Senate committee reviews H.10 to update Barre City charter: move annual meeting to May, split clerk and treasurer roles

At a meeting of the Senate Committee on Government Operations, lawmakers heard testimony on H.10, a bill that would amend the charter of the City of Barre to remove references to a city school district, move the municipal annual meeting from the first Tuesday in March to the second Tuesday in May, and separate the combined clerk and treasurer into two offices with the treasurer appointable by the city council.

Supporters said the changes are largely technical and aimed at aligning local practice with current municipal needs. Representative Michael Boutin, sponsor of H.10, told the committee the charter still contained language from before Act 46 that referenced a city school district "and when they went to their own district, the charter language did not change." Boutin said the date shift and the clerk/treasurer separation were intended to be cleanup and to give the municipal manager more complete budget information ahead of town meeting.

Tucker Anderson, counsel who drafted the bill language, told the committee the authority for many municipalities to change meeting dates had originated in temporary pandemic-related measures and was later extended by the Legislature (Act 1 in the biennium). Anderson explained the bill updates charter cross-references so the stated annual-meeting date is consistently the second Tuesday in May and adds companion edits throughout the charter.

Former Barre City Clerk and Treasurer Carol Dawes, who shepherded the charter amendments through the local process, said the city adopted May town meetings beginning in 2024 to allow more accurate budget figures after flooding and that voters approved the charter edits. "It says, the first Tuesday in March or as at a date set by the city council," Dawes said, explaining why the council already had authority to set an alternate date and why the charter language needed clean-up. She told senators the city would hold its municipal meeting on May 13, 2025.

On the office-structure change, testimony described the practical division of labor in Barre. Witnesses said the amendment would allow an appointed treasurer — likely part time — to handle statutory treasurer duties such as oversight of municipal bank accounts and transfers, while an assistant treasurer and the clerk would continue handling day-to-day payment processing. Dawes said the assistant treasurer was currently a unionized city staff position and that the amendment was not intended to remove the staff reporting relationship; she said the assistant treasurer would likely report to the finance director under the new structure.

Committee members asked about turnout and process: Boutin provided a registration estimate of about 6,500 registered voters in Barre and noted turnout peaks of roughly 3,000–4,000 for presidential years. Senators also questioned whether moving the meeting date could delay charter changes; witnesses said some charter changes historically did not receive final approvals until the following year but that the May schedule had increased participation in Barre.

The bill text presented to the committee includes technical revisions in multiple sections to eliminate references to the former city school district, specifies the new annual meeting date, separates the offices of city clerk and city treasurer and authorizes the council to appoint and remove a treasurer and assistant treasurers, and states the act would take effect on passage. Committee members took testimony; no committee vote was recorded during the session.

The committee dismissed witnesses after questions and moved on to other items on the agenda.