Charter Commission proposes mandated annual 'charge' for every town agency

The Charter Commission on July 30 voted to add a requirement that all town agencies, whether elected or appointed, carry an annually mandated 'charge' that defines their responsibilities and authority. Chair (speaker 3) framed the change as an accountability measure to prevent committees from acting without clear guardrails.

Commissioners debated placement and wording, agreeing the mandate should live in Chapter 7 and the single-word definition should be added to the definitions section rather than repeated throughout the charter. “All town agencies, whether elected or appointed, shall have a charge,” the Chair proposed during the meeting, and commissioners settled on putting the requirement in section 7-11 with the phrase “as approved by the Select Board.”

Members clarified that the 'charge' should be a document defining responsibilities and authorities rather than an ad hoc mission note. Tom Ward (speaker 1) suggested the charge act like a short mission statement and include explicit authority limits; the commission agreed that the town administrator would provide a template and that agencies should submit current charges for review.

The commission also discussed implementation: town administration would compile existing documents (some dating back decades), the Select Board would formally approve charges, and new or revised charges would be posted for transparency. The change is intended as an administrative, not a budgetary, reform; commissioners noted it would not, on its own, create new spending obligations.

Next steps: commissioners instructed staff to insert the agreed language into Draft 7 and to add the 'charge' definition to the Definitions section before circulating the revised draft for the next meeting and the public hearing scheduled for late September.