Council debates wide-ranging changes to town council rules; refers draft to bylaws committee

The New Canaan Town Council opened an extended discussion on proposed changes to its rules Wednesday and agreed to send the draft back to the Bylaws and Ordinances Committee for further review and legal input.

The draft, prepared and circulated in advance, includes numerous changes and new provisions. Councilors debated the scope and wording of several items, but took no final vote and asked staff and the committee to prepare an annotated redline and rationale for each proposed change.

Among the most contested proposals was a change to committee duties that would require committee chairs not only to attend or watch department public meetings but also to debrief department heads monthly. Tom (Town Council member) and others argued that changing the phrase from “or debrief” to “and debrief” would impose unnecessary, routine meetings on every chair. Tom said the change “is actually meaningful” because it would impose an additional requirement on committee chairs; other members said existing meeting attendance or review of department meetings should be sufficient.

Councilors also debated a…