Framingham's Charter Glitch on Day One as a City

It was shortly after noon on Friday, December 29, 2017, when an email from the town administration popped into my inbox. It was addressed to all the folks who had been elected to the City Council and the School Committee in the recent election, and who were to be sworn in at the inauguration event in Nevins Hall in the Memorial Building, commencing at 12pm on January 1st, 2018.

The email, which was forwarded by the staffer handling inauguration logistics, originated from Town Counsel, and contained a perplexing message.

On the advice of Town Counsel, and ostensibly to comply with the City Charter, it had been decided to have the real swearing in ceremony out of the public view prior to noon on New Year's Day and then have a fake swearing in ceremony in the public view at the inauguration event.

The idea of doing this seemed quite outrageous, as on the very first day as a city, the plan was to visit a fraud on the public. Attendees at the inauguration event would think they were witnessing the authentic swearing ceremony, when in fact it would have been done earlier in the day.

Here is a quote from the email forwarded from Town Counsel:

"This will confirm my advice and recommendation that the Mayor, City Council and School Committee be officially sworn in at noon on January 1, 2018 to comply with the requirements of the Charter. Article X, Section 7(h)(iv) of the Charter expressly provides that “[a]t noon on the first day of January (January 1, 2018), the officials elected at the election of November 7, 2017 shall be sworn to office in accordance with Article IX, section 11.” Since the Inauguration Ceremony is not scheduled to begin until noon on January 1st, and the actual swearing in may not occur until 1230 p.m. or later based on the program listing, my recommendation is that Town Clerk Valerie Mulvey swear in Mayor-Elect Spicer at approximately 1140 a.m. on January 1, 2018 in the Blumer Room, and then Mayor Spicer swear in the City Council and School Committee members at approximately 1145 a.m. in the Blumer Room. After this official swearing in, the officials will proceed upstairs to Nevins Hall for the formal ceremony that will begin at noon (which will include a separate swearing in ceremony). By proceeding in this fashion, we will honor the requirements of the Charter that the officials be sworn in at noon on January 1, 2018, albeit a few minutes in advance. I have discussed this approach with you, Mayor-Elect Spicer and Town Clerk Mulvey, and all are in agreement that this is a reasonable and appropriate way to handle this under the circumstances presented."

It was obvious that this could not stand, so I wrote an email back, as did a number of other folks. Mine made the simple argument as follows:

"Sorry to disagree, but the public has an expectation that they will be witnessing the actual swearing in and to have it occur prior to noon would be problematic in my view.

The charter says noon, but obviously means that the ceremony will begin at noon. The entire swearing in could not be done in an instant.

It would be as much a ‘violation’ of the charter to do the swearing in before noon as to do it after, plus doing it before noon turns the actual swearing in into an event out of the public view.

I would implore those concerned with this to proceed with the swearing in starting at noon and properly in public view."

Then we all got the final determination from the town in an email sent to us just before 9am on Saturday, December 30, 2017:

"In light of the concerns raised by some of you, we have considered this matter further. Town Counsel advises that the practical risk of not having people sworn in exactly at 12 noon is not a high one, and that it is acceptable to start the inauguration ceremony as noon as scheduled, with actual swearing in to occur during the program. Thus, the Mayor has decided to proceed at noon as previously scheduled without the earlier swearing in."

In the end, everything turned out fine, but there are lessons to be learned from this experience.

First, it is very easy to overlook future problems when writing a charter. Nothing is perfect, and we should expect the first version of a City Charter to need improvements, as its operation becomes clear through practical experience. In this case, the seemingly innocuous language of the charter specified an impossibility.

Second, one has to always critically analyze received advice, especially from 'authorities', and work from first principles. This is especially true when dealing with new situations, where past practices or past experience may not be a reliable guide.

There have been many problems with the City Charter, and many successes.

In future articles, the focus will remain on City Charter problems, as that is the key to achieving improvements in the this most important document.