Administration Pushing To Extend Mayor Infurna's Term 2 Months

MELROSE, MA — Attempting to fix what the mayor's administration is calling an "operational glitch" in the City Charter could result in Mayor Gail Infurna's term being extended two months. The goal, the administration says, is to provide time for the incoming mayor to get up to speed and have their team established. But some Melrose officials are hesitant to support an order that could see a sitting mayor extend her term.

The order, which will be discussed Thursday night at an Appropriations Committee meeting, was put forth by Infurna and would amend Section 3-10(c) of the Charter. Currently it states that the term of a mayor who was elevated from president of the board to fill a mayoral vacancy, such as Infurna was, will leave office once the results of the next election are official, assuming that mayor has not been elected back into office. Infurna has already stated she will not be running in the fall.

The amendment would see such a mayor's term end the same time as a duly elected mayor - on the first Monday after the first Tuesday of the new year.

"The Charter is a living document, and as time passes and the city operates we realize it's beneficial to the best interest of the public to make certain changes to the document," City Solicitor Robert Van Campen told Patch. Van Campen said the order was being put forth by the administration through Infurna, who is the only person besides an alderman who can introduce legislation.

The administration insists the extension would only be to make for a smoother transition for the incoming mayor. When asked if Infurna would use the extra time to introduce any non-urgent legislation, Van Campen said he did not "anticipate any legilsation that would be considered controversial or monumental.

"I think the focus on that point would be to really work with the incoming administration to make sure that person is fully prepared to face all the challenges," Van Campen said.

Not everyone sees it as such. Several aldermen Patch spoke with before Thursday night's meeting were either opposed to the order, leaning that way, or hesitant to support to it.

"I have concerns about the optics of changing our City's foundational document in what feels like a reactive manner, rather than through careful deliberation divorced from any particular set of facts," Alderman Kate Lipper-Garabedian said, while noting she had not yet heard the rationale for the order.

The aldermen Patch spoke to were in the same boat of not knowing quite what was behind the push. There was no letter attached to the order in Thursday's agenda from anyone in the administration. The discussion Thursday night was expected to be largely about changing the name of the Board of Aldermen.

"I dont think there was any intent not to be transparent about it," Van Campen said.

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Alderman Manisha Bewtra, one of three who have announced their candidacy for mayor, said she supports the order to provide for a period of transition.

"This is a common sense amendment aimed at providing continuity and stability to an election cycle," Bewtra said.

An interesting piece to the process is Rep. Paul Brodeur, who as a mayoral candidate would be affected by the change if he wins, and as a state representative would be partially responsible for pushing it through to Gov. Charlie Baker's desk in a timely enough fashion that would see it become effective in time for this election.

Brodeur didn't take a position on the order when reached by Patch, saying he would be ready to step in immediately or wait until January if he won.

"Should the Aldermen decide to request the change, I will make every effort to move it as quickly as possible through the legislative process," Brodeur said.

The bill would need to be signed by Baker by early October to take effect in time for this election.

"What we will have done long-term [in the instance it doesn't go into effect for this election] is we would have fixed this in the future," Van Campen said. "Even 30, 40, 50 years in the future. There's no guarantee that this provision will pass in time to apply to the current cirucmstance."

A spokeswoman for the mayor redirected Patch to Van Campen.

The item is the third Charter amendment to be discussed this week, along with Aldermen Jennifer Lemmerman's proposal to change the name of the Board of Aldermen to City Council and Alderman Frank Wright's proposal to establish a minimum percentage of votes runners-up in aldermen races would need to fill a vacancy on the board.

Infurna took office in early 2018 when Mayor Rob Dolan left to become town administrator in Lynnfield. The Board of Aldermen, which had already unofficially voted Mike Zwirko in as president, reversed course and voted Infurna in when it became clear the president of the board would take over until the next mayoral election, per the Charter.