Reprinted from The Trumbull Times © Copyright 2010
February 4, 2010

By Donald Eng

The town's governing document will get an update following Monday's Town Council decision to form a Charter Revision Committee.

First Selectman Tim Herbst, who made charter revision one of the centerpieces of his campaign, said the document required updating to correct what he calls fundamental flaws.

"The charter stipulates that, in the event the first selectman is unavailable, the finance director takes over as acting first selectman," Herbst said. "But the previous finance director lived in Monroe, as does the current acting finance director."

Herbst said it was a serious problem because in the event of a town emergency, the first selectman has wide ranging responsibility. Should he or a successor be ill or out of state, the town would effectively be under the control of someone who is not a resident and who had not been elected by the voters.

"In other towns, the council chairman, or Town Clerk would stand in as acting first selectman," he said. "That's how we should be doing it, rather than giving that role to an unelected town employee."

The emergency succession question is just one of the issues the committee will address. Other potential changes to the document include requiring referendum approval for high-dollar bond issues, defining the internal auditor's responsibilities, establishing purchasing policies and clarifying the Board of Education election process.

Currently, six of the seven spots on the school board are essentially decided by the parties. Six of the members serve four-year terms, and the 2005 revision created a seventh seat with a two-year term. The charter mandates that the board be split 4-3, but it was Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz who decided that the four-year seats must be split 3-3. Her decision made the two-year seat the only contested seat on the school board.

But if the party lines on the school board are one topic for the committee, the committee's party split was a point of contention at the council meeting.

Democratic leader Mary Beth Thornton said she was surprised to open her agenda for the meeting and see that it already included the names of the four Republican nominees to the committee.

"I knew charter revision was going to be on the agenda, so I prepared a motion to form an exploratory committee to determine whether we need to do a revision," she said. "Then I saw on the agenda that right after my motion, there was a motion to form a committee, and after that there was a motion to name the four Republican representatives."

Thornton said she was also surprised that the GOP had nominated four members of what will be a six-person panel. The four, Russ Friedson, William Holden, Gail Hanna and John Chiota, were later confirmed by the council.

"I think it goes against the spirit of cooperation and transparency when you decide before the meeting how the vote is going to go and which members you want on the committee," she said. "A Charter Revision Committee is not a place for partisanship."

The Democrats have not yet named their representatives, but Thornton and Herbst agreed that former First Selectman Paul Timpanelli would be an outstanding choice.

Herbst made no apologies for moving forward quickly on charter revision or for his party having 2/3 of the revision committee's seats.

"Ultimately, the committee will make its recommendations to the Town Council, and the council will have a public discussion on which of the recommendations to place before the voters," he said. "But charter revision must be approved by referendum, so ultimately the final say rests with the voters, not with any one party."

He added that the 4-2 split would help prevent the committee from deadlocking on important decisions.

"The Democratic proposal indicates to me that they aren't serious about the issue, and they're using a delaying tactic," he said. "This issue is incredibly important, and they want to form a committee to look into whether we need to form a committee."

But though the voters would ultimately approve or reject the committee's recommendations, Thornton wondered about things the voters would not get a chance to review.

"The committee will make recommendations, and the voters will vote," she said. "But what about issues that don't make it out of committee because the majority party blocks it? Sometimes what gets left out is important, too, and the voters won't have a say on the things that get left on the cutting floor."