Stonington Representative Joins Committee on Town Government Structure

Representative Diana Urban (Stonington, North Stonington) was recently appointed by the North Stonington Board of Selectman to the Town Government Structure Committee.

The newly formed committee will study alternate forms of town governance for North Stonington and make recommendations based on their findings, according to a release.

“Currently, for a town of its size, North Stonington devotes very few resources to town management. What we want to look at is if what we are currently doing is sufficient, and if not, what are some possible solutions?” Urban said. “I’d like to thank First Selectman Murphy for raising this issue and bringing the committee together. The more efficiently our town government runs, the better it can serve the residents of North Stonington.”

Currently, North Stonington has a Selectmen-Town Meeting government structure, with a Board of Selectmen composed of three members. The committee will assess the current government structure and investigate other potential governance structures, such as Town Manager-Selectmen-Town Meeting and Financial Manager-Selectmen-Town Meeting.

“I hope to bring a very practical, evidence-based approach to the committee’s review. In my legislative work as the Children’s Committee Chair, we have been very successful in using data to understand the strengths and weaknesses of various programs,” Urban said. “Once we’ve evaluated our current government structure, we can assess which elements of other town governments could be applied in North Stonington.”

The committee meets for the first time on Aug. 23 and is expected to provide recommendations on proposed action to the Board of Selectmen in six months.