WESTFIELD – The consolidation of several city departments may be the spark that initiates a review of the City Charter which was established in 1920 when Westfield was incorporated as a city by the state Legislature.
Charter & Rules Committee Chairwoman Mary O’Connell said review of the Charter document, which is nearly 100 years old, “is long overdue.”
O’Connell, the Ward 4 councilor, said that the Charter & Rules has worked to review and change the City Council rules and to bring the Charter into compliance with federal and state laws where major changes have occurred since 1920.
“The committee has taken a three prong approach,” O’Connell, who was reappointed to the chairmanship by Council President Brian Sullivan this week. “During 2012 and 2013 we completed the review of the City Council rules and made changes as the first prong of the review process.”
“The committee also cleaned up the easy charter changes, the low hanging fruit so to speak, to bring the charter into compliance with state and federal (equal opportunity) laws,” O’Connell said earlier this week.
That “low-hanging fruit” charter change required the City Council and executive branch to submit a Home Rule petition to the Legislature where it was scrutinized to ensure that the changes were not substantial and eventually approved.
Substantial changes to the charter, such as amending the terms of elected officials, would trigger the need for a voter referendum prior to action by the Legislature to approve those changes.
“I would like to tackle round 3, more substantive charter changes, but I need Mayor (Daniel M.) Knapik to submit an appropriation for that to the City Council,” O’Connell said.
The funding is needed to hire legal representation to guide and assist the Charter & Rules Committee members in navigating the state law regarding charter changes.
“I’m very interested to get working on it,” O’Connell said. “It’s a one – to two-year project that is long overdue. The Charter is almost 100 years old, so it’s time to look at it.”
Also serving on the Charter & Rules Committee this year are At-large Councilors Cindy Harris and Matthew VanHeynigen.”
O’Connell said that Attorney Peter Martin, the former supervisor of the City’s Law Department, provided legal services to the committee during its review of the Council Rules and initial Charter changes.
“Peter knows the City Charter better than anyone and it is my hope that he will be available to work on this last phase,” O’Connell said. “That’s why we need an appropriation, to hire expert consultants.”
O’Connell said that the current assessment of city departmental structure and a possible recommendation for consolidation of those functions could trigger the need for charter review.
“I would say that yes, at first blush, consolidation (of departments) could trigger the need for Charter change, but I would defer to the Law Department to make that determination,” O’Connell said. “Consolidation may be the spark to get (the Charter Review) process going.”
