Council refers mayor’s amended draft charter to special meeting after tense debate; agrees six targeted amendments

The Medford City Council spent the largest portion of its April 8 meeting on a contested review of the mayor’s amended draft city charter. After several hours of debate about representativeness, balance of power and timeline, the council adopted a set of amendments to the mayor’s draft and voted to take the revised package to a special meeting on April 15 for further consideration.

Councilors debated two linked issues: how to balance executive power with council and school committee roles, and whether to change the council’s structure from the council‑recommended model. Councilor Sang (lead sponsor of the council’s motion) proposed referring the mayor’s amended draft back with specific edits. The full council approved referring the amended draft to a special meeting, and the motion carried on a 7‑0 roll call.

Key amendments the council adopted to be included in the packet for the special meeting were: - Restore “or ordinance” language in section 3‑3(a) so the council can appoint members by ordinance as well as by charter; - Strike a newly added one‑year ward residency requirement (section 2‑1(c)) so ward candidates need only be registered voters in the ward rather than prove a year‑long residency; - Amend section 4‑1 to remove the mayor from an automatic seat on the school committee and replace that seat with an additional at‑large member so the school committee would be 3 at‑large and 4 district members; - Revert language in section 8‑2 to have the Board of Election Commissioners, not the city clerk, certify petitions (technical/administrative fix because the board holds voter rolls); - Set the signature threshold for citizen initiative and repeal referendum procedures to a uniform 12%; and - Change the composition of future charter review committees to 3 mayor appointees, 3 city council appointees and 3 school committee appointees.

Several councilors said they supported the referral because they wanted more time to consider the mayor’s redline edits and to give the council a chance to secure a stronger, unanimous package to send to the legislature and voters. Vice President Collins said she favored further changes that would move power out of the mayor’s office; others emphasized the need for clear public engagement and time to brief residents. Councilor LeMing, who had previously supported a different composition, spoke for urgency but agreed to further amendments that would better balance power between the mayor, council and school committee.

The council’s vote establishes a special meeting on Tuesday, April 15 at 6:00 p.m. to take the final vote on the charter draft as amended. If approved at the special meeting and later by the mayor, the charter will be submitted to the state legislature and, if enacted, placed on the November 4, 2025 municipal ballot for voter ratification.

Votes on process: motion to refer the mayor’s draft as amended to a special meeting moved by Councilor Zaro (Sang in transcript), seconded by Councilor Zang (Collins in transcript); roll call recorded as all seven councilors voting yes. Outcome: referral to special meeting approved.