Town Politics

It's official. 

I filed the paperwork yesterday to run in the special election for the Charter Commission here in Newmarket.

The filing period opened yesterday and honestly, it wasn't something I was planning to do. But then I found myself at Town Hall anyway.

As I started telling people yesterday, people said things like "Good job", "Congratulations" and "Good for you." My friends and family have been very supportive of this decision.

And then quite a few people followed that up with "So, what IS the Charter Commission exactly?"

Here's my understanding---The Town Charter is the governing document for how our town operates. (You can think of it as our constitution.) The role of the Charter Commission is to review the document to ensure that it continues to be in compliance with State law and also to make sure that it continues to meet the needs of our community.  This will all take place within the next several months, with the bulk of the work done by Oct. 31, at which time it will be sent to the State for approval. Then it will go before the voters next March. 

There have been rumblings from a few that this is an opportunity to change the structure of our Town so that the School Board reports to the Town Council. I'm not sure that this is possible for Newmarket, but I imagine it something like what city governments have--a mayor and city council and all department heads, including the school superintendent reports to them. 

Personally, I've come to love and respect the role of Town Meeting, and I can't imagine not having that direct voice in our government. We'll see what happens.

There will be 9 people elected to this Commission, so there's plenty of room if you're thinking about running. The filing period will last through April 5th. 

In the meantime, mark your calendars and plan to vote on May 14th.