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Charter panel narrows clerk appointment powers, asks city attorney to redraft Chapter 5
Summary
A Bridgeport charter revision panel voted to remove language giving deputies authority to appoint assistants, directed the city attorney to redraft Chapter 5 so city and town clerk sections mirror each other, and approved related edits by voice vote.
The Charter Revision Commission on Aug. 13 voted to remove language that would have allowed deputy clerks to appoint assistants and directed the city attorney to redraft Chapter 5 so the city clerk and town clerk sections mirror one another.
The chair said the change was intended to ensure the head of an office — the city clerk or town clerk — retains appointment authority except when that official is absent or disabled. Commissioners debated whether deputies should retain appointment power during an interim period and how the proposed 2031 transition (when the clerk positions would move from elected to appointed) would affect staffing and civil-service classifications.
During discussion, a committee member raised practical concerns that elected clerks currently work part time and deputies perform day-to-day functions; others replied that the head of the office should appoint staff unless unavailable. Commissioners also considered whether salary and classification language belongs in Chapter 5 or is already covered by the civil-service chapter and ordinances.
The commission voted by voice to delete a sentence that had required assistants and deputy clerks to be in the classified civil service; the motion passed and the chair announced the change. Commissioners then voted to copy the revised language into the town clerk section and formally asked the city attorney to redraft Chapter 5 consistent with the group's discussion.
Commissioners said some transition and operational details — including whether clerk functions could be shared with the Office of Legislative Services — should be refined in redrafting and possibly deferred to implementation steps tied to the 2031 changes. The commission did not adopt new salary numbers at the meeting and noted those remain to be set by ordinance or later civil-service rules.
The commission put those redrafting instructions into its record and moved on to other chapters. The clerk recorded the motions and voice votes; the redrafted chapter will return for review at a subsequent meeting.
