By Patrick Adrian
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
This article has been updated to accurately reflect the populations of Charlestown and Newport.
CHARLESTOWN — Charlestown voters will decide next month whether to launch a study to determine whether the town should hire a town manager to oversee the town’s administrative responsibilities.
A petitioned article on the town warrant seeks voter approval to create a seven-member ad-hoc committee to study the advisability of Charlestown to adopt a town manager-style of government as defined under Chapter 37 of New Hampshire law.
Under the plan, a town manager would serve as the municipality’s top administrator, under the selectboard’s supervision and direction. A town manager’s responsibilities include the management of town departments and employees; budget implementation and proposals; and serving as the point-person for the town’s communications, operations, and economic and development initiatives.
Proponents of the study, speaking at the town deliberative session on Saturday, said the intent of a town manager is to assist the selectboard by assuming the often “burdensome” and “overwhelming” administrative tasks, which the proponents contend are too much for part-time elected officials to adequately handle.
“Anyone who has been involved in the affairs of the town knows how time consuming the selectboard position can be,” said Dave Richardson, vice-chair of the finance committee. “Some selectboard members may say that they do not mind the time required for the position. But none of them will be on the board forever, and future potential candidates may not feel the same way.”
The selectboard would “still retain the ultimate authority on decisions regarding town affairs,” Richardson said, stressing that the article is not meant as a referendum on the selectboard.
Charlestown resident Sharon Francis said she was initially wary of the idea of a town manager but has come to see the wisdom in at least studying the idea.
“We don’t know [yet] if a town manager is the right thing to do or not, but we can learn a lot more if we do a full throated study with open minds and see where it takes us,” Francis said.
While the selectboard’s work is commendable, Francis said there are many areas of town management beyond what the selectboard does, which require more time, and in some cases, professional expertise.
“In the Master Plan there are 63 recommendations where the selectboard is the lead implementer,” Francis said. “How on earth is the selectboard going to get through those 63 recommendations?”
A town manager can also focus on economic development initiatives, federal and state funding opportunities and researching topics to assist the selectboard in making informed decisions, Francis said.
Members of the selectboard, who previously voted to not recommend this article’s passage, explained their opposition, saying that a town manager would lessen the control of local voters.
“We want people to realize that this is a different form of government,” said Selectboard Chair Jeffrey Lessels. “It moves you, the public, one further step away from being able to affect town policies.”
Selectman Shelly Andrus, who also serves on the Fall Mountain Regional School Board, challenged the claim that the selectboard would still have control over the town’s operations and cost. Andrus said that is not the case in the school district, where the school board has little control over how the superintendent operates the district or proposes annual spending.
“I would caution anybody to put an executive over our departments and department heads and still say that the selectboard has control on a daily basis,” Andrus warned. “Because I can assure you that is not going to happen.”
Lessels questioned whether a town manager is practical for Charlestown given Charlestown’s population size and financial limitations.
According to data shared by Lessels, only 23 of New Hampshire’s 231 towns, or 10 percent, have a town manager. The largest town, Derry, has a population of approximately 34,000 residents and the smallest, Lincoln, has a population of approximately 1,600 residents.
Nearby towns that have a town manager include Newport, whose population is approximately 6,500 people, and Rockingham, Vermont, whose population is approximately 5,000 people.
According to U.S. Census data, Charlestown has a population of 5,000 residents.
Lessels also questioned Charlestown’s ability to afford a town manager. Charlestown’s median family income of approximately $56,800 per year, ranks among the lower portion of New Hampshire towns.
Study proponents pointed out that Charlestown currently pays each selectman a stipend of $11,667 per year, totaling $58,335 per year, which is due to the amount of administrative work they must perform.
Richardson indicated that if Charlestown shifted to a town manager plan, the recommendation would likely be to reduce the selectboard compensations to about $1,000 per person, which is a common selectboard stipend in towns with managers.
“We hope that [our selectmen] would want to serve the selectboard because they want to serve, and not for the money,” Richardson noted.
The proposed committee would be composed of seven members, including two selectmen, one planning board official, one finance committee member, and three residents. No town employees are allowed to be members.
This committee, if approved by voters, would be responsible to develop a job description for the position, a compensation plan and a departmental and government organizational structure. The committee would be expected to present its recommendation to the selectboard and a public hearing by Nov. 1, 2022. The committee would disband after that date.
Initially the article included a $5,000 stipend, which would fund the committee’s operating expenses, such as town mailers or surveys, stationary, or other needs. But voters at the deliberative session voted 30-13 to remove the $5,000 stipend.
Charlestown resident Albert St. Pierre, a proponent of the study, raised the motion to amend the stipend to $0.
St. Pierre explained that he wished to remove the added notes from the article which state that neither the selectboard nor the finance committee recommend the study.
According to St. Pierre, traditionally those boards only cast an opinion vote on articles that include a monetary appropriation.
“I would hate to see that the point of the article get misinterpreted because the [boards stated] at the bottom don’t approve the appropriation,” St. Pierre said. “If there is an amendment then there is no appropriation and they don’t need to put their opinion on it and we can read the article as it really is and see if we want to do the study.”
It is currently unclear whether the statements from the selectboard and finance committee will be removed from the article, as the amendment only removed the stipend.
reporter @eagletimes.com
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