Tiverton council advances multiple charter amendments for November ballot after heated hearing on personnel board role

The Tiverton Town Council spent the bulk of its meeting hearing public comment and revising proposed Home Rule Charter amendments, approving a slate of charter language and ballot questions while altering or removing a few items after resident input.

Key moves: Councilors approved language to allow transfer/sale of certain town land without a ballot question, considered a change to stagger council terms and move some seats to four‑year terms, and approved making the town treasurer and town clerk appointed positions rather than elected. The council also approved insertion of a town planner role, reductions to several boards’ membership (planning and harbor commissions), and zoning board wording updates to conform with state law. The sale of a specific unimproved parcel (0 Poplar Street, Map 201 Lot 125) was approved as a separate ballot item.

Personnel board and hiring practice debate: The most contested item involved proposed language that, as drafted, would have removed the personnel board from screening applicants for the town administrator. Jim Camaro, chairman of the personnel board, urged the council to preserve the board’s screening and confidentiality procedures, describing the personnel board as a ‘‘filter’’ that screens applications and protects applicant privacy. After public comment and council discussion, Councilor Burke moved to strike the proposed removal and instead insert language from the council’s governance policy that formalizes the personnel board’s role in receiving applications, screening candidates and conducting the initial interviews for the town administrator. The council approved the amended language.

Elections and term changes: The council debated moving to staggered four‑year council terms; councilors and public commenters raised concerns about changing term lengths, voter clarity at the polls and whether the change should commence immediately or in 2028. The council amended the language to indicate commencement timing and approved the charter language and ballot question with revised wording to clarify when four‑year terms would begin.

Other actions: Councilors voted to remove some proposed charter items from consideration — notably, they deferred action on deleting the Arts Commission after public comment and rescinded an earlier change to volunteer‑firefighter preferential hiring language. The council also approved multiple ballot‑question wordings and instructed the town solicitor to consolidate related land‑transfer language into a single ballot question to avoid contradictory provisions.

What the ballot will include: Multiple, separate ballot questions—ranging from land transfer authority to officer appointment changes, changes to boards and commissions, and the sale of 0 Poplar Street—were approved for placement on the November ballot. The council said the voter information guide will provide detailed explanations of each amendment.

Next steps: Several items were deferred for technical cleanup and numerical renumbering of charter sections; the council set a follow‑up meeting to finalize ballot language. The council also agreed to hold a Monday follow‑up to resolve outstanding wording and to invite the school committee chair and other parties back for clarification on specific items (for example, officer‑election timing for the school committee).

The meeting closed into a scheduled executive session to discuss collective bargaining with United Steelworkers Local 14845.