Waterford's Form of Government Explained

Every so often The Day runs a brief profile of various town and city governments in its classified section.  This profile says that Waterford has a “Selectman/Board of Finance/Town Meeting” form of government.  The Waterford profile on the Connecticut Economic Resource Center (CERC) Web site states that the form of Government is “Selectman/Town Meeting.”  Just what does this mean and how did it get this way?

After growing up in a city where there was only a Mayor/Town Council/Board of Education on the local ballot, I was amazed at the number of volunteer persons it takes to run a New England town.  I have been told by reliable authorities that the New England local governments have little resemblance to local governments in the remaining states of the United States.

Contrary to popular belief, the 169 towns and cities in Connecticut are not independent fiefdoms.  They are really creatures of the State Legislature.  Prior to 1959, towns and cities had to have the State Legislature pass any changes desired in local government.  After the Home Rule Act was adopted in 1959 towns and cities could convene a Charter Commission and set their own rules for governance as long as they did not violate any state statute.

Town Charters are expanded upon by the Town Code of Ordinances.  The Charter may say the Town would establish a certain board or commission but the code of ordinances lays out the duties, powers, and responsibilities for the board or commission.  Some Boards and commissions also have duties and responsibilities laid out in Connecticut State Statutes.

The Chief Elected Official in Waterford is the First Selectman.  In the past twenty years, the First Selectman has been given more power and responsibility over the Town and Town employees.  Before the Charter Revision of 1996, the First Selectman did not have direct control over Town employees that were supervised by the “autonomous boards and commissions.”  The 1996 Charter Revision made removed the term “autonomous” and made it clear that as the Chief Executive of the Town, all employees reported to the First Selectman.  The latest Charter Revision of 2010 now gives the First Selectman and the Board of Selectmen review power for all Town budgets.

The other elected officials that report to the First Selectman, although elected independently of the First Selectman are the Town Clerk, Treasurer, and Tax Collector. Their duties are outlined in State Statute with some minor amplification in the Town Charter and Code of Ordinances.

The First Selectman presides over the three member Board of Selectmen (BOS).  The Second Selectman is the selectman who belongs to the same political party as the First Selectman and the Third Selectman is a member of the minority party.  As a group, the BOS is the executive authority for the Town with the day-to-day authority in the hands of the First Selectman.  Since Waterford has a Representative Town Meeting (RTM) the BOS does not have legislative authority.

By Charter, the seven member Board of Finance (BOF) “prepares” the Town budget for submission to the RTM.  BOF members are elected for staggered four year terms.  With the 2010 Charter Revision, all budgets are reviewed by the BOS before the BOF “prepares” the final budget for approval by the RTM.  The BOF also has specific duties, responsibilities, and deadlines as outlined in State Statute.  All actions relating to money and appropriations must be recommended by the BOF to the RTM for final action.

The RTM takes the place of the traditional New England Town Meeting.  There are four voting districts in Town.  Each member of the RTM represents 550 electors from a specific district.  Although the Town has a population of 19,517 according to the 2010 census, there are only around 12,000 registered voters.  Since there are around 2,800 students in the public schools and an estimated 2,000 other children in Town, that means there are approximately  5,000 residents who are not electors.  Before each local election, the Registrar of Voters must certify to the Town Clerk the number of electors in each district and the Town Clerk then certifies the number of representatives to be elected from that district.  There are 22 members in the current RTM.  Districts 1 and 2 have five representatives each and Districts 3 and 4 have six representatives each.  The RTM is the legislative body for the Town and also the final financial approving authority.  Actions of the RTM may be sent to referendum following the procedures in the Charter to initiate such a referendum.

The other major elected board is the Board of Education.  Its nine members are elected for staggered four year terms.  The BOE is governed by State Statute and is operationally separate from the rest of Town Government.  The BOF and the RTM only have bottom line approval of a BOE budget.  Capital Requests from the BOE must be approved by the BOS, the BOF, and the RTM.

There are two other elected boards in Waterford.  The Zoning Board of Appeals is a five member board (with three alternates) .  It is a quasi judicial body whose duties and responsibilities are outlined in State Statutes.  The Board of Assessment Appeal is an elected three member body that may be enlarged temporarily by appointments of additional members for one year by the BOS.  This expansion is generally done during a revaluation year when the Board of Assessment appeal workload is significantly increased.

There are twenty three additional departments, boards and agencies that make up the Town Government.  Seventeen of these boards are listed in the Town Charter and the others were formed by ordinance without inclusion in the Charter.  Each one of these boards has five to nine members, all of whom are volunteers, who are or become experts in their area of responsibility.

In future columns, I will provide more detail on the authority and responsibility of Town boards, commissions, and agencies.