Charter board considers changes

SAUGUS – They have heard the proposals and now the Charter Commission will decide how best to evaluate the 16 ideas that could possibly alter the town’s government.The commission will meet Thursday at 7 p.m. in Town Hall to set criteria to rate the proposals laid out during the board’s last meeting.After months of studying the town’s present governmental structure and examining other communities, the nine commissioners put forth their best ideas for changes. The proposals ranged from merely tweaking what the town has or rewriting the charter to adding a town council or a mayor.Commission Chairman Peter Manoogian said he has not had a lot of feedback on the proposals, but he has heard some grumbling. With only a dozen people showing up when the commissioners revealed their proposals, some residents are worried that changes will be made without much public input.”We haven’t proposed anything yet,” Manoogian said.During last week’s Board of Selectmen meeting, Peter Rossetti, the board’s liaison to the commission, urged residents to attend the meetings.”This could be the future of your town,” he said.Manoogian said the turnout for the commission meetings has not surprised him. He said he doesn’t expect to see a crowd at any meeting until the commission actually makes a proposal.”Then people will come out and either support it or disagree with it,” he said. “Generally you don’t get people out until you actually propose something.”A formal proposal won’t be made until the entire commission can agree on one. To get to that point, Manoogian said the committee first needs to develop a rating system aimed at narrowing down their choices.”It’s all a part of the brainstorming process,” he said.Manoogian said he received some other feedback focused not on individual proposals, but on what many of the proposals had in common. Several plans included a centrally acceptable policy leader and most incorporated a cross-connection between the Board of Selectmen and the School Committee. Nearly all the proposals called for staggered elections and about half would require a residency requirement for the town manager’s slot.”Mostly I think people realize that we’re trying to do this in a thoughtful, methodical way,” Manoogian said. “There will be plenty of time for people to comment once we’ve narrowed down the proposals.”In the end, the public will have the final say on any changes made to the charter since the final proposal will have to be approved by the voters for any change to take effect.