City Council

Agenda — 1 item

1. RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL TO THE CHARTER REVISION COMMISSION, PURSUANT TO C.G.S. §7-191(b)DATED: July 19, 2025WHEREAS, the Charter Revision Commission (hereinafter, “Commission”) submitted its draft report to the City Clerk and Town Clerk on May 30, 2025 (“Draft Report”); and, WHEREAS, the Common Council has conducted a Public Hearing on the Draft Report in accordance with C.G.S. Sec. 7-191(b) and considered and reviewed said draft report; and, WHEREAS, the Common Council generally accepts the substantial content of the Draft Report favorably; and, WHEREAS, pursuant to C.G.S. Sec. 7-191(c) the Common Council, as the appointing authority of the Charter revisions is authorized to make recommendations to the Commission for changes in the Draft Report; and, WHEREAS, the Common Council does have a number of issues in the Draft Report that should either be deleted or modified. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE NORWALK COMMON COUNCIL: That the Charter Revision Commission consider the following recommendations and adjustments to its Draft Report: (C) Article II, §2-2.B(10) “Common Council or Council”: Please change the defined term to “City Council.” (C) Article II, §2-2.C(3) “Use of Terms”: Please consider the following language to supplement the change to City Council: “The change in name of the legislative body of Norwalk from Common Council to City Council shall not affect the validity of any actions, ordinances, or decisions taken by the legislative body under its former name, even if the ordinance has not been amended to reflect the change. All such actions shall remain in full force and effect as actions of the City Council.” (C) Article III, §3-3.C(2): Council Districts. Please retain current standard of fifteen Councilmembers.(D) Article III, 30-3.D(1) and (2): Term of Office for Mayor, Town Clerk and Common Council. Please review with Council during conferral phase.(C) Article III, §3-4.A(1): Council Districts. Please retain current standard of two Councilmembers per district.(D) Article III, 3-4-A(2): At-Large Councilmembers:: Add two at-large seat with two under MPR either by expanding to seventeen or retaining fifteen. (D) Article IV §4-7.C “Compensation Fixed by Council. Please consider adding a baseline salary for the Council in an amount equal to 3% of the Mayor’s salary (D) Article IV §4-7.D Appointment of Common Council Employees. Move 5-5.D to the Council Article and expand to permit the hiring of staff as follows:“Appointment of the Common Council’s Employees. The Council may at any time appoint an Assistant Clerk who shall provide administrative assistance to the Council under the direction of the President, and shall, in the absence or in case of the disability or death of the Clerk, perform all the duties of the Clerk. All records and acts of the assistant shall have the same validity as the records of the Clerk. The Council may at any time also appoint by Majority Vote any additional employees as it finds necessary to effectively conduct the Council’s business and the Board of Estimate and Taxation shall appropriate compensation for any such employees as shall be fixed by the Council.” (C) Article VII, §7-1.H (NEW). Please review language that would require disclosure of applicant names, backgrounds and credentials for Board and Commission appointments to the Council prior to appointment. The intent of this proposal is to monitor appointments in order to identify qualified, diverse and representative appointees in an open environment. The provision should be designed to encourage broader participation by our residents in the appointment process. Applicants should have the ability to request in writing to the City Clerk non-disclosure of such data (e.g. name, resume, background information); although such data would subsequently be made public when the applicant is nominated by the Mayor. (D) Article VII, §7-1.A(2) and (3). Appointment, term of Office, Qualification and Political Balance of the Board of Estimate. Please consider requiring a member of the Common Council be appointed to serve either as an additional eighth non-voting member or a seventh voting member. (C) Article VIII, §8-4.C(2). Historical Provisions Pertaining to the Comptroller. Please review historical provisions of the Comptroller’s Office derived from the Special Acts.(C) Article VIII, §8-4.D(4). Historical Provisions Pertaining to the Purchasing Agent. Please review historical provisions of the Purchasing Agent derived from the Special Acts.(D) Article VIII, §8-7.B(2) and (3). Functions of the Chief and Department Heads of the Division of Operations and Public Works. Please review historical provisions of the Division of Operations and Public Works derived from the Special Acts.(D) Chapter X, §10-5: Please consider establishing two separate limits on total appropriations for the General Government and the Board of Education (“CAP Provision”).(D) Chapter VII, §10-6.A – B: Please consider requiring the Mayor and Board to submit line-item budgets compliant with the CAP Provision. (D) Chapter VII, §10-6.C: Please consider requiring the Mayor or designee to submit a revised estimated mill rate aligned with the cap provision by March 21st.(C) Chapter VII, §10-6.D.: Please consider amending the current language in §10-6 as §10-6(d) to require Board of Estimate hearings and a Joint Meeting with Council on or before April 18th.(C) Chapter VII, §10-7.A: Please consider changing the BET submission date to the Council from April 1st to April 18th.(D) Chapter VII, §10-7.B: Please consider (a) granting the Council authority to override BET action on the CAP Provisions by a 2/3rd vote, including the ability to adjust line-items of the impacted General Government provisions; (b) including a limitation on Council authority not to exceed of 1.5% of the total city side operating budget as original proposed by the Board of Estimate and Taxation.(C) Chapter VII, §10-8: Please consider changing the final date to May 7th. (D) Chapter VII, §10-8.C: Please consider prohibiting any BET action to modify the final budget as approved by the Council. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That the Common Council further recommends acceptance of such Scrivener’s Edits as noted in the filed copy of the “Recommendations of the Common Council” approved on July __, 2025, and transmitted to the Town Clerk and City Clerk on July __, 2025. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That the Council authorizes the Town Attorney and Counsel to the Council to continually review the document for errata and other non-substantive editorial revisions, subject to the approval of the Council. Approved at a Special Meeting of the Common Council, July __, 2025.

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