Town Meeting is officially through half of the 40 proposed changes to the charter after reconvening Monday evening. Among housekeeping articles, voters approved a change that defines the Board of Selectmen's duties and opposed a change that would set a time limit for filling the position of Town Administrator.

The charter says that Selectmen cannot get involved in the day-to-day activities of the town, but did not previously define "day-to-day," which made it difficult for members of the Board to determine if actions fell within their division of power.

Charter Review Committee Chair Alan Slavin said the committee had many requests to define "day-to-day."

The charter now states that no Selectman may issue commands or orders to town employees, and the Board should always give direction to the Town Administrator after taking a majority vote. The definition helps protect against individual members of the Board pushing their own agendas.

"It's impossible for a Town Administrator to do his job when he has to act on individual agendas," Slavin said.

Town Meeting voted down an article that would require the Board of Selectmen to fill a vacant Town Administrator position within one year.

Proponents cited the need for the change, after the town went nearly a year and a half without a permanent Town Administrator before hiring current Town Administrator Mark Andrews.

"You can't run a business and not have a leader in place for that amount of time," Slavin noted.

But opponents argued that the process of finding a suitable Town Administrator should not be rushed.

"The most important function that the Board [of Selectmen] has is the appointment of the Town Administrator," said Selectman Cara Winslow.

And others pointed out that there was no mechanism to hold the Selectmen to the time limit.

"I don't think we should be cluttering the charter with things that we can't enforce," said precinct-1 resident Bill Heaney.

Charter Review Committee member Michael Jones argued that the penalty would be "political feedback" through the media and the ballot box.

But the proposal could not garner the approval of 2/3 of the voters.

Town Meeting will reconvene Wednesday, November 3, at 7 p.m. in the Wareham High School auditorium.