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Gardner MA Charter Review Committee Schedules Public Hearing for February 23, 2023
The City Charter Review Committee has scheduled a public hearing for Thursday, February 23, 2023 at 4:00pm in the City Council Chambers at City Hall. “to hear testimony with regard to potential amendments to the City Charter of the City of Gardner. Persons interested in this matter are encouraged to attend and offer testimony. View the complete Press Release, CLICK HERE.
According to the “Rules of the Hearing”, testimony from current City Elected Officials will be taken first, followed by that of the general public who will be limited to 3 minutes each, and each petitioner will be granted the opportunity to reply to questions and comments. Proposed specific amendments must be submitted in writing. To submit written testimony in advance of the public hearing send to Gardner Mayor’s Office Att’n: Colin Smith, 95 Pleasant St. Gardner MA 01440 or email to csmith@gardner-ma.gov. Mayor Nicholson submitted some suggestions and they are in the packet for the 2-16-23 meeting, CLICK HERE. Also included are prior ideas from 7 years ago. Mayor Nicholson also provided additional info showing more of the previous work done on this topic. CLICK HERE.
The Committee met on February 16, 2023 to discuss how to proceed. During that meeting, they set the date for the public hearing we write about here.
Some History of How We Got Here
To view the current Gardner City Charter, CLICK HERE. The Gardner City Council confirmed the Charter Committee on 1-17-23. See Article and AUDIO of meeting. The issue of whether to create the Committee was debated at an informal meeting on 10-3-22, CLICK HERE. At that meeting, the issue was tabled to the 2nd meeting in November The Charter Committee was approved on a vote of 7 to 4 at its meeting of December 5, 2022, CLICK HERE. The Charter was previously reviewed 7 years ago but the review did not result in any ultimate changes. When this Special Act Charter Review Committee completes its work, it will send recommendations to the Gardner City Council. Whatever changes are approved, if any, will be sent to the Mayor for approval. Upon his approval, the voters will have to approve the changes at the polls.
Gardner Mayor Nicholson commented on the City Charter during our Lessons About History Interview. Click to go to section about the Charter.