Laura Glesby file photo
Majority Leader / Charter Revision Commission Vice Chair Richard Furlow: The aim is to “keep the process simple.”
It’s official: voters will get to decide in November whether or not New Haven should implement four-year terms for mayor and alders — although to understand what they’re voting for, they’ll need to do their homework in advance.
The Board of Alders unanimously approved a proposal of revisions to New Haven’s charter on Monday night, which would extend alder, mayor, and city clerk term lengths from two years to four, among other changes.
The vote culminated a mandatory, once-every-decade effort to review and update the city’s charter — a months-long process involving an appointed Charter Revision Commission, members of the Board of Alders, and legal consultant Steve Mednick.
The prospective edits to the city’s foundational document are now in the hands of voters, who can either approve or reject the proposal by way of a ballot measure in the Nov. 7 general election.
Thanks to Monday’s aldermanic vote, those changes will be presented to voters in November in the form of a single ballot question: “Shall Charter changes as recommended by the Charter Revision Commission and adopted by the Board of Alders be approved and adopted?”
Perhaps the most consequential proposal covered by that question is four-year terms for the mayor, the city clerk, and all 30 alders beginning in the 2027 election cycle.
If approved by voters in November, the charter revisions would also allow alders to move granular requirements and structural outlines of many city departments, boards, and commissions out of the charter and into ordinance form. As a result, alders would be able to restructure numerous departments, boards, and commissions through the typical legislative process, rather than waiting up to a decade to make those changes through a more arduous charter revision system. (For instance, alders have indicated an intention to eliminate “lifetime appointees” to the Parks Commission.) The charter revision proposal also retains the current residency requirement for city department heads.
On Monday, the 23 alders present at the meeting in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of City Hall unanimously decided to present the suggested changes to voters in a single question.
As a result, the ballot won’t feature text specifying what, exactly, those changes are. It will bundle the proposed charter changes together into one question, meaning that voters’ only options will be to either approve or reject everything in the new draft.
This question “makes it easier for voters to understand what’s going on,” explained Majority Leader Richard Furlow, who represents Westville and Amity on the Board of Alders and who served as Vice Chair of the Charter Revision Commission. The aim, Furlow said, is to “keep the process simple.”
He added, referring to the new charter draft, “We’re going to post it like crazy.”
In addition to extending major elected terms to four years and making department, board, and commission structures easier to change, the proposed changes would:
• Increase alders’ annual stipends from $2,000 to $5,000 (or $6,200 for the president), with cost-of-living raises.
• Explicitly clarify that alders must approve all city contracts of at least $100,000.
• Extend the window for alders’ approval of appointees to city boards and commissions from 60 to 90 days.
• Change all language in the charter to be gender neutral.
• Make line edits and correct a handful of inconsistencies and errors.
A full draft of the charter with proposed revisions can be found here, and the summary of changes that the Commission formally submitted to alders is available here.
See below for previous articles about this year’s Charter Revision Commission process.
• Alders Block Non-Citizens From Boards For Now
• Immigrants Cut Short, Walk Out
• Immigrant Participation, Protections Eyed
• Revisers Punt On Residency Requirements
• 4‑Year Terms, Residency Requirements Embraced
• Immortality Loophole Looms For Board Lifers
• To Split Or Not To Split Traffic & Police Boards
• Charter Revisers Eye Alder Pay Bump
• If It’s Good Enough For Hartford, Middletown
• Elicker Administration Pitches 4‑Year Terms
• Union Targets Mayor’s Ed Board Influence
• Ready. Set. Revise!
• 9 Approved For Charter Revision Commission
• Alders Establish Charter Revision Commission
• 4‑Year Terms Back Up For Debate