AMHERST – When voters in March approved the formation of a Charter Commission, it marked the beginning of an 18-month process to study Amherst government and possibly make recommendations for changes.
As mandated by state law, the nine-member commission will hold its first required public hearing to solicit feedback from residents at 7 p.m. May 12 at the middle school auditorium.
“It’s a down payment on the process, really,” said Charter Commission Chairman Andy Churchill. “It’s basically an open opportunity for people to come and talk about the values and attributes of Amherst government they like, and things that can be improved.”
The evening will begin with visuals from a presentation on charter commissions done in March by Michael Ward, director of municipal services at the Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Churchill said he understands that there are divisions in the community over whether Amherst should have a mayor and town council or whether representative Town Meeting should be preserved. At the same time, he said members of the commission hope people will speak in more general terms about what they appreciate in town government and are happy about, and the challenges and disappointments they see.
“Rather than have people just say ‘I love Town Meeting’ or ‘I want a mayor,’ we’re thinking it would be more productive to have them talk about what aspects, attributes (and) values are most important to them,” Churchill said.
Residents will be limited to two or three minutes, though they will also be able to send written comments to charter@amherstma.gov.
The commission, which has met a few times since the March 29 town election, is still in what Churchill calls an exploratory and inquiry mode.
The next step, following next week’s public hearing, will be to see where the commission needs technical assistance, he said. The town is already providing $5,000, as required by state law, and an additional $30,000 is being sought from annual Town Meeting.
So far, the commission is doing well, Churchill said.
“We’re building a sense of team, a team that represents a range of views in town,” Churchill said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
