Charter Review Committee Starts to Finalize Recommendations

FRAMINGHAM - The Framingham Charter Review Committee began finalizing their recommended changes to the city’s Home Rule Charter during their meeting on Thursday, May 30.

Notable recommended changes that the group has suggested instituting have included more transparency and opportunities to comment on legislative and financial matters along with more efficiency for planning the local capital budget.

Public feedback has been sought in recent weeks by the Charter Review Committee, as thoughts and insights from residents are being incorporated into the group’s final review.

One of the revisions made at the Memorial Building on Thursday following recent public participation was the addition of state and federal government roles to the list of positions that elected officials would not be permitted to hold while in office at the city level. Previously, the Charter Review Committee’s recommendation was to prevent anyone from holding multiple municipal roles.

“I think it was just a question of: if the idea is that…these elected positions are important and that (officials) should focus on one, and give other people a chance to do it, that same logic can hold true to state positions,” Chair of the Charter Review Committee Adam Blumer explained on Thursday.

The group also approved a proposition to expand the amount of time that either the City Council or School Committee would have to act on an initiative before it’s considered accepted; if approved, that window would be 60 days. The time needed to trigger a special election for a vacant School Committee or district-specific City Council seat would be changed to the first 15 months of a term as well, compared to the Charter Review Committee’s previous suggestion of 18 months. The committee’s recommended language clarified that the mayor would have to hold a public hearing regarding the annual budget before it’s submitted to the City Council.

Proposed revisions to Framingham’s charter are due to be passed along to the City Council for final approval by the end of June.