The Danbury Charter Commission met on May 27, 2026, at 6:30 PM. The meeting included public participation, approval of minutes, and discussion of Chapters 5 (Appointed Boards and Commissions) and 8 (Miscellaneous) of the proposed charter. The commission also reviewed red-line edits from the previous meeting and outlined upcoming work sessions and a public hearing.
All right, I'm gonna call the meeting to order. It is 6 30. Um, if we can rise for the pledge of allegiance. Commissioner Commissioner Jowdy, if you could listen the pledge, please. Pledge of allegiance of America and to the Republic for which it stands on the visible with liberality. And justice for thank you very much. Uh, Madam Secretary, if you could do the roll call, please. Certainly. So present. Uh Commissioner Spranik. He is away. Myself. Uh Commissioner Armstrong. Commissioner Hernandez. Commissioner Jowney. Commissioner McCarry. He's also away. Commissioner Putnam. Sure. And Commissioner Rivero. We have five present. Perfect. So one form. We have a quantum. Thank you. Um, Madam Secretary. So the first item is public participation. Um, if there are any members that wish to address the commission, please just give me your name and your address and keep your marks to three minutes. Henry, 11 corn Castle Road Dambray. Thank you to the commission and Joe. Appreciate it. Uh, I spoke previously before. I know it's gonna come up tonight on the agenda as the boards and commissions. And I spoke about the need for a review process or a pretty simply to say an application process. I would say because the amount of boards, commissions, N and D society, I think I spoke there's 300 positions available, and they're all appointed. Um, it comes down to a lot of them unfilled vacancies to the term 250 or 60 vacancies across the board. Um, some of the committees haven't met in a long time. They could be sunset, there could be other people on these committees that could be useful elsewhere, but I think to singularly have it as an appointed process by individuals expressing interest or somebody being recruited. Of course, just have an application process. So the whole Dambury community could at least have an option to apply or get looked at and know the result of what could be the outcome could be if they if they actually are responded to. So I think there's there's some issues with how this process has been done in the past. I know it's a sole point process by the mayor, but I think if we take it off of his plate, we put a commission or committee in place. Um, and they could bring our application or they could bring their recommendations back to the council or to another committee, and also like have the board of ethics take a look at the appointments also. Uh that's been spoken by a lot of board of ethics to see if there's any conflicts of interest or any individuals that may or may not uh be on this on these committees. The other thing is um I would stress to have a residency clause in those boards, commissions, entities. So taxpayers of Danberry are the ones that are actually making decisions on these entities that shape the future and the outcomes of what is going to work for years to come. Um vacancy clause was important because for too long, some of these committees operate with the bare minimum. One or two people are missing, they don't have a quorum. Um it affects the decisions and the process and a timelines of people that rely on committees to make decisions. It would also um I would say I'm a little iffy on term limits, but we could look at term limits if that's something the committee would talk about.