Director Dave Sheridan has appeared before the Charter Revision Commission twice during the month of August and presented testimony on the following issues:
- Ethics Code Development
- Removal of the "Standards of Conduct" from the Charter
- Streamlining Boards and Commission
Ethics Code Development
When the Commission first took up the question of re-structuring how ethics codes are developed for the Town and how ethics complaints are handled, Sheridan stated:
"I don't believe we have an ethics issue in Manchester. But there are many, inside and outside of Town government, who believe that our current ethics system, which has not seen significant change for over thirty years, needs to be revised to reflect modern realities. I have felt from the very beginning that meaningful reform of our ethics system would require a Charter revision."
"Standards of Conduct"
Sheridan suggested to the Charter Revision Commission that it would be best to remove the "Standards of Conduct", which are currently in the Charter, and leave intact the provisions regarding the organization of the Ethics Commission and the procedures for handling ethics complaints.
At the same time, Sheridan explained, removal of the Standards of Conduct - to be replaced by an ordinance that would define appropriate conduct for Town officials and employees - would make the Ethics Code easier to amend and supplement."I feel very strongly that the Ethics Commission should be a body created by Charter, so as to give it a stature equal to the other Boards that fall within its ethical oversight, such as the Board of Directors and Board of Education."
"Right now, we have to go through a Charter revision process to make even the slightest change in the Ethics Code. Because its so cumbersome, we haven't bothered. As a result, we're trying to applying an ethics code from the 1970's to an era of cell phones and e-mails and the Internet."
Streamlining Boards and Commissions
At the last meeting of the Charter Revision Commission Sheridan testified on a proposal to consolidate and streamline the multitude of Town advisory boards and commissions (over thirty at last count) that have been created over the years. One potential road block to that effort has been that some of these boards and commissions were created in the Charter. Sheridan asked the Commission to consider removing some of the provisions from the Charter and replace them with complementary ordinances. An ordinance would allow the Board of Directors to begin a process of drafting supplemental ordinances that would consolidate the work of boards that have similar functions.
"All of these boards and commissions consume an enormous amount of administrative time and energy. Any time one of those boards meets - and some of them meet monthly - a notice of the meeting is prepared and published, an agenda is prepared, and written minutes are kept. If we could consolidate the work of three boards into one board, we would reduce that administrative workload by two-thirds."
Sheridan also pointed out that finding volunteers willing to give their time to the various boards and commissions has been a daunting task and that many vacancies exist.
"We owe it to all those dedicated volunteers to re-visit all of these boards and commissions in a comprehensive fashion and decide how best to carry out their important work in a way that does not duplicate efforts or create needless bureaucracy. This is a logical first step."
What's Next
The Charter Revision Commission will continue to meet throughout the Fall and is expected to make recommendations in February 2008. Sheridan concluded, "It's clear to me that this Commission is taking its work very seriously and giving much thought and effort to the task. I'm looking forward to their recommendations."
