Input Sought On Draft Of Revised Harwich Charter

HARWICH – The charter commission will hold a hearing seeking public input on the draft charter it has approved and sent to the Attorney General’s Office and the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities for review. The hearing will be held on Thursday, Oct. 22 at 6:30 p.m. in the town hall hearing room.

 The commission unanimously approved the draft at its Aug. 27 meeting. Under state law the draft charter must be sent to the state agencies for review by Sept. 21. The commission is required to hold a public hearing seeking community input and file its final report with the state agencies by Nov. 21. The charter will be placed before voters for approval in the 2027 annual election in May.

The revised charter, which serves as the town’s overarching governing document, is published in an eight-page supplement in this week’s Harwich edition of The Cape Cod Chronicle. 

The charter commission conducted weekly meetings for more than a year reviewing the current charter, which was approved in 1987 and revised in 2006. 

 “More recently, many questions over interpretation and accountability prompted voters to agree that it was time for a new elected charter commission,” a report accompanying the draft reads. “A main goal has been to provide greater clarity, transparency, and flexibility to the process.” 

Main objectives of the commission were “clearer language for responsibilities and authorities for both elected and appointed town agencies; clear and specific language to avoid numerous and costly interpretations by various town counsels; compliance with the charter and bylaws of the town, and clearly defined reporting relationships. The members agreed that it was important to create a charter that would serve the community and its residents for many years,” according to the report.

 Among the major changes proposed are a return to both spring and fall town meetings, which was included in the original charter. The spring town meeting would be primarily for financial issues while the fall town meeting would be for non-financial matters.

 “Separating financial and non-financial issues provides for better focus for both town administration and the participants in town meetings,” according to the commission report.

 There would be a title change from town administrator to town manager. A new compliance commission for charter and bylaw issues would be created and be responsible for compliance and assistance in interpretation of the town charter and bylaws. This would provide citizens with the ability to seek opinions and clarification on charter issues. The focus of the commission would be education and advice, according to the report.

 There would be changes in the methodology for the creation of the five-year capital outlay plan. There is a sense in the community that some projects are not being added to the plan in a timely manner, according to the report. Projects are appearing for funding that either have not been on a capital plan or are moving up significantly in the timeline for funding. Residents should know what to expect in terms of impacts on the residential tax bill, the commission concluded.

Year one of the five-year plan would be called the capital outlay budget. The budget would contain projects proposed for funding in the current town meeting.

New full- or part-time employee positions would be presented to town meetings for approval in an article separate from the operating budget. The commission noted prior charters allowed these additional positions to be included in the main budget article, an approach that did not allow sufficient notice as to the purpose and cost of the new positions. The change seeks greater transparency in the creation of additional compensated positions, according to the commission.

The document also would provide the authority to the select board to remove appointed members of town agencies if the member fails to comply with established statutory obligations, such as the Open Meeting Law and conflict of interest provisions, town policies and the charter.

 “Currently there is no method for an appointed member of a town agency to be removed for any reason,” noted the commission. 

The proposed charter would also reduce the number of signatures of registered voters to activate a recall petition from 20 percent to 10 percent of qualified voters. The language in the present charter that requires 25 percent of registered voters to cast a ballot in a recall election for the results to be valid would also be removed. 

 “Local Harwich elections seldom achieve this level of 25 percent participation,” according to the commission’s report. 

 There are also minor changes concerning capitalization, grammar, punctuation and renumbering of sections in the charter, all for clarity. 

 No changes are being proposed to the elected select board and open town meeting formats.