Fairfield Selectmen Prep Questions For Charter Revision Commission

FAIRFIELD, CT — As the Fairfield Board of Selectpersons winds down its review of the Charter Revision Commission's recommendations on changes to the Town Charter, it appears set to send a set of questions back to the commission for further analysis.

The board met Monday and is scheduled to meet again on Tuesday, at which time the board will likely settle on a list of questions for further deliberation by the commission.

Though the list has not been set, attorney Steve Mednick, who serves as counsel to the Charter Revision Commission, has a running list of about 20 questions the board is considering sending to the commission for review. How many of those questions will end up on the list for further analysis has not been finalized.

Monday's meeting centered on some changes the commission recommends to the town's budgeting process, in an effort to reduce the number of budget meetings and improve collaboration among the Board of Selectpersons, the Board of Finance and the Representative Town Meeting.

"Not a thing has changed in the power and authority of the Board of Finance," Mednick said, adding that the commission's goal is reducing redundancy of presentations by department heads by recommending joint budget meetings. "There has been no change in the power of the RTM."

First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick supports the proposed change because she sees it as a move toward a "more transparent, more accountable and more efficient" process.

Resident Mary Hogue said the budget process should remain prolonged, because it "gives citizens more time to digest" the town's annual spending plan.

The RTM was getting the budget dead last, so the change would get members more involved in the process," Kupchick said. "I thought it was a benefit to the RTM."

During the public comment portion of Monday's meeting, residents zeroed in on the proposed reduction in the number of RTM members from the current 40 to 30, a potential move that all the speakers opposed.

"No one who is not on the CRC has asked for the reduction in the RTM," said resident Loren O'Brien, adding the recommendation lacked "quantitative and qualitative" data on its benefits. "Smaller means less. The RTM is meant to be inclusionary, not exclusionary."

Tuesday's Board of Selectmen meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. in Independence Hall. Click here to view the agenda.