The Charter Review Committee hosted two hours of debate on Saturday with audience and invited guest speakers alike expressing as much reticence as optimism for the Committee's proposal to replace open town meeting and a board of selectmen with a town council plus mayoral form of government.

The event was the first of two public information sessions hosted by the Charter Review Committee before they submit their proposal to Town Meeting on April 26. Saturday's meeting featured four guest speakers and intended to present Wareham residents with information about the experience of other towns that have adopted a mayoral and town council government.

Unfortunately, both Committee Chairman Alan Slavin and Committee Member and event Moderator Len Gay expressed disappointment that the turnout, which numbered a little over 50 people, was not larger.

"I was very disappointed in the turnout," said Slavin. "We thought there would be more interest with the different viewpoints and fair representation of the sides of the debate."

Slavin was pleased, however, with the discussion.

"There were good questions and good answers," he said. "I thought [the discussion] went well."

Four guest speakers including Lucien Poyant, former member of the Charter Commissions, Town of Barnstable; Dick Silva, former chair of the Charter Commission, Town of Plymouth; Donna Holaday, mayor, City of Newburyport; and Joe Powers, town clerk, Town of Braintree; spoke of their towns' respective experiences - both positive and negative - adopting the mayoral/town council government that the Charter Committee is proposing and answered questions from the audience.

Poyant chaired the Barnstable charter commission that replaced the board of selectmen with a town manager and town council in 1989. Since then, he has served on two charter commissions to try and correct those changes.

"It disenfranchised me as a voter" Poyant said, explaining that because Barnstable assigned council members to represent each district, he could only vote for 1 of 13 members of the town council. The town manager, who is appointed by the council, then either lost or gained tremendous power and ability to govern depending on his or her relationship with the council members.  "As long as he keeps seven people happy, he keeps his job," Poyant said, arguing this politicizes the town manager position. Poyant recommended a strong mayoral system and at-large town council positions.

Silva acknowledged the problems with open town meeting in Plymouth that had led the town to consider adopting a mayor and town council.

"You always had some individuals who, well, I think they're not allowed to talk at home," he said. "Others came in and looked at the warrant for the first time and were going to argue over a $250 lawn mower for the parks department."

He regrets the decision to adopt a representative town meeting, however, and thought that considering a mayoral system (although a system he favors theoretically) was perhaps counterproductive for the town - particularly since it could be argued that the motivation behind the idea was not to change the system of government but to change the people participating in that government.

"Don't divide the town over this," Silva warned. "If you think you're going to change the town government because of a few bad apples as selectmen, they're just going to run for town council."

Donna Holaday, the mayor of Newburyport and two-term former city councilor, spoke favorably of the mayoral system.

"It gives the city a different status," she said. "People listen to a mayor. Calls to state representatives, government agencies, etc. are returned within minutes."

She also emphasized that she wasn't just advocating the mayoral system because of her current position.  Newburyport's mayoral term was originally one year (now it is two) and the city had 10 mayors in 12 years since 1996 as one unpopular move or unfortunate incident doomed several administrations.

The final guest, Joe Powers, town clerk of Braintree, was more ambivalent. He praised the ability of a strong, centralized executive branch to swiftly make key decisions and respond to problems more effectively than the open town meeting system that the town abandoned in 1996. He also emphasized that there was a "clearer chain of command and clearer process," for town business. However, there were certain "drawbacks."

"We've greatly reduced the level of public involvement," Powers said. "We have public deliberation on issues and nobody shows up. " Responding to a question whether this was indicative of apathy or a vote of confidence, Powers indicated that poor participation did not mean that they didn't hear many complaints about town hall.
"The voters don't see a role that they can fill." He said.

The Charter Committee members hope that their event's low turnout, although disappointing, doesn't indicate that Wareham voters feel similarly. Slavin and Gay both said they anticipate the next public presentation, an open forum on February 20th at 1pm in the Middle School Auditorium, to attract a bigger crowd.

"It's an important decision to make, and the town will have the opportunity to vote on the proposal at Town Meeting" said Slavin. "We hope to have more turnout so that more information can get out to more people."