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New Canaan charter panel agrees to reopen debate over proposed term limits after council split
Summary
The Charter Revision Commission decided to reopen discussion of a proposed 12-year term-limit amendment after the town council's close straw poll opposed it; commissioners were split on whether reopening would change the outcome and scheduled follow-up consideration before finalizing the report.
The New Canaan Charter Revision Commission voted to reopen its consideration of proposed term limits after reviewing a close town-council straw poll that opposed the commission's recommendation.
The move came during a lengthy Thursday meeting in which commissioners debated whether new council feedback and one commissioner’s changed view warranted reopening the item the panel had previously approved. The council’s reported straw-poll result was described in the meeting as roughly a 5–7 split against the term-limit proposal.
Supporters of reopening said the council’s different result and at least one commissioner’s reconsideration meant the commission should examine the question again before sending a final report to the town council. ‘‘We have at least one member of the CRC who has reconsidered his position,’’ a commissioner said, arguing that new internal positions justify renewed discussion. Opponents said the commission had already studied the issue extensively and feared reopening would ripple into broader rewriting of the draft.
Commission members disagreed over procedure. Some argued that because the council chooses what appears on the ballot, reopening now might not change the ultimate outcome; others said a fresh internal vote could produce a clearer recommendation to the council. ‘‘They can still say no if they want,’’ one commissioner said of the council’s authority over ballot placement.
The commission did not take a formal binding vote to alter the draft language itself at Thursday’s meeting. Instead, members agreed to reopen discussion of term limits at an upcoming meeting (to be scheduled among June 30, July 7 and July 13 agenda planning) and to consider a formal revote before finalizing the July submission deadline. That timeline is intended to give the town council time to review the commission’s final recommendations before their July 15 meeting and the ballot-preparation window that follows.
Next steps: the commission will place term limits on the agenda for its next meeting, review the council’s written feedback in detail and decide whether to present an unchanged recommendation or to modify the charter language to reflect the commission’s revised position.
