New Canaan Council Straw-Polls Charter Rewrite, Rejects Catchall Clause
Town Council · Meeting of June 17, 2026
New Canaan council straw-polls charter overhaul, rejects bundled "catchall" rewrite. Meeting Wednesday, the town council voted 9-2 in a non-binding poll against recommending a "technical and conforming changes" charter clause covering an estimated 80 to 100 edits, with Chairman Mike Marorrow warning voters "cannot make an informed choice" on a bundled question. Council member Heather Russell pushed for an elected Board of Finance, noting New Canaan holds the same triple-A bond rating as neighboring towns with elected boards; a straw poll on the idea split 4-4.
Mike Rogers proposed a hybrid model with a bare majority of elected seats on both the Board of Finance and Planning and Zoning, citing an overturned P&Z denial at 751 Weed Street. A term-limit proposal capping appointed service at 12 years failed 5-7. Separately, the council unanimously approved a $225,000 housing authority grant dispute in the meeting minutes and confirmed Bernie Clark to a new regional water authority board.
In the full story:
- Who Was There
- Organizations And Documents Referenced
- The complete report — 3,242 words
Source: the Town Council meeting of June 17, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
The Full Article
Roll Call, Pledge and a Minutes Dispute Over "Unanimous" Votes
The council's business opened with an unusual detour: a review of how minutes had characterized votes taken at the April 22, 2026 meeting, the session at which the council took up bond authorizations a week after budget approval. According to Tucker, who handles the minutes, several separate motions were taken that night rather than one lump sum, and after each the presiding officer declared the vote "unanimous," even though hands were raised inconsistently and, at the end, council member Norton objected on the record to one item. Tucker's original draft accordingly recorded every vote as unanimous; Norton later asked that three specific votes instead show her in opposition.
Tucker told the council he had since added a paragraph clarifying that Norton opposed a $225,000 housing authority grant and separately opposed $170,000 in Department of Public Works parks vehicle purchases and three special-education vehicles at $65,000 each — three votes in total. He recommended the council move to formal roll-call voting going forward "so that we don't ever get into this problem" again. The council did not adopt a formal roll-call policy Wednesday, instead agreeing informally to "police each other" on future votes.
Council member Kim separately flagged an unresolved factual dispute in the draft minutes of the May 20 meeting concerning a discussion of the New Canaan Museum and Historical Society and the Gores Pavilion. Kim said she had asked a staff member, identified in the transcript only as "Miss Gary," whether state historic preservation easements tied to a prior state grant for the pavilion would affect a proposed move of the building, and that the minutes should reflect the nuance of that exchange rather than a simplified summary. The council agreed to table the May 20 minutes for further review rather than approve them as drafted. A separate correction to the June 10 minutes, requested by Christina Ross, will add that a Charter Revision Commission member spoke from the audience gallery, inaudibly on tape, during that meeting — noted as a historical fact without recording what was said. The council then voted unanimously to approve the minutes for the April 22, May 27 and June 10 meetings as amended.
Public Comment: Residents Weigh In on Elected Versus Appointed Boards
Two public commenters previewed the elected-versus-appointed debate that would dominate the evening's later agenda item. Amy Murphy Carol, a Board of Selectmen member who described herself as a 30-year New Canaan resident and 15-year veteran of town government, urged the council to preserve the appointed structure for the Board of Finance and Planning and Zoning. She argued that appointment lets the town recruit professionals — including many barred by their employers from running for office — and cited the town's fully funded pension and near-fully-funded other postemployment benefits as evidence the current system works. "I think many people feel like we elect the board... you guys do your jobs and then appoint people," she said, warning that contested elections for these boards could invite outside political money into a system she called "as agenda-free as you could get."
Sarah Pierce, joining by Zoom, urged the council toward a narrower role: identifying "blind spots" in the Charter Revision Commission's yearlong process rather than re-litigating its work. She said the CRC's own survey data showed dissatisfaction with New Canaan's majority-appointed government and should not be dismissed, comparing it to "a smoke alarm" that the town cannot simply ignore. She pointed to Westport's model — appointed alternates paired with an elected sitting Planning and Zoning Commission — as "the gold standard," and urged council members to state their views clearly and on the record rather than let one side's arguments stand unanswered.
Internal Audit Report: Purchasing Review Finds Gaps, No Material Deficiencies
Bill Bradley, representing the town's Internal Audit Subcommittee, presented the findings of a purchasing-process review conducted by the outside firm CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA), the first phase of a broader audit project covering both town and school operations; the school portion is being handled separately by finance staff and Board of Education members. Bradley said CLA's partner, who works with numerous Connecticut towns, characterized the findings as "not unusual" and said the report was "not a bad report" overall.
