Politics & Government
Charter Revision Commission Votes on Final List of Recommendations
The Charter Revision Commission put the finishing touches on their final presentation to be voted on by the Board of Representatives Monday night.
The Charter Revision Commission voted Thursday night to present their final recommendations to the Board of Representatives on Monday.
The findings of the 17th Charter Revision Commission will be presented to the board, who will in turn accept or refuse the findings. If accepted, a list of questions will be drafted for presentation to the general public during November elections.
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Hot-button items in question—topics like the Fire Department Unification plan or the separation of the Water Pollution Control Authority into its own entity—could reach the public via the November ballot.
Ideas like a suggested slashing of 40 Board of Representatives members to 20, were met with a mixed reaction that amounted to a circular back and forth of "It ain't broke, don't need to fix it," and "The public should decide if we need it or if it's broke," an argument that would arise a few times throughout the evening.
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The unification of six fire districts with their own chiefs and methods of operation into the singular Stamford Fire Department was undoubtedly the most hotly argued and one that leaves a number of issues on the table to be decided on later.
The plan would create a single-chief system in the city, but maintain a somewhat distinct separation of volunteer and paid services. Most of the concern for the plan stems from fear that the volunteer departments will eventually get lost in the mix or lose the authority and heritage they currently sport.
On unification, Representative Joseph Cappola, a Belltown volunteer firefighter since 1961, presented the opposing arguments, some strong and some based in further in semantics.
"I don't know if that is something the volunteer firefighters are going to embrace," he said. "For instance, we are the Belltown Fire Department, Inc. The word 'Department' is taken out in some of these places and replaced with 'Company.' We become a 'Company' of the Stamford Fire Department. That is not something, I believe, that will be embraced."
Cappola also presented the idea of how the plan was going to be paid for, since monies have yet ot be designated for the restructuring, however that might take place.
When asked at the end of the meeting if unifying the Stamford Fire Department under one name would create issues about who was paying for which parts of the department and if it was fair that some might be paying more than others, Charter Revision Commission member Rep. Mary Fedeli didn't think issues would be that difficult to resolve on the off chance they did arise.
"[Taxpayers in volunteer districts would need to start paying taxes towards the salaries of paid firefighters] only if, in my opinion, if paid firefighters start to respond [regularly] in volunteer districts," Fedeli said. "If the volunteer firefighters continue to service their districts without paid assistance, then there would be no change."
Fedeli used examples of sending mutual aid to other towns as a way fire departments help other areas out when necessary but mainly stick to their own districts.
Topics like reducing the size of the Board of Representatives from 40 members to 20—another argument that found a lot of people arguing the system works fine the way it is with detractors stating that should be something voters decide for themselves—was shot down by the commission, but could still be passed by the Board of Representatives.
One topic that will definitely not be addressed is the way in which the city handles bonding issues or any topic relating to that.
The 17th Charter Revisions Commission decided to abstain from voting on that particular issue, instead holding the topic in hopes that an 18th Charter Revision Commission will be established next year made up of a majority of the same members who would not need to do all the prior research in order to move the conversation along more swiftly.
President of the Board of Representatives Randall Skigen said the board is likely to follow the recommendations of the commission, as is historically what has happened a majority of the time.
"For the most part, support has been strong for most of the things the commission has recommended to the board," Skigen said.
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