Charter Change Summary

Many voters have been asking me for a summary of the 106 Page Booklet that they will be receiving from the Charter Commission.  Personally, I think it is very unfair of the Commission to have made so many changes that the voters are expected to digest a document loaded with very substantial changes that reads like mortgage loaded with legalese.  For the convenience of the voters I have developed the following summary:

The current charter of the city is completely abolished and substituted by a new proposed charter.  The Mayor’s salary shall be increased by 14% from $85,000 to $97,000 per year. The power of the Mayor will become much stronger.  The separation of powers between the City Council and Mayor will change.  The City Council’s appointments over the financial oversight positions of Assessors, Tax Collector and Auditor will all be given over to the Mayor.  The Mayor will also have the power to add or delete any city department and the City Council will not be permitted to amend the Mayor’s proposal but may only approve or disapprove the entire proposal. The Public Works Commission and Fire Commission are abolished and those powers are transferred to the Mayor. The Mayor will become a member of most remaining commissions.  The War Memorial Commission will no longer be exclusively composed of veterans.  Current provisions requiring residency for certain department heads will be eliminated.  Terms of office of numerous appointed officials will be eliminated and those individuals will serve as employees at will under the Mayor.  The Mayor’s term of office will also be expanded from a 2-year term to a 4-year term. The City Clerk and City Treasurer will no longer be elected by voters but will become appointed.  A new Chief Financial Officer position, which reports to the Mayor, will be created at a significant cost to the city.  Effective at the 2013 municipal election, individual voters will no longer be able to elect a majority of the members of the city council.  The City Council will be reduced from 15 members consisting of 7 members elected by a ward and 8 members elected at-large to a body of 11 members maintaining the same number of wards but eliminating 4 of the 8 at-large members.  Individual voters shall no longer elect 9 of 15 members (8 at-large and 1 ward) but only 5 of 11 members (4 at-large and 1 ward).  The School Committee will continue to be a 9 member body consisting of 7 members representing wards and 2 members elected at-large.    The City Council and School Committee will continue to serve 2-year terms.  Signature requirements for municipal candidates will increase between 100% and 400% depending on the office.  A new process will be created to allow voters to petition the City Council to put items on the agenda, to initiate referendum to reverse measures adopted by the City Council or School Committee, and they may also initiate a recall procedure for any elected official.  If adopted, numerous Special Acts adopted by the City Council and Mayor in past will be repealed.  The charter will be reviewed every 10 years and the ordinances will be reviewed every 5 years.  The Mayor will control a majority of the appointments to the review commissions.

Please take the Holyoke First Charter Change Poll to let your fellow Holyokers know how you feel!