The Charter Revision Commission wants voters to decide if the town tax collector’s position should be appointed instead of elected.
And to solicit your ideas, the CRC will conduct a public hearing at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 11 at Town Hall.
Brett Olbrys, CRC chairman, said this is a good time for voters to decide this issue because if it is not changed now, it will remain as an elected position until 2015 because the tax collector serves a four-year-term.
Olbrys said the only way the town can change the terms of the tax collector’s office is by a charter change which would be determined by a referendum vote this coming November.
The elected position has been marred by controversy.
Former Tax Collector Karen Guillet resigned in June after she was tied to alleged missing money from the Tax Collector’s Office. The matter is still being investigated by police and no charges have been filed, nor have Selectmen or police have indicated how much money is missing.
Selectmen appointed Jacqueline Orner to take Guillet’s place.
Olbrys said that if a charter change is not made soon, then there would be an election for tax collector in 2011. If voters decide on a charter change it (the appointed position) would go into effect Jan. 2012.
The CRC decided it was best to recommend a charter change because under the law, an elected official can’t be fired or recalled. If the position were appointed,
the town would have the option to terminate the appointee.
Selectman David Yish said he thought the position was best left as an elected one because he was concerned the decision was being taken away from the electorate.
But Olbrys pointed out that ultimately it will be the voters who will decide to keep the position as elected or change the charter to make it appointed.
“This is an unpolitical position and there’s no reason for it to be elected,’‘ he said, adding that the town would be protected in the future. “This is a very
important issue and people need to come out and express how they feel about this issue and it’s important to get input from the public,’‘ Olbrys said.
Olbrys said that if the charter is changed it is recommended that a new tax collector be interviewed by a four-member search committee made up of the town’s
finance director and three members of the Connecticut Tax Collector’s Association Inc.
This committee would interview certified candidates and then make a recommendation to the Board of Selectmen.
