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Council refers amended mayoral draft of city charter to special meeting after heated debate; several amendments adopted
Summary
After hours of debate the council adopted multiple amendments to the mayor’s returned draft — including restoring council appointment language, removing a one‑year ward residency requirement and agreeing to revise future charter committee appointments — then voted to continue the charter for final action at a special council meeting April 15.
The Medford City Council spent much of its April 8 meeting debating changes to a mayor‑returned draft of a proposed city charter and agreed to several amendments before referring the package to a special council meeting April 15 for final consideration.
The mayor had returned a revised draft after the council’s governance review. Council deliberations on April 8 focused on representativeness, balance of power between the mayor and council, the mayor’s role on the school committee and appointment rules for future charter review bodies. Councilors said they wanted to preserve the council’s ability to make appointments by ordinance in some cases, ease an asymmetric residency restriction for ward councilors, and change how future charter review panels are constituted.
Key procedural steps and amendments adopted by the council on April 8 included: - Restoring the phrase…
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