Thomas MacMillan Photo
Melissa Mason lays out 101 ways to change the Board of Ed.
Mayors and aldermen should face the voters once every four years, not every two years, a group working on revisiting the city’s charter is recommending. And “aldermen” should officially become gender-neutral “alders.”
Those recommendations emerged at City Hall Thursday evening in presentations by three sub-committees within the Charter Revision Commission. Commissioner Arlene DePino shared the four-year term recommendation.
The 15-member commission is charged with the decennial task of examining the city’s most basic legal document—the New Haven Charter — and determining what, if any, changes ought to be made to it. The group’s recommendations will be sent to the Board of Aldermen, which will vote on whether to place any recommended changes on the November election ballot, for a citywide referendum.
In order to tackle the more than two dozen suggested changes that the commission has to consider, it has split into three working groups, dubbed Groups A, B, and C. The working groups have been meeting separately during the month of March. On Thursday, they gathered in City Hall to share their progress.
While many proposed changes remain to be dealt with, a number of draft recommendations were revealed at Thursday’s briefing. The commission will reconvene as a whole on April 9 to begin its final deliberations, including voting on the recommendations that come out of the working groups.
The hottest topic of charter revision, whether to switch from an appointed Board of Ed to one that’s full or partially elected, has not been settled by its working group. Instead it has only become more complex, morphing from a three-option choice into a panoply of possible permutations.
Here are some highlights from the working groups’ presentations:
4‑Year Terms: Former East Shore Alderwoman DePino (pictured) said that Group B voted 4 to 1 to recommend that mayoral and aldermanic terms be extended from from two years to four. DePino said Group B decided that change should be effective Jan 1, 2016. The mayor who takes office in 2014 would still serve a two-year term.
Proponents of such a change say that it would allow elected officials to govern and develop an agenda without being in a state of perpetual campaigning. Opponents say two-year terms mean voters can hold officials more accountable.
State law does not allow the city to impose term limits for elected officials.
All Aboard: DePino said Group B is also recommending that “the mayor shall serve on all commissions and boards and have voting authority except as follows: Civil Service, Ethic, City Planning.”
City Corporation Counsel Victor Bolden said this would not be a large change. He pointed to Article V, Section 12f of the charter, which lists as one of the mayor’s duties: “To be a member, so long as there is no conflict with state law, of all boards or commissions established pursuant to state law, this charter, city ordinance or executive order … but excepting the civil service board.” The only change therefore would be to prevent the mayor to serve on the Board of Ethics or the City Plan Commission.
No Men, No Women: Group B is also recommending that the language of the charter be made gender neutral, including changing all reference to s “alderman” to “alder.”
More $$ For Aldermen: DePino said Group B is also recommending that the stipend for aldermen be increased by some amount. “We have not determined what that number would be,” she said.
Aldermen currently earn about $2,000 a year for serving on the board.
This recommendation does not, however, appear to fall within the purview of the commission, as the amount that aldermen are paid is not enshrined in the charter, but in city ordinance. Article XXXVI, Sect. 208 of the charter states that “The salary of each elected officer … shall be set by ordinance by the board of aldermen … but only upon the recommendation of the mayor.”
And the aldermen themselves have not been pushing for a raise.
Newhallville Alderwoman Delphine Clyburn (at right in photo below), a member of the commission, said after Thursday’s meeting that she’s opposed to a pay increase: “With the kind of budget we’re in, I don’t think that should be so.”
If the pay were to go up, “people will take it like a part-time job,” Clyburn said. “I do it because I love it. I have my own job.”
CRB: Joelle Fishman (pictured), facilitator for Group C, said her group is recommending that the charter include language enshrining the existence of the Civilian Review Board, which is charged with reviewing complaints against the police. The board now exists only by ordinance. By state law, the board cannot have subpoena power, as some people had requested during public hearings earlier this year.
Residency Points: Group C is also recommending that the charter include language encouraging all city departments to hire New Haven residents, and that New Haveners get extra 10 points on entrance examinations when being considered for a city job.
Still 30 Aldermen: Group A reported that it has decided not to recommend a change to the size of the Board of Aldermen, as some had suggested.
Aldermanic Approval: Group A is also recommending that all mayoral appointees to boards and commissions be subject to approval by the Board of Aldermen.
Boards Of Ed: Melissa Mason, the facilitator of Group A, described the progress her group has made on tackling what as emerged as perhaps the most difficult and charged question of charter revision: Whether to shift from an appointed Board of Ed to one that’s fully or partially elected.
Mason described several options Group A is looking at: 1) A fully elected seven-member board. 2) A board of five elected members and two appointed by the mayor. 3) An expanded nine-member board comprising five appointed by the mayor and approved by the Board of Aldermen, two elected, and two students. 4) A board of seven members appointed by the mayor and approved by the Board of Aldermen.
Mason also presented a number of other variations and questions to consider: Elected members could be elected “at large” by the whole city, or they could be elected by district. Students could be elected to staggered two-year seats by the citywide student council, or they could be elected to one-year terms by all city high school students. Should they be given full voting power? Should they have support from Board of Ed staff? The charter could also place requirements and qualifications on mayoral appointees, including geographic requirements. Or a partially elected Board of Ed could appoint members to itself. With an elected board, can non-citizen New Haven parents of public school students be given the right to vote for Board of Ed members?
“It’s always an option to do nothing,” said Commissioner Brian Perkins, a former appointed Board of Ed chairman.
“We’ve heard a lot of testimony calling for some change,” said Mason. “We’ve also heard testimony for keeping it the same. We are thinking about a full spectrum, but we are aware of what we have.”