New Canaan CRC backs charter language to post vacancies, shortens window for filling appointed seats

The New Canaan Charter Revision Commission on April 6 agreed to add language to the draft charter requiring that vacancies on appointed boards and commissions be posted on the town website with a link to an application form and that the board of selectmen review all applications and vote in a regularly noticed meeting on appointments.

Commission members said the change is intended to broaden access and transparency. "What I have found across the board is that they're posting those," said Russ Kimmes, a member of the Charter Revision Commission, summarizing a review of peer towns. "By and large it's done through an online form ... providing that transparency and availability to increase the likelihood of a broad net of people applying for positions."

The commission read proposed draft language that would require posting for appointed boards and commissions and would allow electors to apply; members voted to prefer the term "electors" rather than the broader term "residents" and to replace the phrase "self-nominate" with "apply." Commissioners debated whether the first selectman's office should refer party-affiliated applicants to Republican or Democratic town committees; some favored keeping the referral as optional and not mandated in the charter.

A separate, consequential question was the timing mechanism: when does the clock begin for filling a vacancy? Commissioners weighed several options — the date the town clerk receives a written resignation, the date of a public announcement at a commission meeting, or the end of an official term. Several members said the town clerk's receipt of a written resignation is the clearest legal trigger; one commissioner noted the clerk often requires a wet signature for a formal resignation.

Commissioners also discussed a backstop if the board of selectmen fails to fill a vacancy. The group moved away from permissive phrasing and favored a time-limited requirement so another body (town council) would be obliged to act if the selectmen fail to do so. That multilayered timing and escalation structure will be refined in drafting and legal review, said Ira Bloom, who joined the meeting as the council liaison.

The commission did not adopt final drafting on party referral or every timing nuance at the April 6 meeting; members asked staff to prepare precise language and to seek counsel on statutory requirements that apply to certain elected offices. The commission expects to carry the revised appointment language into subsequent article edits ahead of a public hearing scheduled for April.