New Canaan Charter Commission Approves Final Report, 10-1
Other Committee · Meeting of July 9, 2026
New Canaan Charter Revision Commission adopts final report, 10-1, sending seven amendments to the Town Council. The panel's lone dissent came from Commissioner Jennifer Holm, who said "the voters of New Canaan are smart, capable people" who "deserve a direct voice in their government" and argued boards like Planning and Zoning should be elected. Other members voted yes while airing complaints about the process: Commissioner Joe said outside counsel, the firm Carmody Moses, "lacked independence," and Commissioner Perret said a prior 2015-2016 commission had recommended hiring independent counsel instead.
The report goes to the town clerk Friday, starting a 15-day statutory clock, with the Town Council taking it up July 15. The commission also settled on printing roughly 500 copies, at an estimated $1,100 to $2,000, alongside a Sentinel newspaper insert costing about $3,750.
In the full story:
- Who Was There
- Organizations And Documents Referenced
- The complete report — 2,528 words
Source: the Other Committee meeting of July 9, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
The Full Article
Roll Call and Approval of Prior Minutes
The New Canaan Charter Revision Commission convened by video for a special meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday, July 9, with a quorum of ten of eleven members present at roll call and an eleventh, Commissioner Russ Kimes, joining shortly afterward. This was one of the commission's final scheduled sessions before its report goes to the Town Council. The body first approved minutes from its June 30 regular meeting on a motion from Kimes, seconded by Commissioner Chris (identified in the roll call as LaBries, though the recording also renders the name as LaBrie, LeBreux and LaBreche), approved unanimously by voice vote. Minutes from a July 7 special meeting followed; three members, a commissioner referred to only as Steve, Kimes and Commissioner Jennifer Holm, abstained because they had not had time to review the two-day-old document, and the minutes passed on a voice vote with those three abstentions recorded.
Report Housekeeping: Formatting, Dates and Structure
Kathleen, who chaired the discussion and presented the document throughout the meeting though her surname was never stated on the recording, spent the first half of the meeting walking commissioners through a redlined draft of the commission's final report, version five. Changes included larger fonts in response to a request from Commissioner Joe (rendered variously as Palo, DePalo and Pallo, and matched here to the roll-call surname Palumbo), correction of the meeting count to 28 sessions, updated dates ahead of the report's planned submission on July 10, and a reordering of the amendment summaries to follow the charter's own chapter numbering rather than the order in which the commission considered them. Kathleen noted the report's front matter uses a different, larger typeface than the charter text itself, which is reproduced starting on page 26 in Times New Roman to visually distinguish it from the commission's summary language. She said the version sent to the council will be shown in redline; the printed public version will be "blacklined" to show additions and deletions without color.
One commissioner, Commissioner Angela, flagged that a paragraph describing the reasoning behind term-limit changes had been relocated rather than deleted from an earlier draft; Kathleen confirmed the language, referred to informally during the meeting as the "Eric Knowles clause," was moved into the summary description rather than removed, since it would not itself appear on the ballot. A provision under charter section C2-7 was also clarified to specify that the 12 consecutive years counted toward term limits include time served as either an alternate or a regular appointed member of a board, commission or committee.
The Board of Finance Taxpayer Requirement Debate
The commission's longest exchange concerned a recommendation to remove language in charter section C5-1 requiring Board of Finance members to be "real estate taxpayers." The draft report's summary justified the change with the sentence: "Removal of this requirement provides consistency with all other boards, commissions and committees." Commissioner Chris objected that the framing understated the actual reasoning and mischaracterized the comparison, since the Board of Finance, unlike zoning, planning or historic commissions, holds the town's only taxing authority. "The Board of Finance duties are so different from all the others that that is a very weak argument," he said the consistency framing amounted to. He argued the amendment's real purpose was to broaden the pool of eligible candidates, not to align the board with unrelated bodies: "The discussion of this group had nothing to do with consistency, and it had everything to do with broadening the potential pool of candidates. I think that's what you have to say. You've got to say what we really did."
Kathleen defended keeping the consistency language, saying the commission had used similar explanatory language throughout the report and had made the same underlying change ten years earlier. Commissioner Todd separately raised whether the amendment should go further and define "beneficial ownership" more broadly to capture residents who do not hold real estate in their own name, citing conversations with Kathleen about various ownership arrangements; Commissioner Angela said she would support keeping the consistency sentence but was open to adding language addressing renters and indirect property owners. Kathleen ultimately cut off the expansion discussion, noting the actual amendment only strikes the two words "real estate taxpayers" and adds no new defining language, so no clarifying sentences were needed in the charter text itself.
