New Canaan charter panel tables joint paper on board elections

Other Committee · Meeting of January 28, 2026

New Canaan charter panel drops joint paper on electing town boards. The Charter Revision Commission's Group One voted unanimously Wednesday to permanently shelve a joint report on whether boards like Planning and Zoning and the Board of Finance should be elected, after a commissioner identified as Chris said new Planning and Zoning testimony and the first selectman's public comments on the question had made a unified document untenable. "I don't feel comfortable participating in the document that, as I said, we were almost ready to agree on," Chris said.

The group instead agreed to raise, as discussion items rather than a formal recommendation, capping party representation on appointed boards and shifting appointment authority to the full Board of Selectmen. Commissioner Joe Paulo noted unaffiliated candidates need roughly 50 signatures to petition onto a town ballot. Members also approved a redlined Article One adding a 180-day deadline for filling appointed vacancies.

In the full story:

• The complete report — 869 words

Source: the Other Committee meeting of January 28, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

The Full Article

NEW CANAAN — January 28, 2026 — The Charter Revision Commission's Group One voted Wednesday to permanently table a joint report weighing whether to make more town boards elected rather than appointed, after a member said new testimony from the Planning and Zoning Commission and public comments from the first selectman had made a unified paper untenable.

The four-member subcommittee, meeting by phone at 4:28 p.m., also approved revised minutes from its January 21 session and worked through a redlined draft of Article One of the town charter, covering the town seal and logo, the renaming of the audit committee to the audit board, and a new 180-day deadline for the Board of Selectmen to fill appointed vacancies.

The Full Story

The subcommittee opened by adopting a lengthy round of line-edits to its January 21 minutes, correcting the spelling of Dr. Lootie's name, clarifying wording attributed to Board of Education member Mr. Hogan on running for office and term limits, and fixing a reference to a "unanimous," not "anonymous," vote. Members voted unanimously to approve the minutes as revised.

The commission then returned to its central task: producing input on whether appointed town boards and commissions, including the Board of Finance and the Planning and Zoning Commission, should instead be elected. One commissioner, identified in the discussion as Chris, told colleagues the group had been close to agreement two weeks earlier but said two developments since then had changed the calculus: an extensive presentation from Planning and Zoning members and outside letters, and comments the first selectman gave to a local publication suggesting it would be unwise to put the elected-versus-appointed question to voters. Chris said the comments risked pressuring commission members who report to the first selectman's office.

"I don't feel comfortable participating in the document that, as I said, we were almost ready to agree on," Chris said, adding a preference to file a separate, individual report rather than continue the joint draft.

Angela, who ran the meeting, pushed back on tying the first selectman's remarks to the group's own process. "I don't actually see why her having said that means that we need to produce a different kind of document," Angela said, noting the first selectman had offered her own opinion in an interview and that commission members remained free to agree or disagree.

After extended debate, the subcommittee agreed to abandon the joint paper altogether rather than have members file competing versions, voting unanimously to withdraw work on it. Members instead agreed, without taking it up as a formal group recommendation, to raise two ideas for discussion at the next full commission meeting: lowering the cap on how many appointed-board seats a single political party may hold, and shifting appointment authority for boards and commissions from the first selectman's office to the full five-member Board of Selectmen. Commissioner Joe Paulo also briefed the group on how easy the state's petitioning process is for unaffiliated candidates seeking elected town offices such as town clerk.

"It's not a hard process," Paulo said of gathering the roughly 50 signatures needed to petition onto a ballot for an office like town clerk. "Any one of us could get 50 signatures."

Paulo then walked members through a redlined version of Article One, the charter's general-provisions section, including new language requiring publication notices to run in a local newspaper and electronically, a section distinguishing the town seal from the town logo amid uncertainty over which one carries legal protection, and the renaming of the audit committee to the audit board. Members also reviewed added language letting the town council decommission unused boards and commissions and a new 180-day window for the Board of Selectmen to fill appointed vacancies, a provision prompted by the town's utilities commission going dormant for lack of appointments around 2018.

Why It Matters

The subcommittee's decision to drop its joint paper means the full nine-member commission, and eventually voters, will get competing individual viewpoints rather than one consensus document on whether boards like the Planning and Zoning Commission or Board of Finance should become elected. That question carries real stakes: any shift to elected boards would require rewriting large sections of the charter to establish elections and transition procedures, a process members said would take considerable drafting time beyond the panel's May 4 target report date. The narrower ideas moving forward, capping party representation on appointed boards and routing appointments through the full Board of Selectmen rather than the first selectman alone, would not require voter approval but could reshape who gets appointed to bodies like the Board of Finance and audit board.

Key Motions & Votes

- Vote: Approve January 21 draft minutes as revised Tally: Approved unanimously

- Vote: Permanently withdraw further work on the joint elected-versus-appointed paper Tally: Approved unanimously

• Action: Present ideas on lowering the party-representation ceiling on appointed boards and shifting appointment authority to the full Board of Selectmen — Referred to full Charter Revision Commission for discussion at its next meeting, not adopted as a Group One recommendation

- Vote: Adjourn the meeting Tally: Approved unanimously

Source

Town Of New Canaan: Charter Revision Commission (Group One) meeting, January 28, 2026