West Haven panel authorizes gender‑neutral charter edits and OKs use of AI to summarize public input

The Charter Revision Commission voted to authorize city attorneys to begin converting the draft charter to gender‑neutral language and to include those edits in the report to the city council. The commission also discussed using an AI summary of public‑hearing submissions to identify recurring themes for prioritized drafting.

Members noted the charter’s current opening clause attempts to accommodate gendered pronouns, but commissioners and counsel said removing gendered pronouns throughout the document is a larger editing project that can be staged while the commission finalizes policy choices. One commissioner offered to run the compiled public comments through an AI tool to produce theme summaries for commissioners to review.

Motion and outcome: Commissioners moved and seconded the motion to authorize attorneys to begin the gender‑neutral revisions; the motion passed without recorded opposition. Counsel will integrate those edits with other drafting tasks and circulate updated drafts prior to the scheduled public hearing.