Commissioner Holm then moved to strike the consistency sentence from the summary; Commissioner Joe (Palumbo) seconded. On a roll call vote, Commissioners Holm, Chris (LaBries), Neville, Joe (Palumbo) and Perret voted to remove the sentence; Commissioners Case, Corbett, Jameson, Lambert and Willett voted to keep it; Kimes abstained, saying he had joined by phone and had missed part of the discussion. The 5-5-1 result meant the motion failed, and the consistency sentence remains in the final report. Separately, at the request of a commissioner identified as Joe, the commission agreed by consensus, without a recorded vote, to add a disclaimer to the report's summary section stating that in any conflict between the plain-language summaries and the actual charter text, "the charter shall prevail."
Adoption of the Final Report
Commissioner Angela moved to approve version five of the report as the commission's final report; Kathleen amended the motion from the floor to add thanks to Kathleen's own work assembling the document, an amendment the group accepted informally before Kimes seconded. On the roll call that followed, ten of eleven members voted yes; several used the vote to read prepared statements critical of aspects of the two-year process even as they supported the outcome.
Holm cast the sole no vote. "The voters of New Canaan are smart, capable people, and I believe they deserve a direct voice in their government," she said, arguing that land-use and finance bodies should be elected rather than appointed given the scale of decisions facing the town over the next decade. She said the report includes strong provisions, including Town Council approval for land-use changes, an improved treasurer article and term limits, but called other portions "flawed" and urged the council to send some questions directly to voters.
Commissioner Neville voted yes while registering reservations. She said she was proud of a new article requiring any change of use of town property to go to referendum, calling it "the most important issue going forward and long overdue," but said the council should let any close or tied commission vote go to the ballot for residents to decide. "I tried to convey this concept when I made a motion regarding the election of planning and zoning commissioners only to be told it was not allowed. In my 26 years of public service, I've never been told a reasonable motion can be denied outright on any board or commission," she said, adding she had also unsuccessfully sought separate legal counsel for the commission, citing "too many personal agendas and conflicts of interest."
Commissioner Joe voted yes but echoed Holm's and Neville's criticism of the process. "Our legal counsel lacked independence. They didn't treat us as a client, and they're still not responded to some requests for references to support some of the positions they've taken," he said, adding that "a number of important votes" involved commissioners who had, or appeared to have, conflicts of interest and should have recused themselves. He said he was voting yes because the proposed changes would still benefit residents overall.
Commissioner Perret also voted yes with a statement he asked to have entered into the minutes. He said the prior charter commission, which served in 2015-2016 under chair David Hunt, met with the current commission on December 2 and recommended hiring outside counsel independent of the town; instead, the commission hired the firm Carmody Moses, which he said "is not independent of the town of New Canaan." He said a different, independent firm would have served the commission better, and he urged the council to preserve the commission's term-limit recommendations as "a small step to try and give residents a modicum of balance in town government."
The remaining members, Case, Corbett, Jameson, Kimes, Lambert, LaBries (Chris) and Willett, voted yes without recorded statements. The motion carried 10-1, and the final report was formally approved.
Publication and Distribution Plan
Kathleen presented printing and distribution options gathered from vendor quotes. An early estimate for 2,000 printed copies had come in near $5,930, a price the commission ultimately rejected in favor of a smaller, print-on-demand approach paired with a Sentinel newspaper insert. The Sentinel is expected to produce a four-page section with a print circulation of about 2,000 copies, at a cost of roughly $3,750, which Kathleen said satisfies the state statute's publication requirement independent of any commission-printed booklets. For the booklet itself, vendor Minute Man quoted 50-pound and 60-pound paper stock, both heavier than the 30-pound newsprint used for the working draft; Kathleen recommended the 50-pound option. Printing 250 to 500 copies was estimated at $1,100 to $2,000, with a 10 percent discount at the 500-copy quantity, and commissioners including Kathleen and one identified as Judy said they favored 500 copies to avoid residents being unable to find one. Kathleen said all figures fit within the commission's existing budget, with unspent funds from other line items available to cover legal costs.
Digital copies will be posted on the town website and the Sentinel's website, and a commissioner noted the New Canaanite is expected to link to the report as well. One commissioner suggested including a QR code in the Sentinel insert linking to the digital version, an idea Kathleen and others endorsed.
