Charter commission seeks community input

Manchester — village or city? The answer may be just over the horizon.

by Marsha Chartrand

The newly elected City Charter Commission has completed its work of developing a City Charter for Manchester and as the next step of the ongoing process will be holding a public information meeting to present the results on Thursday, January 26, at 6pm in the Village Council Chambers.

The Commission is asking for Village of Manchester residents to provide comment and feedback on the drafted City Charter. A completed draft copy of the City Charter is currently available on the Village of Manchester’s
website. Written comments and questions may be submitted to the Village Clerk by 4pm on January 26.

“We have completed a draft that we’re all happy with; now we need input,“ said Jeff Wallace, who has served as the chair of the Charter Commission since its first meeting in early November. “I will be at the Village Council meeting on Tuesday, January 17, to review it and get input from Council.“

Wallace said that the process has gone quite smoothly, despite interruptions of the holidays and everyone’s general busy-ness.

“We all agreed from the start that we wanted the charter to mirror the way the municipal government works now,“ he said. “That definitely made the process easier. It will remain non-partisan, with a strong City Council that directs the City Manager, much the way the Village Council relates to the Village Manager at this time. We used other characteristics that we wanted from other communities, that fit the way we wanted. The best part is that everyone worked on it. We had homework assignments, everyone came to the meetings prepared, and a lot of work got done very fast.“

Once the Commission receives feedback from the community, they will make any further changes to the charter prior to their 90-day deadline in mid-February, and submit the final draft to the Governor’s office for approval. Depending on turnaround, a vote on the Charter and a prospective City Council (presuming the Charter is passed) could be held as soon as November 2023.

“However,“ Wallace warned, “there are no promises. This process has already been extended much longer than we anticipated by COVID. We are bound by state deadlines when an election can be held. And we will hold it at the earliest possible date.“

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.