Simsbury town manager urges charter tweaks to clarify roles, streamline grants and budget process

Town Manager Mark Nelson told the Simsbury Charter Revision Commission on April 1 that the town’s hybrid form of government created by the 2017 charter change still contains remnants of the old system that make lines of authority unclear.

Nelson, who said he was “grateful, to those, on the prior board that that, appointed me unanimously, to, what is a 3 year contract just wrapping up the first year,” urged the commission to consider targeted charter amendments to improve clarity and efficiency rather than a wholesale rollback of the town‑manager form.

The commission’s work matters because changes to the charter can reallocate policy and administrative authority across elected and appointed bodies. “The lack of clarity that has been referenced, a number of times before the commission is merely the result of the current charter not having sufficiently removed text from the former charter that predates the change in form of government,” Nelson said.

Nelson gave personnel oversight as an example. He said charter sections 4.02 and 4.11 still reflect a prior structure that allows a board personnel subcommittee to exercise detailed control over job descriptions and wage scales. Nelson told commissioners the board of selectmen already exercises budgetary and collective‑bargaining oversight and that the town created a Department of Human Resources in 2024 with a director now responsible for personnel…