Public commenters urge Danbury commission to protect legislative assistant with merit rules and to consider larger council, campaign‑finance authorization

Public commenters and some commissioners pressed the Danbury Charter Revision Commission on May 20 to strengthen rules for appointments and to modernize council structure.

At the start of the meeting, Michael Henry of Cortezsell Road asked the commission to ensure the appointment review covers "all the authorities, boards, societies, councils, hearing officers, entities, and agencies," and to add a residency requirement, "a 60 day clause to fill vacated positions, a term limit" and application to any newly formed special‑purpose provisions. "I would like to see it include a residency clause for all positions," Henry said.

Peter Bizaid, a resident who said he drafted some of the current language, urged the commission to reexamine Section 3‑3 on the legislative assistant. He said the provision was originally written to allow the city clerk to become the legislative assistant but that the commission should consider whether the position should be subject to the merit system. "That language was put there to accommodate the change from the city clerk to using legislative assistant," Bizaid said. "I wrote them."

Warren Levy, who provided population figures and a structural proposal, told the commission that Danbury's population has more than doubled since the 1965 charter and recommended adding two wards and two at‑large seats to restore proportional representation. "Danbury is a home of approximately 86,000 residents," Levy said. He also urged the commission to include a charter authorization for the city to adopt public campaign finance in the future so that reform would not require another charter revision: "I'm simply asking that the Charter include authorization, a clear statement that the City of Danbury may adopt a public campaign finance system in the future if the community so chooses to do it."

Several speakers who described hands‑on experience with city operations asked the commission to treat the town clerk and the legislative assistant as distinct roles. Laurie urged commissioners to consult town clerk staff before proposing an appointment model and warned that certification and learning the office "takes longer than four years." Michael Flanagan said Danbury Hospital increases the town clerk's workload because vital records for nonresidents who are born or die at the hospital flow through the Danbury office.

Commissioners acknowledged the concerns and instructed counsel and staff to draft options. For the legislative‑assistant question, members debated whether to put specific qualifications in the charter or to leave details to an ordinance or department rules; the commission asked staff to workshop language options for consideration at a future meeting.

The commission received public comments, then moved on to redline review of charter text. The body accepted the previous meeting's minutes by voice vote, with one abstention recorded for Commissioner Armstrong.

Next steps: the commission asked staff and counsel to present draft charter wording on appointments, legislative‑assistant authority and public‑notice modernization at upcoming sessions.