In Plymouth, the Charter Review Committee has been meeting for just over a year, and they have proposed eleven changes to the current Charter—the Charter is essentially the constitution of the Town of Plymouth. These changes, or amendments, will be presented to Town Meeting for approval when the group meets on Saturday, October 19th. But meanwhile, there are several motions to amend by Town Meeting members who disagree with those changes.
WATD’s Bobbi Clark has more…
Town Moderator Steven Triffletti:
“We have articles contained in the warrant and articles 19 through 29 relate to the Charter. We have many motions to amend the main motions that are presented by the Advisory and Finance Committee.”
Triffletti says the first motion…
“…prior to taking up any articles, is a motion from Joseph Hutchinson, Precinct 17. He also served on the Charter Review Committee. He moved to consolidate all of the articles. So, if that motion passes, we would debate and deliberate all eleven articles at once. And then have one vote, up or down on whether to approve them or deny them.”
The Town Moderator explains that…
“There are eleven articles that contain Charter amendment changes within each article the change may involve multiple sections of our current Charter.”
Triffletti adds that Charter Review Committee …
“…cannot change the form of government. That would be for a Charter Commission. There are some people who will be attending Town Meeting that will argue that some of the proposed changes are tantamount to changing the form of government which is a reason why some people do not support the changes.”
In an email, Chair of the Charter Review Committee, Alan Costello responded saying: “I can assure you that the proposed changes are in no way an attempt to change the form of government. The Committee’s main objective was to work within the existing Charter. We made an effort to structure the Charter so that all residents, Town Meeting Members and Town Administration would have a better document going forward.”
In Plymouth, Bobbi Clark, WATD News.