The review identified nine areas for improvement, mostly involving policy documentation and process clarity rather than active wrongdoing. Among the specific findings: internal inconsistencies between text and table language in the town's 18-page purchasing policy; a purchasing-ethics section that describes conflict-of-interest rules but provides no disclosure or tracking mechanism; and purchase-card controls that were already tightened before the audit began — the town closed its prior program of roughly 10-plus individually held department-head cards in November 2024, moving to a state program with a shared card controlled by finance and four emergency-use cards for police, fire, Department of Public Works and EMS. Finance staff told the council only one of those emergency cards has been used since the change.
Council member Christina Ross pressed Bradley on invoice-tracking turnaround, asking how the town monitors whether bills sit unpaid in departments for 30 to 120 days; finance staff responded that invoices are logged with vendor-specified payment terms and processed through a weekly check run once received. Council member Kim asked whether the goal was to phase out purchase cards altogether in favor of written purchase orders; staff said no formal move away from cards is planned but that the shared-card model already limits exposure compared with the prior individually held cards.
Finance staff noted the town declined CLA's offer of paid consulting help to implement the recommended changes, opting to handle updates internally using purchasing policies from comparably sized Connecticut towns that had already been vetted by outside auditors. Staff also said mandatory systems training — using the town's Tyler Technologies "Munis" platform — will begin in fiscal year 2027, building on a self-produced training manual and video created by the town's newer budget manager. Bradley clarified in response to a question from the chair that the findings were recommendations, not deficiencies, and that the review was not a financial-statement audit.
Appointments: Board of Finance Alternate and a New Regional Water Authority Seat
The council confirmed two appointments without dissent. The first, to the Board of Finance as an alternate member for a two-year term ending December 1, 2027, was introduced under two different spellings in the transcript — "Alan Banis" during discussion and "Al Bedaines" when the formal motion was read; the council did not resolve which spelling is correct. Council member Jennifer Zanis noted that Board of Finance members have been heard on the record deferring to him on technical matters, calling him "one of the smartest guys on the group." Members described his professional background as being in the insurance industry.
The second appointment, Bernie Clark, fills a newly created representative policy board seat with the regional water authority formed after the sale of Aquarion Water to what several members referred to as "the RWA." First Selectman-equivalent appointing authority described Clark as a current member of the town's Utilities Commission with a background in utility credit ratings at Moody's, and said he was chosen over the alternative of appointing the town's first selectman to the seat because Clark has direct expertise and is personally served by the water system. Both appointments passed on a single motion, seconded and approved unanimously.
Charter Revision Commission Draft Report: Five Recommendations, Multiple Straw Polls
The council spent the balance of the meeting responding to the Charter Revision Commission's draft report, received May 4 and discussed at multiple prior meetings. Chairman Mike Marorrow framed the exercise as informal, non-binding straw polls intended to give the commission direction as it finalizes its report ahead of a fall ballot; CRC representative Kathleen confirmed the commission meets again Thursday.
Term limits. The first recommendation would cap consecutive service on any appointed board, commission or committee at 12 years, with a one-term "cooling off" period before reappointment to the same body. The council split 5-7 against recommending it forward. Supporters, including Mike Rogers, argued term limits bring "fresh ideas." Opponents on the dais, joined by absent members Maria, Penny Young and Eric — whose positions were relayed by Rogers from written comments — argued experienced members provide institutional value; Eric's relayed comment stated he was "persuaded by arguments in favor of allowing such appointed officers, commissioners and committee members to remain in service." Lena Lee voted yes "but conflicted, and only if" Planning and Zoning remains appointed.
Town-owned property and confirmation authority. Two recommendations passed unanimously as straw polls: requiring council approval, subject to public referendum, for any change in use, lease, sale or transfer of town-owned real property; and requiring town council confirmation of the Board of Selectmen's appointments to Planning and Zoning.
Ethics board alternates. A recommendation to add three alternate members to the five-member ethics board passed 11-1, with only Eric opposed, on the stated grounds that he did not see the need for additional appointments.
