In April 2008, Mayor Curtatone convened a Charter Advisory Committee “to examine the City of Somerville’s current municipal charter and make recommendations aimed at modernizing city government.” (Link to city webpage about the Charter Advisory Committee) The City’s Charter defines the respective roles of a City Council (or, in Somerville’s case, a Board of Aldermen), the Mayor, and depending upon the form of government, a City Manager). Chapters 43 and Chapter 44 of the Mass. General Laws provide basic frameworks for six possible types of City government, known as Plans A, B, C, D, E, and F

According to the Charter Advisory Committee’s webpage, members of the Committee include Howard E. Horton (Chairman, President of the New England College of Finance), Alderman Bill White, School Committee Chair Paul Bockelman, David Luberoff (Executive Director of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston at Harvard University), Isaac Machado (attorney at Epstein, Lipsey & Clifford and member of the Somerville Chamber of Commerce), Jacques A. Dessin (a lawyer), Mary Jeka (Vice President for University Relations at Tufts University), Jeff Levine (Director of Planning and Community Development, Town of Brookline, and formerly Planner with the Somerville Office of Housing and Community Development), Gerry McCue (Executive Director for Administration and Finance for the City of Chelsea’s Public Schools), and Greg Nadeau (Special Projects Consultant at ESP Solutions Group, and co-founder of the Somerville 4 Schools list serve). Metropolitan Area Planning Council Deputy Director Stephen McGoldrick served as a consultant to the committee, preparing meeting agendas, providing relevant materials and charter-related expertise.

After a series of meetings between June and early November, the Committee held a public hearing on Monday, November 10 to present and receive comments about its preliminary recommendations, relating to “the number, function and composition of City Boards and Commissions; governmental and management structure; terms of office for elected officials; nomenclature of legislative branch; and structure of the School Committee.”

Unfortunately, those preliminary recommendations were not available prior to the hearing (and as of this posting, are still not available on the Charter Committee page of the City’s website). Paper copies of the preliminary recommendations were, however, distributed at the hearing, and an email containing those recommendations was sent out to the PDS list serve earlier that evening by Committee member and School Committee chair Paul Bockelman. Paul’s email is reprinted below.

According to the schedule (PDF) there may be additional public forums. At Monday’s hearings, it sounded like the Committee would be accepting feedback for at least another six weeks. Then, according to the Committee’s webpage, “the committee will present its recommendations to Mayor Curtatone. The Board of Aldermen (BOA) will then vote on the recommendations. Following a favorable vote (sic) by the BOA the recommendations will be voted on by the state legislature and finally, by the residents of Somerville.” (link to CAC webpage)

The Committee web page indicates that comments and suggestions should be directed to Lesley Delaney Hawkins at 617-625-6600 ext. 2615 or lhawkins(at)somervillema.gov.  The press release about the hearing indicates that comments on the preliminary recommendations should be sent to CharterAdvisoryCommittee(at)somervillema.gov or mailed to Charter Advisory Committee, 93 Highland Avenue, Somerville, MA 02142.

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From: ProgressiveDemocratsOfSomerville(at)yahoogroups.com On Behalf Of pbockelman(at)aol.com
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2008 5:02 PM
To: ProgressiveDemocratsOfSomerville(at)yahoogroups.com
Subject: PDS: To be distributed at tonight’s Charter Committee public hearing

Preliminary Recommendations of the City of Somerville Charter Advisory Committee
November 10th, 2008Committee suggests that the Mayor write a new City charter that incorporates the following concepts, principles, or processes:o To maintain a mayoral form of government.
o To extend the term of office of the mayor from two years to four years.
o To create or reclassify a senior level management position, such as a Chief Administrative Officer, under the executive branch.o To maintain the Board of Aldermen in its current form as the legislative branch of government.
o To rename the Board of Aldermen as the City Council.
o To maintain the existing two year term of office for members of the Board of Aldermen.
o To give the Board of Aldermen appointment power over any position that serves only the Board of Aldermen, while abiding by city-wide personnel rules and regulations.o To maintain current ward-based system of the school committee, but add appointed members to the body.
o To require the appointed members of the School Committee be selected based on specific criteria including educational expertise and diversity.
o To remove the mayor and the president of the Board of Aldermen as members of the School Committee.o To allow for the filling of vacancies in elected positions with the candidate receiving the next highest number of votes in the previous election, given a high minimum vote threshold and specific time period.o To require the executive branch to issue an annual city report and to require the legislative branch to hold a public hearing to discuss the report.o To create an administrative code that allows for increased flexibility in the structure, operations and management of City government.o To require that the annual report include the membership and terms of all Board and Commission members.o To require the mayor to call joint meeting of the Board of Aldermen and School Committee before the commencement of the budget process.
o To require the mayor to submit an operating budget to the Board of Aldermen with a reasonable period of time for the Board of Aldermen to act on the budget before the start of the fiscal year.
o To require the Board of Aldermen to hold a public hearing on the operating public.
o To require the mayor to submit an annual Capital Improvement Program to the Board of Aldermen within a reasonable time period before the start of the fiscal year.
o To require the mayor to annually prepare a long-term financial forecast of city revenue, expenditures and the general financial condition of the city.
o To require the mayor to annually provide for an outside audit of the books and accounts of the city.

Executive Branch

Legislative Branch

School Committee

Elections

Annual Report

Administrative Code

Boards and Commissions

Finance and Fiscal Procedures