It's going to be a long one.

This fall's Town Meeting will address 91 articles beginning on October 25 and ending...well, who knows.

Thirty-one of the articles posted on the Town Warrant, the agenda for the meeting, were proposed by the Charter Review Committee.

The committee's proposal to replace Town Meeting and the Board of Selectmen with a Mayor and Town Council was rejected by voters at last Town Meeting. The committee has continued to meet and is proposing a number of changes to town government that, while perhaps not as dramatic as asking Town Meeting to vote for its own demise, could have major impact on the town's governance.

In many regards, in fact, the proposed changes apply features of a mayor-and-town-council system to the current roles of the Board of Selectmen.

Most notably, voters will be asked to expand the Board of Selectmen from 5 to 7 members, with six members representative of each of the town's voting districts and one selectman at-large.

In other proposed changes to the role of Selectmen:

• Selectmen would have sole responsibility for appointing members to town boards and committees. Currently, the Town Moderator, the chairman of the Board of Selectmen, and the chairman of the board to which the appointment is being made (for example, the chairman of the Zoning Board if somebody is to be appointed to that board) act as the "appointing authority."
• The Selectmen would approve all salaries of town officers and employees.
• Selectmen would no longer serve as sewer and road commissioners: A seven-member Board of Road Commissioners, including the Police Chief, Director of Public Maintenance and Town Planner in addition to four members appointed by the Selectmen, would be established, as would an elected five-member Board of Sewer Commissioners.
• The Chair of the Board of Selectmen would be a member of the School Committee.

The proposed changes could also impact how citizens can influence government.

A new proposal provides a citizen's petition initiative which would require 250 signatures, with at least 25 from each precinct, in order for a petition to be submitted.

Once a petition is accepted, the relevant board (Selectmen or School Committee) would have 30 days to pass the petition and make its changes effective immediately, pass a measure that is "in lieu" of the measure, or reject the petition. If either of the latter two actions are taken, or if the respective board doesn't act within 30 days, the question would be put to the town as a ballot question.

In other proposed changes to citizens' involvement in government:

• Non-resident property owners would be allowed to serve on non-elected committees or boards.
• Municipal employees could not hold elected office unless they took a leave of absence from their job or resigned.

Proposed changes to Town Meeting include the addition of an "official ballot" option. Twenty-five petitioners at Town Meeting or 50 registered voters prior to Town Meeting could take the decision on a Town Meeting article out of the hands of Town Meeting and put it to a town-wide special referendum.

While the Charter proposals may proportionally represent the majority of the Warrant, they won't represent all of the controversy.

The Westfield project, a proposal to allow the Board of Selectmen to lease town land off Charlotte Furnace Road to a developer for the construction of affordable senior rental housing, has been placed on the ballot at the request of the Westfield Review Committee.  (The review committee was formed at this spring's Town Meeting after the article was defeated and was the first committee to be appointed specifically to study the project).

The proposed article includes several amendments to resolve issues that have caused controversy in the past including:

• the non-developed portion of the site be dedicated to recreational use;
• the ball fields will be repaired and maintained by the developer;
• senior affordable housing is an acceptable municipal use;
• and that the property's units will be affordable "in perpetuity."

Town Meeting will begin on October 25.  Last Spring's Town Meeting Warrant included 56 articles.  It lasted five nights.