Residents urge retaining or expanding Bridgeport council size and strengthening council authority

At a public hearing in Bridgeport, residents urged the commission reviewing proposed charter changes to retain or expand the size of the city council and to strengthen the council’s institutional authority.

Faith Sweeney of Huntington Turnpike, who provided commissioners with research materials comparing council-size models, recommended a 30-member council as the best way to reduce constituent overload and broaden neighborhood and minority representation. "The people of Bridgeport deserve more and not less," Sweeney said, urging the commission to consider a model of three or more members per district rather than a reduced 15-member hybrid model.

Sweeney said the city — which she described as the state’s largest at nearly 150,000 residents — would not see a material per-capita cost increase under a 30-member plan because constituency workloads would be split among more representatives. She told commissioners she included comparative figures in the handout showing how different models affect constituents-per-representative.

John Closer objected to draft preamble language being discussed, calling for simpler wording that emphasizes governance and public participation rather than flowery phrasing. Closer also cited recent voter turnout data, saying roughly 90% of registered voters did not vote in a recent election, and urged more civic education and community outreach to improve participation.

Scott Burns, identifying himself as a city resident of 29 Boulevard, thanked the commission chair for compiling structural options and said current district sizes (about 7,400 constituents per member under the present model) leave representatives overstretched. Burns suggested bolstering administrative support so residents could seek service directly from city departments when appropriate and so council members could focus on oversight and policy.

Another speaker clarified the arithmetic in the materials presented: under the 30-member model, each representative would serve roughly 4,900 residents, while the alternative 10-district model would increase the number per representative. Those figures were offered as context rather than policy prescriptions.

A speaker who said they were a former city council president urged structural changes that would make the council a stronger, more independent branch of government, recommending provisions for a council-employed city attorney, clearer internal leadership roles and staffing guarantees so the council could exercise effective oversight rather than cede authority to the mayor’s office.

No one spoke in opposition to the proposals during the hearing. The commission closed the public hearing at 5:59 p.m. and did not record any motions or votes during this session.

The commission will consider the public comments and the comparative materials provided by speakers as it continues deliberations on possible charter revisions.