The wording of the charter revision questions was approved by the Secretary of the State’s Office as submitted by the Board of Selectmen:
- Shall the Suffield Charter Section 204, “Vacancies in Elective Offices”, be amended to create a detailed process for filling a vacancy in the office of First Selectman?
- Shall the Suffield Charter Section 302A be amended to provide that the length of the terms of the Board of Selectman, including the First Selectman, be increased to four years?
- Shall the Suffield Charter Section 302H be amended to increase the number of members on the Board of Police Commissioners to seven beginning with the election in Nov. 2023, and shall the Special Act creating the Police Commission be adopted as an ordinance and updated to correspond with the increase in membership?
- Shall the Suffield Charter Section 302H be amended to clarify that the Police Commission maintains its statutory authority over the Department and that the Chief of Police manages day to day operations of the Police Department and reports, as a Department head, to the First Selectman?
- Shall the Suffield Charter Section 302I be amended to decrease the number of members on the Fire Commission to five beginning with the election in Nov. 2023?
- Shall the Suffield Charter Section 302I be amended to clarify that the Fire Commission maintains its statutory authority over the Department, and that the Fire Chief manages day to day operations of the Fire Department and reports, as a Department Head, to the First Selectman?
- Shall the Suffield Charter Section 302K be amended to clarify that the WPCA shall have all of its statutory powers for the effective management of waste water in the Town, that the WPCA Superintendent is a Department Head of the Town and that all employees working at the WPCA facilities are employees of the Town and subject to Town human resources and employment policies?
- Shall the Suffield Charter Section 502, “Powers and Duties” of the First Selectman, be amended to clarify that the First Selectman is responsible for “enforcing” the administrative and personnel policies of the Town, for the management of Department Heads (Section B), and to incorporate the WPCA into the First Selectman’s consistency and coordination duties (Section F)?
- Shall the Suffield Charter Section 807, “Expenditures and Accounting”, be amended to provide a defined process for the Board of Selectman to set and waive the Bid and Purchase process (Section E), for the Town Treasurer to consult with the Finance department on payroll (Section G) and to provide for end of year transfers by the Board of Finance to the WPCA and to the Board of Education (Section H)?
- Shall the Suffield Charter Section 1006, “Actions Requiring a Town Meeting”, Subsection F be amended to provide that the acceptance of land donated to the Town does require approval at Town meeting but utility easements and land purchased, donated or sold with a value of $10,000 or less does not require approval at a Town Meeting?
- Shall the Suffield Charter Section 1007, “Town Meeting by Petition”, Subsection A(1) be amended to prohibit Town Meetings to be petitioned for the purpose of specifying compensation of officials or fixing the tax rate, and be further amended to change “appointing or removing officials” to “censuring officials”?
- Shall the Suffield Charter Section 1101, “Conflict of Interest”, be amended to reference the definition in the Town ethics code and require disclosure of conflicts of interest to follow the manner prescribed by the Connecticut General Statutes, except for the First Selectman, who is required to disclose conflicts of interest in writing to the Board of Selectmen?
- Shall the Suffield Charter Section 1203 “Status of Employees”, be amended to require the Town Human Resources Department to arrange for the hiring of all employees, except those hired by the Board of Education, and exempt the Board of Education and WPCA from engaging consultants or employing people outside of the Annual Town Budget?
- Shall the Suffield Charter be revised by adopting the technical corrections and (non-substantive) changes recommended by the 2020-2021 Charter Revision Commission?