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Methuen charter review committee approves Article 10 edits, clarifies officer titles and screening-committee appointments
Summary
The Methuen City Charter Review Committee on Sept. 18 approved amendments to Article 10 that standardize officer titles, capitalize statutory references, change a CAFO screening-committee appointment to the mayor, and add explicit wording on vacancy after a felony conviction.
The Methuen City Charter Review Committee voted Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, to approve a set of amendments to Article 10 of the city charter, including uniform officer titles, minor editorial corrections and changes to appointment language for a charter screening committee.
The committee unanimously approved a motion to change the inconsistent language that had used both 'president' and 'chair' — restoring the term 'chair' and changing 'vice president' back to 'vice chair' in Section 10‑7. Members also voted to capitalize references to the 'Commonwealth' and to standardize the presentation of numbers in several sections.
The committee amended Section 10‑12(c), which governs the composition of the CAFO screening committee. The original language listed seven members: one appointed by the school committee, three by the city council, two by the mayor and one appointed by the former secretary of administration. With the state's role no longer applicable, members voted to reassign that seat to the mayor so the mayor now appoints three members to that seven‑member panel.
A separate amendment to Section 10‑16 added clear timing for vacancy after a felony conviction. As moved by a committee member, the section now specifies that an elected official 'shall be deemed to have vacated the office as of the date of their conviction.' That motion also passed unanimously.
Jennifer Canan, presenting a condensed draft of the council‑staff language, told the committee the proposed edits could 'fit in the municipal code' for detailed duties while the charter would establish the Department of Law's existence and general structure. The committee voted to approve Article 10 as amended by unanimous vote.
Next procedural steps include solicitor and staff updates to the charter chronology once the state review is complete; the committee also asked staff to apply the agreed editorial conventions across the rest of the charter before final submission.
Votes at a glance
- Motion to accept meeting agenda: passed (unanimous) - Motion to accept minutes (09/11/2025): passed (unanimous) - Motion to change 'vice president' to 'vice chair' in Sec. 10‑7: passed (unanimous) - Motion to capitalize 'Commonwealth' and standardize number formatting: passed (unanimous) - Motion to reassign CAFO screening‑committee seat from state secretary to mayor: passed (unanimous) - Motion to add vacancy timing language to Sec. 10‑16: passed (unanimous) - Motion to approve Article 10 as amended: passed (unanimous)
The committee agreed to move next to Article 2‑8 (council staff) at its next meeting.
