Continuing to Move New Britain Forward Requires Charter Changes:

On November 8th New Britain voters will head to the polls to not only decide who they want as their newly elected state leaders but there will also be two questions regarding amending our City’s Charter.

As somebody who has worked in multiple municipalities over the years, I would strongly encourage voters to accept the proposed amendments and help New Britain adopt 21st-century public administration best practices.

A lot of the recent chatter I’ve heard around town has been related to the process of how the final questions are structured and presented — those discussions absolutely have merit.

Personally, Treasurer Danny Salerno’s approach of considering that question two be separated into a third question or more detailed provided would have given the greatest level of transparency for voters. However, the Common Council (the Council) has decided and we must now turn the substance of these proposed amendments.

Question #1 deals with the Council representation and ensuring minority party representation. As our representative democracy evolves, and minor parties take root across our nation and state, ensuring that there is a broad cross-section of opinions will only enhance the Council meetings and encourage stronger coalition building, which in turn, will lead to better and stronger public policy.

Question #2 is a “catch-all” amendment that lumps together “administrative questions” — (a) civil service appointments of a Chief Administrative Officer, Town/City Clerk, and Collector of Taxes and Revenue, and (b) ensures a continuing review process of our City’s charter to make sure that we are staying up to date with best practices. The passage of this question will provide greater governance stability in City Hall from administration to administration and will continue the state-wide objectives that towns have been moving toward of professionalizing their municipal staff.

The questions which face our community are critical to ensuring the growth of our community and continuing to uphold key values of Mayor Erin Stewart’s administration: accountability, transparency, problem-solving, and electoral competition. I urge my fellow residents to vote Yes on Charter Revisions.

###

John Board is an unaffiliated voter who has previously served in the Erin Stewart administration. Residents can learn more about the charter revision questions by visiting: https://www.yesoncharternb.com/.

As submitted to the New Britain Herald for publication.