Voters should decide fate of charter revisions
The West Haven Charter Commission has filed its report with the City Council since last month, the Voice has published a series of explanations by Commission Chairman Ed Granfield, and this week continues that series with John Carrano, the second in command. Carrano’s contributions, both this week and in the future, should serve as an example to some that what is being proposed is not the work of one man, but that of a committee, which worked in concert.
As is the usual case in West Haven, the political affiliation of a person is sometimes used as a bludgeon in order to delegitimize the work done. In bringing out the opinions of not only Granfield – who happens to be a registered Republican – but Carrano – a registered Democrat – those who seek to diminish the work of the commission will have those criticisms blunted by the facts.
The work of the Charter Revision Commission was a collective effort, particularly by the aforementioned Granfield and Carrano, who spent the first few weeks detailing to the membership what the current charter outlined. It was understood that before a well-informed group could determine what needed to be changed or retained, it had to understand what standard procedure was.
But these lines are not to lend credence to the criticism given the commission by the usual suspects in the city’s political class. No matter what the changes proposed they want and like the status quo with few exceptions. We want to turn our attention to one particular change we believe will help the city, and further discussion and debate.
Under a proposal made by the commission, the city’s 10 council districts will be reduced to three with four representatives from each of those new regions. The mayor, as we understand it, will be the 13th member. In each of the districts at least one member will be a minority party representative. This is a step in the right direction.
This publication for decades has objected to the current system, which allows for only one minority at-large minority representative. For the better part of the last three decades the minority – usually the Republicans – have had only one voice. This creates problems, particularly in a city where party affiliation, rather than one’s ideas, holds sway.
The minority rep cannot most times get a “second” on any question or motion. That means that rather than debate the merits of the idea put forth, the matter is dropped and the rest of the meeting moves on inexorably to the pre-ordained conclusion by the majority.
Under the new system the minority party would be represented in each of the larger districts and the majority party would in theory still hold the majority with the mayor serving as the deciding vote. This would allow for more discussion, more debate, more ideas. West Haven has suffered under a one-party, one-idea rule for too long. Most times the debate within the Democratic Party has been not the idea, but which faction is ruling the roost.
We hope the City Council – after duly discussing and allowing the public to opine – accepts the idea and puts it forth in November. One-party rule, and no true minority representation hurts us all.