Despite Concerns, Board Votes to Approve Revised Town Charter

Despite concerns over some of the amendments to the town's charter recommended by the Charter Revision Commission, the Simsbury Board of Selectmen voted unanimously Monday night to approve the revisions.

The Board of Selectmen previously requested further review of recommendations made by the commission during a town meeting in May. The commission unanimously decided to resubmit the proposed revision because commission members felt the board did not offer any concrete recommendations.

Charter amendments that the Board of Selectmen were concerned with were: changes to the election terms of the Design Review Board; new authority given to the Board of Finance over the town's pension accounts; and the exclusion of public audience sessions at Board of Finance meetings.

Town Attorney Robert DeCrescenzo explained that motions to reject any of the proposed amendments would require approval by four of the six members of the Board of Selectmen. First Selectman Mary Glassman was absent from Monday night's meeting.

"If any one of the members has any motion to take anything out of the proposed charter you would do that first," DeCrescenzo said. Once board members voted on individual items DeCrescenzo said the board would then vote on the remaining amendments to the charter as a whole.

Selectmen Lisa Heavner made motions to reject three amendments originally opposed by the board Monday night. All motions failed to gain approval by the board.

During discussion of the individual motions raised by Heavner, other board members suggested that the rational for not rejecting any amendments to the revised charter was to give voters the opportunity to review and vote on the revision in its entirety.

"It is a shame to see some of it not go forward because of the way I think the process unfolded," Selectmen Nancy Haase said. Haase suggested that town officials could consider making some of the desired changes with town ordinances because of their procedural nature.

"Because it's in whole or in part with no ability to make small modifications this is not something I will support here tonight," Haase said.

"It seems to me that the wisdom here is to send it to the voters because ultimately we don't decide, the voters decide," Askham said.

The process of revising the town's charter began in 2011 and has been a focus at recent town meetings. Several residents attended a meeting in May to urge the board to reject certain amendments.

Selectmen Moira Wertheimer made the final motion to approve the charter revisions in their entirety.

"This is a very tough decision for me and I don't know that I'm making the right decision," Heavner said. "But I have to give my faith to the voters and I hope that they will read the charter carefully and I hope when they vote on it they'll reject it."

Heavner also stated that she does not support a change that would allow for the appointment of a town manager, another reason she plans to vote against the revised charter in November.

The full revised town charter can be found on the town website on the Charter Revision Commission page.