve as a blue print for local government. The document delineates the authority and responsibilities for various government entities, including the Board of Finance. The Charter Revision Commission is exploring whether to make changes to the document.
Issues the commission are considering range from whether to use a gender-neutral term for First Selectman to the powers of the Finance Board.
The Thorny Issue
As it stands, the Board of Finance has, on occasion, come into conflict with the Board of Selectmen over the process by which issues can be brought to a Town Meeting.
Example — earlier this year the Finance Board rejected a plan to replace the roof at Great Oak Middle School. The issue went to a Town Meeting nonetheless.
The Charter Revision Commission could come up with rules that more clearly delineate the Finance Board’s responsibilities pertaining to Town Meetings. The minutes from the Sept. 22 meeting of the Charter Revision Commission are posted at the end of this article.
Good Government Or Power Play?
However, some members of the Finance Board are worried any changes will leave them toothless.
If the changes to the charter are made, “there is no point of having a Board of Finance at all,” said Richard C. Burke, a Republican who serves on the finance board.
He was one of about six people who spoke at the public hearing. A copy of a letter Burke submitted to the Charter Revision Commission is posted below.
Janis Hardy, secretary of the Charter Revision Commission, said the Finance Board cannot block Town Meetings.
“The Board of Finance cannot prohibit something to come to a town meeting. That is the right of the citizens of this town who are the ultimate authority. You can give an unfavorable recommendation, but you can’t prohibit something,” Hardy said.
They way the system is now, one person on the Board of Finance can have undue power, said Nancy Schmitt, a Democratic member of the finance board.
“If there is a tie vote, we need to have some type of mechanism to work with how it can be handled. It doesn’t make sense the way it is right now,” Schmitt said.
The one thing that all should see clearly is that the Town Meeting — where residents show up at a meeting and vote on an issue — is the legislative body in the town, said First Selectman Mary Ann Drayton-Rogers.
“It is very clear the legislative body is the Town Meeting, they are the decision makers of town. It is also clear the Board of Selectmen is the policy setting branch of the Town of Oxford. As I see it, it is the responsibility of the Board of Finance to determine how to fund the policies determined by the Board of Selectman, and up to the Town meeting to say yay or nay.”
The changes being considered could go to voters in November 2011.