Statutory Timeline and the Town Council's Next Steps
Nick Bomonti, who advised the commission on procedural and legal questions during the meeting, said the report is expected to reach the town clerk and Town Council on Friday, July 10, giving the council roughly five days to review it before its Wednesday, July 15, meeting, where the commission's item is expected to be last on the agenda. Bomonti said July 15 is the date the commission's statutory role formally ends, assuming the council acts that day on all seven proposed amendments, regardless of whether any are rejected. Separately, in response to a question from a commissioner identified as Judy about the outer statutory deadline, Bomonti said the 15-day review clock runs from the report's receipt date, meaning the council's final deadline to accept or reject the recommendations falls on Saturday, July 25.
Bomonti and Kathleen said additional volunteer work is likely to continue after the commission's term ends, including subgroup work already underway on historic preservation, inland wetlands, human resource policy with a staff member identified as Cheryl, and recommendations for recruiting board and commission applicants through the town website. Kathleen said she personally intends to remain involved in producing printed materials and, if the council approves ballot questions this fall, assisting with any work tied to the November 3 election, though any amendments the council rejects would be paused pending a possible resident petition.
Commission's Final Meeting and Closing Remarks
Because the commission still needed to approve minutes from Thursday's meeting, members agreed to hold one additional short meeting on Tuesday, July 14, at 5 p.m. by Zoom, ahead of the council's July 15 session, rather than waiting for a previously scheduled July 28 date. Bomonti confirmed the commission could not approve minutes by unanimous written consent under municipal rules and would need a quorum present for a brief meeting instead.
Kathleen closed the meeting by thanking commissioners for their differing viewpoints, saying that diversity of opinion "makes our work stronger." Commissioner Todd, who described himself as new to local politics and "apolitical centrist," said he respected all viewpoints on the commission even where he disagreed, and said he trusted the elected Town Council to weigh the recommendations as it saw fit. Commissioner Russ Kimes, who described himself as a third-generation New Canaan resident who left another career to work in town, thanked fellow commissioners for their volunteer service and said the ultimate decision rests with the council and, eventually, residents. The meeting adjourned on a motion from Kimes, seconded by a commissioner identified as Judy.
Commissioner Case, present at roll call. Commissioner Corbett, present at roll call, voted yes on the final report. Commissioner Jennifer Holm, present at roll call, cast the sole no vote on the final report and moved to remove the Board of Finance consistency language. Commissioner Jameson, present at roll call. Commissioner Russ Kimes, joined the meeting after being marked absent at roll call; moved to approve the June 30 minutes and seconded the final report motion. Commissioner Lambert, present at roll call. Commissioner Chris, roll-call surname rendered as LaBries (also heard as LaBrie, LeBreux and LaBreche in the recording); seconded multiple motions and led objections to the Board of Finance summary language. Commissioner Neville, present at roll call; voted yes on the final report with a statement urging elected boards and independent counsel. Commissioner Joe, roll-call surname rendered as Palumbo (also heard as Palo, DePalo and Pallo); voted yes on the final report with a statement criticizing legal counsel's independence. Commissioner Perret, present at roll call (also heard as Peratt); voted yes on the final report with a statement about the commission's choice of outside counsel. Commissioner Willett, present at roll call. Kathleen, surname not stated on the recording, chaired and presented throughout the meeting. Commissioner Angela, surname not stated; moved approval of the final report. Commissioner Todd, surname not stated; raised the Board of Finance ownership-definition question. A commissioner referred to only as Steve, surname not stated; abstained on the July 7 minutes and asked a procedural question about future meetings. A commissioner referred to only as Judy, surname not stated; asked about editing report language and the November 3 timeline. Nick Bomonti, described as advising the commission on legal and procedural questions, including the statutory review timeline. Karen Burke, described as drafting the commission's meeting minutes.
New Canaan Town Council — the body that will receive the commission's final report on July 10 and is scheduled to vote on the seven proposed amendments at its July 15 meeting. New Canaan town clerk's office — recipient of the final report, starting the 15-day statutory review clock. Carmody Moses (law firm) — outside counsel hired by the current Charter Revision Commission, criticized by Commissioners Holm, Joe and Perret as insufficiently independent of the town. 2015-2016 Charter Revision Commission, chaired by David Hunt — cited by Commissioner Perret as having recommended hiring independent counsel, advice the current commission did not follow. The New Canaan Sentinel — local newspaper expected to publish a four-page insert containing the report to satisfy the state's statutory publication requirement, with an estimated cost of $3,750. The New Canaanite — local news outlet expected to link to the digital report. Minute Man (print vendor) — quoted the commission on paper stock and per-copy printing costs for the report booklet. New Canaan Charter, sections C2-7, C2-16 and C5-1 — specific charter provisions amended or discussed, covering term limits, board vacancies and Board of Finance eligibility.