The Medford City Council on Jan. 8 approved a schedule and a set of procedural motions to guide review of a proposed city charter draft, setting meetings for Wednesday, Jan. 22, Tuesday, Feb. 4 and Wednesday, Feb. 19 and asking for written input from councilors, the school committee and other boards.

Chair Sang opened the meeting by presenting a proposed timeline for committee review and said the goal is to move the draft out of committee by the end of February or early March so the council can meet statutory timelines to place charter changes on the ballot in the fall. The council voted unanimously, 5-0, to bundle and approve the motions made during the meeting.

The schedule assigns topics by meeting: the Jan. 22 session will cover the preamble, Article I (incorporation/short title/definitions), Article II (the legislative branch/city council) and General Provisions section 9-6. The Feb. 4 meeting is set to examine Article III (executive branch/mayor), Article V (administrative organization/city departments), Article VI (financial procedures) and Article VII (elections). The Feb. 19 meeting will address Article IV (school committee), Article VIII (citizen participation mechanisms) and remaining sections of Article IX.

Councilors also approved a set of procedural requests intended to streamline public and intergovernmental input. The motions, which the council joined and approved as a package, direct that: councilors submit suggested amendments or points of discussion in writing to the clerk by the Thursday before each meeting; councilors submit questions for the call center to Chair Sang one week before each meeting so the center can prepare; the school committee and multi-member boards and commissions submit feedback by Wednesday, Feb. 12 for consideration at the Feb. 19 meeting; the Conn Center produce a memorandum identifying which draft provisions make no change, which change existing charter language and which create new provisions; and the mayor’s office post the upcoming charter meeting dates in the city events update and via robocall.

The motions were proposed during the meeting and seconded as recorded; Councilor Lozaro is recorded as seconding the motion to join and approve the package. The clerk conducted a roll call: President Behrs (Yes), Vice President Collins (Yes), Councilor Lozaro (Yes), Councilor Scarpelli (Yes) and Chair Sang (Yes). The motion passed 5 in the affirmative, none opposed.

Council discussion that preceded the votes addressed scheduling trade-offs and public outreach. Vice President Collins and other councilors urged giving the school committee and boards time to prepare feedback and suggested providing background materials in advance so the call center and staff can come prepared. Several councilors said the group may schedule a fourth meeting if more time is needed for technical procedural items.

Chair Sang thanked members of the Charter Study Committee and the mayor’s office for their work and said the council will use the next meetings to focus first on provisions that most directly affect the council and then on executive, financial and school-related sections. No formal amendments to the draft charter were adopted at the Jan. 8 meeting; the council limited its actions on Jan. 8 to adopting the review schedule and the outreach/submission procedures.