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Date: August 24, 2020 To: Board of Selectmen - Town of Madison From: Government Study Committee (Ad Hoc) Re: Report of Findings

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Date: August 24, 2020 To: Board of Selectmen - Town of Madison From: Government Study Committee (Ad Hoc) Re: Report of Findings Date: August 24, 2020 To: Board of Selectmen - Town of Madison From: Government Study Committee (Ad Hoc) Re: Report of Findings EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Madison Board of Selectmen formed the Government Study Committee (Ad Hoc) (“Committee”) via a volunteer group of residents of the Town of Madison. The Committee membership included Jean Ferris, Robert Hubbard, Lauren Noble, Robert F. Polito, Jr., Peter Roos, Robert Reinhardt, and Leo J. White. The Committee met twenty-four times from February through August 2020. The Committee conducted over twenty-five interviews with government officials of various towns in Connecticut; former first selectman of the Town of Madison; current members of the Board of Selectmen for the Town of Madison; Town of Madison employees; members of commissions ​ and other boards within the Town of Madison; and solicited public opinion while completing the Committee’s research into the fulfilling its charge. The Committee identified four areas of possible investigation by the presumptive Charter Review Commission (“Commission”) to address possible problems and causes related to the government structure and/or the Town of Madison charter (“Charter”). The areas included Voter Engagement; Separation of Power; Continuity; and Executive Authority. The Committee provided various considerations to potentially change, or adjust, the Town Meeting form of government and/or amend the Charter. The Committee believes it has met the obligations of the Charge given to it by the Board of Selectman and respectfully submits this document to the Board of Selectmen for its consideration. BACKGROUND I. GOVERNMENT STUDY COMMITTEE (AD HOC) CHARGE The Board of Selectmen (“Board”) for the Town of Madison (“Town” or “Madison”) have tasked the Committee with “consider[ing] different forms of government permissible under state statute and make recommendations for possible changes to Madison’s government structure and/or charter” (“Charge”). The Committee has interpreted the Charge as two-fold: (1) research, identify, and recommend permissible changes to the Town’s government structure along with accompanying charter changes and (2) research, identify, and recommend Page 1 of 16 permissible changes to the Town’s charter that are not accompanied by government structure changes. The Board has stated that the Committee should consider the following in meeting the obligations of the Charge: (i) review existing charters of other municipalities in the state of Connecticut and look for “best practices;” (ii) hold public workshops and/or input sessions to evaluate public opinion on feasible options; (iii) conduct a public opinion poll to gauge community preferences; and (iv) consult with appropriate town employees, governmental agencies, other municipalities, and outside consultants to assist in developing recommendations. II. FORMS OF GOVERNMENT PERMISSIBLE UNDER CONNECTICUT GENERAL STATUTES a. Permissible Forms Connecticut General Statute (“Statute”) Sec. 7-193 requires each municipality to have a Legislative Body. The legislative body may be: (A) a town meeting; (B) a representative town meeting; (C) a board of selectmen, council, board of directors, board of aldermen or board of burgesses; or (D) a combination of a town meeting or representative town meeting and one of the bodies listed in subparagraph (C). In any combination, the body having the greater number of members shall have the power to adopt the annual budget and shall have such other powers as the charter prescribes, and the body having the lesser number of members shall have the power to adopt, amend and repeal ordinances, subject to any limitations imposed by the general statutes or by the charter. The number of members in any elective legislative body; the terms of office of such members; and the method by which they are elected shall be prescribed by the charter. The Statute also requires that each municipality must have a chief executive officer. The chief executive officer may be one of the following: (A) a first selectman; (B) a chief administrative officer appointed by the board of selectmen; (C) a mayor elected by the electors of the municipality; (D) a warden elected by the electors of the borough; (E) a town, city or borough manager appointed by the board of selectmen, the council, the board of directors, the board of aldermen or the board of burgesses; [or] (F) a chief administrative officer appointed by the mayor. Any municipality having a manager as its chief executive officer may also have a mayor who shall be the presiding officer of its legislative body, shall be the ceremonial head of such municipality and shall have such other powers and duties as the charter prescribes. The powers, duties and term of office of the chief executive officer shall be those prescribed by the general statutes and the chief executive officer shall have such other powers and duties as the