AUBURN – The latest draft of the new city charter, set to begin making the public rounds this week, yokes the city and schools more closely together. It frees the School Committee from some council oversight and requires it to work together on basic accounting and administrative jobs.
“I think we made it clearer that the School Committee is vital to the community and that its important standing really needs to be recognized,” Commission Chairman John Cleveland said.
City councilors and School Committee members would serve on a new audit committee, hiring accounting professionals to go over all the city financial records.
The charter also requires the city and school staff to create a single capital projects plan calling for paving, building repairs and equipment purchases.
“Both departments are very important parts of the city, and it’s important for us that they each have an intimate understanding of the other,” Cleveland said. “The best way to do that is to be familiar with each others’ finances.”
The charter also requires the city and the schools to write up and adopt a new buying policy by the end of 2006. That would spell out how city departments buy supplies and go out for bids.
Bond veto
The charter also gives voters a veto of expensive city projects, requiring a public vote before the city can borrow more than 10 percent of the current budget for new buildings and land purchases. That’s about $6.1 million this year.
It would have triggered a vote on the $7.8 million Auburn Hall renovation if it had been in the charter, but not on the $3.5 million bond for the renovation of the public library or the $5 million borrowed to build a Great Falls Plaza garage. Both projects would have been under that borrowing cap.
The charter also moves the city’s general election from even- to odd-numbered years. If voters approve, the sitting mayor, councilors and school committee members would finish their terms in November 2006. The city would hold a special election, the last regular one in an even numbered year. Officials elected in that election would serve a one-year term and regular two-year terms would begin after a November 2007 election.
Commissioners have restructured the entire document, making it easier to navigate. They’ve gotten rid of legalese in most instances, modernized the language and summarized the entire document in a simple 83 word preamble.
Cleveland said the final draft should begin making the public rounds this week, after some last-minute editorial touchups and a thorough review by a proofreader.
The School Committee will get the first review this Wednesday at their regular meeting. It goes before the Auburn City Council at a 5:30 p.m. workshop Monday.
A public hearing is scheduled at 7 p.m. Aug. 11 in Auburn Hall. Cleveland said the commissioners will reconvene after that meeting for a final review. The new charter will become the law next year if voters approve it at the polls in November.
Charter changes
After the first full rewrite in 15 years, commissioners are almost ready to put a new City Charter before Auburn voters. Here’s a summary of what’s new:
Big changes
• Voters get the final say on council borrowing of more than 10 percent of the city’s annual property tax take – about $6.1 million this year.
• City municipal elections go on odd years, not even years. The 2006 election will be special, with councilors, the mayor and school committee members’ terms lasting only one year.
• School Committee vacancies will no longer be filled by the City Council, but temporarily by the remaining School Committee members and then by voters.
• Requires the city and school department to set up a buying policy, form an audit committee and review capital projects together.
Subtle shifts
• More general in places, shifting power from the charter to the City Council.
• Adds a preamble and a section that encourages intergovernmental relations.
More clear
• Deletes legalese. Removed “thereto” and “whereof” everywhere they appeared in the old charter.
• Gets rid of sexist language. In reference sections on the mayor, for example, “he” and “his” are replaced simply by “The Mayor.”
• Adds references to modern communication and the Web, saying the Internet is a suitable place to post council meeting agendas and budget information.
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