Charter Commission’s goal:
Better government for all
Board hopping, term limits & equal opportunities
for citizens to serve all up for review

By Paul Fleming Jr.
MethuenLife Writer

So do you want to know how the Charter Commission came into existence in Methuen?
Let us set Sherman's "Way-Back Machine" to July of 2008.
In a sudden move, six of the nine members of Methuen’s Water and Sewer Task Force suddenly resigned. The reason the six gave at the time was they had not received the information they had requested from City Hall – details which would have helped them recommend to the City Council what the new water and sewer rates should be.
During the fracas, Mayor William Manzi said he gave the group what it asked for, which was how much water Methuen used in that past fiscal year. But the six members of the task force who resigned, all of whom, by the way, were volunteers and had been appointed by the City Council, said what they needed was how much water Methuen had used in the past calendar year. The group also wanted to know how much extra money the city was making through the sale of water to other communities and private homeowners with swimming pools. When the information was not forthcoming in the manner in which it was requested, the six resigned.
And then they started to think about what they could do to improve Methuen's government.
"I had had it," said Dorothy "Dottie" Kalil, who was a member of the task force and one of the six who resigned. "For years the charter has been used and abused. The final straw for me was the Water and Sewer Task Force. I talked to Pat (Uliano, and also a member of the task force who resigned) and said we needed to get a group of people together and get this out of Methuen politics" and review the charter.
So a petition drive was launched, spearheaded in large measure by Joseph Pappalardo, that called for the creation of a Charter Commission that would review the document that is Methuen's governing constitution. If enough signatures were gathered, voters would be asked to approve the creation of the commission and elect nine members to serve.
Last month, residents approved the measure and elected nine who will review the 34-page document between now and the municipal election of 2011. If changes are made, residents will have a chance to approve or disapprove of them in that election.
Three out of the nine elected to serve on the Charter Commission? Mrs. Kalil, Mrs. Uliano and Mr. Pappalardo.
The other six members are former Methuen Mayor Dennis DiZoglio, School Committee members Robert Vogler and Barbara Grondine, former councilor Maureen Donovan, former Fire Chief Kenneth Bourassa and Central District City Councilor John A. Cronin Jr.
Uliano, who was returned as one of the East End city councilors by voters last month, said months of work went into the creation of the Charter Commission.
"Each month we'd have a meeting in terms of what was bothering people in the community," she said. "Some people accused us of trying to start trouble and changing the form of government. For months, we had to defend what our purpose was. Every community around us had been doing this. It was time. My focus is to review the charter."
The Charter Commission had its initial organizational meeting last month. The group elected Pappalardo to serve as its chairman and Kalil to serve as its chairwoman. Bourassa was selected to serve as the clerk.
What recommendations will be made over the course of the next several months is anybody's guess.
One area Kalil said she is not interested in seeing changed is the mayor form of government.
"That's not something that's been a topic of discussion," she said. "We have a mayor, that's what the people wanted and voted on. We have a friendly group. It was a good first meeting. All of us have been around and been in and out of office."
Cronin said one area the commission intends to scrutinize is the way in which citizens can participate in their government.
"More people should have the opportunity to serve on boards and commissions," he said. "People get closed out. They don't know anybody. We've been asked to look at that."
The commission may also look at how the city hires police officers and firefighters and whether to do away with councilors-at-large. If that were to happen, the east, west and central districts would be allotted three district councilors.
"There are different people who have different ideas," Cronin said. "Some people are talking about making the mayor's term two consecutive four-year terms. It will all be looked at."
Kalil said she would like to see the commission review the longstanding practice of city councilors serving six years, then, when they are term-limited, move on to the School Committee for a two-year term, and then return back to the City Council.
"I want to firm up how the charter is written," she said. "When they are finished (serving on the School Committee or City Council), you could not come back in the past. Now you can come back to the council or School Committee. That's been going on in this community for years and years."
The members of the Charter Commission are not being paid. The group has a budget of $5,000.
Uliano said the charter review exercise will prove to be beneficial for all Methuen's residents once it is completed.
"We want to make it so there is no question about who can do what on the council," she said. "Our charter is our constitution. We haven't tightened up the language so there is no question when you read it what can be overridden and what can't be."

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