Interim Town Manager Jim Bennett recommended Tuesday night that town councilors wait to appoint three members to the newly created Charter Commission until the public elects six members to it.

Residents voted to create a Charter Commission during the Nov. 4 elections. Members will look at the town charter and recommend changes, which could include returning Lisbon to a town meeting style of governance, in which residents would have final say on the municipal budget.

The public can vote on the six commission positions in a special election, which takes at least 100 days to plan, or they can wait until the next regularly scheduled election, which would be the June 2026 primaries, Bennett said. He is recommending the council hold the vote during the June primary.

State rules stipulate that councilors appoint three members after the commission is created, which can be interpreted to mean that those three appointed positions should be filled immediately after, Bennett said.

However, he said he knows of other towns that waited to appoint the members until after the public election of the other six positions, so he is recommending councilors wait until the public election to appoint its three members, he said. In the meantime he said he will reach out to the Maine Municipal Association for more legal guidance.

Outgoing Councilor Norm Albert was concerned about the legal technicality and if someone from the public could bring up an objection to the council not immediately appointing three members. He said he thinks if the council is going to wait to make those appointments, it needs to develop a plan for how that will happen.

Bennett said a court is unlikely to throw out the Charter Commission if the council does not adhere to the strictest interpretation of the law and appoint the three members immediately.

Several town issues have led to the formation of the Charter Commission. The two major ones are water quality concerns with the Water Department, which is operated separately from the town, and a $1.3 million shortfall in last year’s town budget, leading to dramatically increased property tax bills this year to make up for it.

Four new councilors were elected in November and will be sworn in Dec. 2. Roger Bickford, Charles Turgeon, Dale Crafts and Gregory Garnett will replace Albert, Mark Lunt, JoJean Keller and Chris Hodgkins.

Bickford, Garnett and Crafts all ran in a slate together advocating for bringing Lisbon back to a town meeting style governance

It is a platform that gained traction amid rising town, school and county budgets driving up property taxes. Many residents have expressed interest in having a say in the final town budget.

Crafts was on the first Town Council more than 20 years ago when voters adopted the town council style of governance. He opposed the move then, and this year ran on a platform to bring back the annual town meeting where residents meet and vote on the town budget.