The town’s new Charter Revision Commission held its first meeting last week, and has already scheduled a public hearing to begin getting input from residents about possible changes to the charter.
The public hearing will be held at town hall at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
The seven-member commission was appointed earlier this month, and will review 12 areas of the charter over the next 16 months.
Throughout the process the commission will consider questions such as:
Should the Board of Selectmen be expanded to more than three members?
Should selectmen have four-year instead of two-year terms?
The commission will also clarify wording and fix spelling and grammar errors in the document.
Any changes proposed by the Charter Review Commission will be put to residents at a public hearing, and eventually end up on the ballot in November 2011.
FIRST MEETING
At the commission’s first meeting, members unanimously elected Brett Olbrys, a Republican, as its chairman.
Olbrys was on the charter revision board in 2006, the last time the town looked at the document.
He said he hopes the new bi-partisan commission can put aside ​“the political game” and make the best decision that serve the whole community.
“Ultimately, we have to do what is best for the town,” Olbrys said.
Janice Hardy, who was appointed the commission’s secretary, echoed the sentiment.
“It needs to be free of political biases and prejudices or it is not going to work for everybody,” Hardy said.
The commission will meet at 7 p.m. on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month.
The public will be able to speak at the beginning of each meeting.