NORTHFIELD — At the request of multiple concerned citizens, a new Town Governance Study Committee has been assembled to assess the structure and functions of Northfield’s government.
“Essentially we’re giving recommendations,” said Bob MacEwan, who is on the committee.
Much of this committee’s work will involve reviewing a 2013 report from the previous Town Governance Study Committee, MacEwan said. That report, which reflects the previous committee’s findings in its work from February 2013 to that October, mentions “structural problems” in Northfield’s relatively “decentralized” government and recommends a change to an “empowered town administrator model,” in which the town administrator manages the daily operation of the town’s government with direction from the Selectboard.
“Our recommendations simply put a professional in place to carry out the day-to-day tasks of implementing the policies set forth by the Selectboard,” the report says. It also says that it has become “virtually impossible for a Selectboard ever to run the day-to-day business of a town.”
The empowered town administrator model was technically implemented, but not all the 2013 report’s recommendations were. The report also recommends a Selectboard of five members rather than three, as well as changing the town clerk from an elected position to an appointed one. Neither of those were changed.
“We want to have an empowered TA. That’s primarily what it (the new Town Governance Study Committee) is about,” MacEwan said, although, he added, “We’re going to look at everything,” likely including the size of the Selectboard and its relationship with the town administrator. The new Town Governance Study Committee, like the old one, will make recommendations, but cannot to force the town to accept them.
The need for a new Town Governance Committee was brought to the Selectboard’s attention following the dismissal of previous Town Administrator Willie Morales, MacEwan said.