Plymouth Charter Review Committee Elects New Leadership, Sets Sights on Fall Town Meeting

Subcommittee formed to reorganize charter sections as group aims to finalize proposed changes

PLYMOUTH, MA - May 21 - The Plymouth Charter Review Committee elected new leadership and set its sights on presenting proposed charter changes at the fall town meeting during its May 21 meeting.

Alan Costello was elected as the new chair of the committee, replacing the outgoing chair, David Golden, who is now a select board member. Steve Bolotin was chosen as vice-chair.

"Thank you very much. I appreciate everyone's confidence in me. I hope to pick up where David left off and finish up the work we've started," Costello said after his election.

The committee is working towards presenting their proposed charter changes at the fall town meeting. To meet this goal, they formed a subcommittee to work on renumbering and reorganizing charter sections.

"I'd like to suggest that I agree with Mr. Pizer on a subcommittee on numbering," Bolotin said. "Even if it's not complete, it's still mostly done and bring that and that be our scheduled item for the following week."

The committee discussed creating a timeline and organizing the changes into coherent "buckets" for presentation. They plan to meet with town counsel to get guidance on how to structure the proposed changes for town meeting articles.

"I think if we do, we will be much more focused on getting this done," said committee member Len Levin, suggesting the creation of a timeline. "Because I get nervous that it could end up, we spend three weeks doing renumbering."

There was debate over whether to include specific requirements for a communications department in the charter. Committee member Joe Hutchinson presented ideas for a communications and community engagement department, but other members expressed concerns about overstepping their authority.

"I don't think we, whoever that we is, has any authority or should dictate anything to the town manager about this position," said committee member Betty Cavacco. "I mean, he knows what we need."

The committee ultimately decided to focus on assigning responsibilities rather than dictating specific departmental structures in the charter.

The group also decided to maintain its current nine members without adding alternates, despite recent resignations. They felt bringing in new members at this late stage could disrupt their progress.

"I think at this time we can go forward with the group we have. I'm very confident we'll work well together," Costello said.

The committee plans to meet again in two weeks to discuss the subcommittee's work on renumbering and continue their efforts to prepare charter change proposals for the fall town meeting.