Danvers review committee finalizes recommended changes to Town Meeting and Town Manager acts

The Town Manager Acts Review Committee of the Town of Danvers met Wednesday, May 7, and approved a set of recommended edits to its draft report on changes to the Town Meeting Act and the Town Manager Act and agreed to forward the report to the town moderator and the select board for consideration.

The committee’s revisions clarified that its work consists of recommendations to the select board and town meeting rather than enactments the committee itself is adopting. Committee members discussed and refined language across both acts, focusing on three substantive items the draft highlights: adding a recall provision, allowing the select board to have the town accountant appointed by the town manager, and removing or revising the residency requirement for the town manager.

Why it matters: The committee’s recommendations would change how Town Meeting and the select board interact with the town manager’s office, alter certain procedural requirements for candidates and town meeting members, and add or revise formal recall language. Those changes would require action by the select board and, where appropriate, town meeting before becoming effective.

Most of the meeting consisted of line-by-line review of the committee’s redline draft. The committee approved numerous wording edits (for example,…