AMHERST — A divided Charter Commission is moving forward with pursuit of a new government structure that would replace the Select Board and Town Meeting with a mayor and town council.

In what commission chairman Andy Churchill calls the first significant decision since voters agreed to form the commission last spring, the members voted 5-4 in favor of doing an in-depth study of the mayor-council form of government.

While the straw vote doesn’t mean the mayor-council will be recommended to voters, it sets the commission on a path to bring a proposal to voters, likely in March 2018, that would eliminate representative Town Meeting as the legislative branch, and also remove the professional town manager position that been in place since 1954.

Commission member Irv Rhodes made the motion in favor of creating a town council and elected mayor, along with what he called a “robust” way for residents to participate. He added there was urgency to have a proposal for the community to react to.

“We need to come to a decision, and we’ve got to do it tonight,” Rhodes said.

The commission is obligated to have a draft proposal complete by the end of July, and by the end of September must have a final proposal that voters will be asked to enact. If a new form of government is adopted, the first elections under it could occur as soon as November 2018.

Pro mayor-council

Voting in favor with Rhodes were Churchill, commission vice chairwoman Mandi Jo Hanneke and members Nick Grabbe and Tom Fricke.

Amherst’s last successful overhaul of its charter occurred more than 60 years ago, when the state Legislature, in 1954, approved the town manager act that created a professional town manager and eliminated open Town Meeting. Since then, votes in 1996, 2003 and 2005 to change to a mayoral form of government have failed.

Grabbe said for him the change in government structure is a matter of ensuring that residents have the power, observing that accountability doesn’t exist when there are few contested elections, either for Town Meeting or townwide offices, as occurs in the current system.

A new form of government would stimulate the number of competitive races, he said.

“I would like to give the power to the voters,” Grabbe said.

Con mayor-council

But Margaret “Meg” Gage said a mayor-council proposal would have less chance of being approved by voters and would likely heighten the rancor between those who support Town Meeting and those who seek to end it.

“I just think it would be a culture shock to this town,” Gage said.

Gage was joined by Julia Rueschemeyer, Gerry Weiss and Diana Stein in voting against moving toward a mayor-council.

Both Gage and Weiss, a former chairman of the Select Board, advocated for giving more power to the Select Board and Town Meeting.

Gage, who said she has concerns about money in politics, said the commission should instead try to strengthen the Select Board, with ideas floated such as allowing members to sit on both the School Committee and Planning Board.

The concept of a “first selectperson” is appealing to Rueschemeyer.

She said this gives more authority to one member over other members, while retaining Town Meeting in some form. But while this exists in Connecticut, it is not a structure that allowed in Massachusetts.

Stein said she couldn’t support a plan that doesn’t have a professional manager.

Churchill said a mayor-council would be easily understood by Amherst residents and has been successfully implemented in other nearby communities, including Northampton, Easthampton and Greenfield.

“I don’t worry as much that a mayor-council will be foreign to residents of our town,” Churchill said.

Dispensing with the town manager, though, does raise some concerns for those willing to support the mayor-council.

Hanneke said one of the positives to having a mayor is the ability for this elected person to find someone to handle administrative aspects of the job.

“I do agree that there are many things favorable to the manager side of that question, but at this point in time I’m falling on the mayor’s side,” Hanneke said. “But I’ve not stopped thinking about that question.”

Grabbe said he, too, would like to keep a manager, if possible.

“I’d be happy with a council-manager, for me it was a close call,” Grabbe said.

The nature of the citizen participation isn’t certain and will be something the commission will examine with consultants from the Collins Center at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Other aspects that need more attention in the coming weeks include the size of the council, whether members would be voted on by precincts, townwide or some combination, and the length of terms for a mayor.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.

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