charter prescribes. The Town Meeting (“TM") - Selectman is a form of municipal government in which all qualified voters of the municipality debate and vote on policy decisions at the town meeting (“meeting”). Page 2 of 16 The meeting usually occurs annually, but special meetings may be called more frequently. The Board of Selectmen is elected to carry out the legislative policies set by the vote of the citizenry at the meeting. The citizenry can participate at the meeting to debate, set policy, vote on ordinances, taxes, budgets, and various other matters as set by town charter. A total of 101 towns in Connecticut take Town Meeting - Selectmen as their municipal government structure. The Town Meeting - Selectmen form of government is only found in 3% of municipal governments within the United States. This form, however, is the dominant form of government throughout New England. The Representative Town Meeting (“RTM”) - Selectman form of government is also permissible under the Statute. The RTM - Selectman form of government operates similarly to the TM - Selectman form in that there is a board as the executive and a town meeting as the legislature. In the RTM - Selectman form, however, representatives of districts within the town vote on the proposals from the board, as opposed to a quorum of the voting-eligible citizens, at a meeting. The meeting is open to the public and the public is generally allowed to speak, but not vote, at the meeting. Branford, Darien, Fairfield, Greenwich, Groton, Waterford, and Westport chose the RTM form of government. The number of representatives varies by town. Waterford has 24 representatives while Greenwich has 230 representatives. The powers of the RTM also vary by town. Greenwich, for example, appears to have an RTM with significant authority that can provide a substantive check on the board of selectman. The Council - Manager form of government features a popularly elected council that is responsible for policy making. This council then elects one of its own members to be the chairperson (sometimes referred to as the mayor) and appoints a manager to oversee the municipality’s daily operations. In this arrangement, managers are empowered to make appointments and critical managerial decisions. A main benefit of this form of government is that the day-to-day operations are largely insulated from politics. In a 2006 survey, 55% of municipal governments identified as having the Council - Manager form of government, making it the most common form of local government in the United States. The Mayor - Council form of government features an elected council as the legislature and a popularly elected mayor as the executive. The mayor often appoints a city administrator or managing director to oversee daily operations. The tenure of the administrator or director is prone to align with the mayoral cycle since this role is filled by the mayor. This contrasts with the Council - Manager form since the manager appointment is not necessarily aligned with any political cycle. The Mayor - Council form of local government is the second most popular structure of municipal government within the United States according to the same 2006 survey with 34% of municipal governments taking this form. b. Town of Madison Form of Government Page 3 of 16 The TM - Selectman is the form of municipal government for the Town of Madison. Under the Charter, the legislative body of the Town is the Meeting and, to a certain extent, the Board. The Charter sets the quorum for the Meeting as 75 voting-eligible citizens. If a quorum is not achieved, then the proposals from the Board are approved by default. The Charter also sets the Board of Selectmen and First Selectman as the executive branch. III. COLLECTION OF PUBLIC OPINION a. Public Comment in Committee Meetings Public participation at Committee meetings was limited. Former first selectman Mr. Gus Horvath, however, did attend most meetings and provided substantive comment. Mr. Horvath also provided numerous written submissions to the Committee collected in the Appendix of this report. b. Public Forums Two public forums were conducted to solicit opinions from the electorate related to our Charge. The first forum was conducted via videoconference on May 18, 2020 and four voters participated. The second public forum was held on June 1, 2020 and one voter participated. Opinions offered during these forums included: 1) implementing a town manager to, in part, potentially decrease the effects of partisan politics; 2) replacing the Meeting with an RTM to, in part, potentially address the overall lack of voter participation and to provide better structural checks and balances; and 3) increasing the term for Selectmen to four years. c. Public Questionnaire A questionnaire was made available to the public that asked for a level of agreement, or disagreement, with six statements and also presented four open-ended questions. The statements/questions had been structured with the intent of soliciting the participants’ opinions on the functioning and efficiency of the Town government. It had not been the Committee’s intent to solicit political commentary on the performance of any individual, elected or otherwise, in the Town government.
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