ORANGE — Monday could mark the beginning of the end of the only form of government the town has ever known if residents give their blessing to adopting its first charter, which entails implementing a strong town manager role rather than a town administrator.
The final article on the Jan. 12 Special Town Meeting warrant asks voters if they agree to petition the state Legislature to pass a bill establishing a town charter for Orange, changing and modernizing the local government’s organizational structure and operation.
The proposal, developed and recommended by a 12-member Charter Advisory Committee appointed by the Selectboard, will come up for a vote in Town Hall’s Ruth B. Smith Auditorium. The Special Town Meeting is slated to start at 7 p.m.
“I think if we get a quorum we should be in pretty good shape,” said Tom Sexton, who chairs the Charter Advisory Committee. “Most of what I’m hearing is pretty positive. [People] want a change right now.”
A charter essentially serves as a town’s constitution, providing the blueprint for how municipal government is structured and how it operates to serve its citizens’ needs. Sexton said there are few options as to when the charter would take effect, but it would almost definitely happen this year.
Orange currently operates under an established set of town bylaws, practices and procedures, and according to applicable general laws and regulations. The town has a five-member Selectboard and town administrator, but Sexton said the organizational structure is dispersed and without a centralized point of management authority and accountability. The town administrator works on behalf of the Selectboard to coordinate across municipal departments and operations, but that position’s actual power is limited, as there is no reporting relationship with department heads and other key town positions.
Adoption of the proposed charter would create a strong town manager role to serve as chief administrative officer and direct day-to-day operations across most of the municipal government structure. Sexton said this is his favorite feature of the proposed document.
“It just streamlines the whole operation and makes the government operate more efficiently,” he said.
Sexton said he and others feel it is unreasonable to ask a five-member volunteer Selectboard to operate a town of nearly 8,000 people and a budget of more than $29 million. This charter, he said, would enable Selectboard members to focus on policy issues and longstanding problems.
The charter calls for the Selectboard, by an affirmative vote of at least four members, to appoint a town manager, who could also be disciplined or removed by an affirmative vote of at least four Selectboard members. As chief administrative officer, the town manager would be responsible for keeping the Selectboard fully informed regarding departmental operations, general problems, administrative actions, and any other matters of concern or importance. The town manager would also be the chief procurement officer and responsible for negotiating contracts with employee bargaining units, with the Selectboard’s final review and approval.
The town manager would have the authority to hire, discipline and terminate town employees (with specific exceptions that relate to employees under the jurisdiction of the library trustees, water commissioners, airport commission, housing authority and school committees), appoint employees to one- to three-year terms, and discipline or remove appointed employees.
Although current Town Administrator Matthew Fortier could move into the town manager role, the job, once defined and posted, will be open to all interested candidates. An affirmative vote from at least four Selectboard members will ultimately decide who will serve as town manager.
The proposed charter also calls for Orange’s Annual Town Meeting to be held on the second Monday in May, as opposed to the third Monday in June, and for the timely submission each year of the proposed annual town budget, as well as budgets from the Orange Elementary School and Mahar Regional School committees.
The proposed charter, as well as the five-article Special Town Meeting warrant, is available on Orange’s town website at shorturl.at/RXa2R.
Other articles
The warrant’s fourth article asks residents if they agree to appropriate $137,500 to remediate asbestos where the Orange Municipal Airport plans to build six T-hangars, where aircraft are stored.
“These units are critical to meeting the sustained demand for aircraft storage,” Airport Manager Adam Klumpp wrote in an email to Fortier. “Once built, each will generate a direct revenue stream [through rental fees] into the town’s General Fund.”
According to Klumpp, the hazardous materials were discovered during soil testing in October.
“My understanding is that this issue is very surface-level, but we still have to be careful [about] cleaning it out appropriately,” he explained, though Federal Aviation Administration funds that were secured for the construction cannot be used for remediation of hazardous materials.
According to Fortier’s most up-to-date information, the T-hangar design will likely cost $267,000. Ninety-five percent of this will be funded by the FAA, with matching 2.5% state and local contributions. Construction is expected to run $1.58 million, with 81% of the cost funded by the FAA, a 15% match from the state and a 4% match from Orange.
Fortier explained the town is chipping in about $63,000.
According to Klumpp, hangar rental fees go directly into the town’s General Fund, and more hangars will bring in more pilots to store their airplanes on site and buy fuel at the airport. The 30 existing hangars on the airport’s property are privately owned, with property taxes going to the town.
Adoption of the warrant’s second article would allow the Selectboard to establish a 25 mph speed limit on any roadway inside a thickly settled or business district on any way that is not a state highway. The remaining two articles on the warrant seek to amend eligibility for the senior property tax exemption and transferring $41,150 from the Building Demolition Special Purpose Fund to establish a Building Inspector Special Purpose Fund, enabling the town to hire qualified and certified applicants at market-rate compensation.
Clarification, January 13, 2026 6:23 pm: This article has been revised in an effort to most accurately explain the process for hiring a town manager and what would become of Orange's current town administrator.