AMHERST — The Charter Commission will take more public comment about the future structure of town government at a Tuesday forum.
Then two days later at a separate meeting Thursday, the commission may hire a consultant to help it draft a proposal that will be unveiled by the middle of next year.
With an end of July 2017 deadline for a draft proposal and a September 2017 date for a final proposal that voters will be asked to enact, the commission, formed after the election in March, is nearing a decision to hire a consultant.
Commission Chairman Andrew Churchill said Monday that the nine-member panel has interviewed two consultants and at its next meeting, at 7:15 p.m Thursday at the police station community room, could make a selection.
“On Thursday we’re planning to do a follow-up discussion on presentations,” Churchill said. “Basically, we need to look at the potential deliverables for our consultants.”
The consultants the commission is considering are the Collins Center at the University of Massachusetts Boston, and Lauren Goldberg, an attorney with Amherst’s town counsel, the Boston-based Kopelman and Paige. If hired, Goldberg would be joined by Bernard Lynch, a Plymouth-based executive recruiter who assisted Amherst in the search for a new town manager that led to the hiring of Paul Bockelman.
There are several tasks the consultant might be asked to do, Churchill said, including project management, facilitation, research and writing. More specifically, these would include ensuring a timeline and milestones are met, providing examples of charters and charter changes from other communities, and maintaining a master document of what elements of government might change in Amherst.
The commission has an account with $35,000, of which $5,000 was provided by the town by state statute and the additional $30,000 came from Town Meeting. This money will be used to pay for the consultant, and other costs of outreach, such as printing and advertising.
Churchill said he hopes a decision can be made soon.
“It would be optimal if we could decide this Thursday,” Churchill said.
Meanwhile, the commission’s listening workshops are continuing.
The next one will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at the Amherst Regional Middle School cafeteria, after using last week’s Celebrate Amherst Block Party to get feedback on what people like and don’t like about town government, and changes they would like to see.
Commission member Margaret “Meg” Gage said that the focus of the session will be school issues and how government intersects with school matters.
So far, Gage said the workshops have indicated some people feel out of touch with town government. “It’s increasingly clear people don’t feel communicated with by different government officials,” Gage said.
Churchill said the commission will continue to solicit feedback from residents, calling the examination of the town charter an “iterative process.”
“The key part is to let people know what we’re doing and maintain an open process,” Churchill said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