The catchall recommendation. Recommendation five — described in the CRC's own report as "technical and conforming changes" clarifying definitions, deleting outdated references and updating provisions for consistency — drew the meeting's longest debate. Marorrow argued the formulation, covering an estimated 80 to 100 individual edits, cannot be meaningfully presented on a ballot: "The electorate will be completely uninformed as to what exactly is being asked of them." He cited two substantive provisions he said were mischaracterized as merely technical: a new C15-1 clause allowing boards, commissions, officers or department heads — rather than the Board of Selectmen — to dismiss part-time and seasonal employees, and C2-16, which would subject elected and appointed town officers with managerial responsibility to the same administrative rules, collective-bargaining terms and grievance procedures that govern municipal employees, excluding the fire commission, police commission and Board of Education.
Marorrow, an employment attorney by profession, argued C2-16's language is too loosely drafted, potentially exposing commissioners such as those on the Parks and Recreation Commission to union grievance mechanisms without corresponding legal protections such as town-paid representation or liability coverage. "The way this is written, these town officers who have employees are now subject to the terms and conditions of these collective bargaining agreements," he said. Christina Ross added a separation-of-powers objection, arguing the language would improperly subordinate one elected official's independence to another's oversight. Kim separately objected to both provisions in her own remarks, saying policy and procedural matters belong in an employee handbook that can be amended freely, not a charter revised roughly once a decade.
CRC representative Kathleen defended the catchall structure, noting the commission's report includes a three-and-a-half-page summary explaining each numbered item and that the commission plans a public-education campaign before the vote; she said legal counsel reviewed each item to determine whether it warranted its own ballot question. Christina Ross countered with a specific grievance from the prior charter revision a decade ago, saying a change described only as altering town council size from four to six members also silently removed language affirming parties' right to endorse candidates in violation of, in her view, state statute — a claim Town Counsel Nick disputed on the record, saying the existing provision defers to Connecticut General Statutes Section 9-167a's minority-representation framework and is legally compliant. Nine of the 11 members who stated a clear position voted no on recommendation five as drafted; Lena Lee and Eric (with a stated reservation about a separate provision on posting board vacancies) voted yes.
Elected boards: Board of Finance, Planning and Zoning, and a hybrid model. Outside the CRC's own five recommendations, council member Heather Russell asked colleagues to recommend the commission place a ballot question asking whether the Board of Finance should become an elected body. She argued Connecticut's default rule under state statute is an elected finance board, that New Canaan and Brookfield and Woodbridge are the only comparable towns to depart from it, and that neighboring towns with elected finance boards — Darien, Westport, Wilton, Greenwich and Fairfield — hold the same triple-A bond rating New Canaan does. "Our rating reflects the town's sizable tax base, extremely strong wealth and income profile, and stable financial position," she said, quoting Moody's own language, and argued the appointed structure "has provided no measurable benefit" to that rating. She also asked, separately from any ballot question, that the charter's property-ownership requirement for Board of Finance members be struck outright as likely unconstitutional — a recommendation the council did not oppose.
Mike Rogers proposed a hybrid alternative for both the Board of Finance and Planning and Zoning: a bare majority of elected seats (five elected, three appointed on the Board of Finance; five elected, four appointed on Planning and Zoning) preserving expert appointees while adding electoral accountability. He cited a Superior Court reversal of a Planning and Zoning denial at 751 Weed Street, which he said is now proceeding as a 102-unit development, as evidence the current appointed structure lacks "the standing it needs to lead" when decisions are contested. "I am not questioning the competence of the people who serve on these boards," Rogers said. "I am questioning consent. Who chooses them and by what authority they govern the rest of us." He noted 2025 elections for Planning and Zoning and Board of Finance in Westport and Darien were "low-key, bipartisan and orderly," rebutting concerns that elections would invite partisan takeovers.
Jennifer Zanis offered the most extended rebuttal, saying she agreed with Amy Murphy Carol's earlier public comment and arguing her colleagues' newer arrival on the council left them without "many years of institutional knowledge" she said informed her own preference for appointment. She rejected a characterization — made in the exchange and quickly disputed — that she believed "democracy doesn't matter at the local level," clarifying she supports the town's existing representative structure: elected selectmen and council providing accountability over an appointed Board of Finance and Board of Education. Christina Ross, while calling Russell's and Rogers' arguments compelling, said her own experience on the council showed "road stops" where budget cuts move through departments without adequate transparency, and that the CRC's broader work deserved consensus-building rather than a rushed vote.
Three separate ad hoc straw polls followed. A poll on converting the Board of Finance to an elected body split 4-4 among members present (Rogers, Ross, Kim and Russell in favor; Janet, Hillary, Zanis and Lee opposed), with Marorrow and the three absent members opposed by the chair's account. A hybrid-model poll for both boards produced the same 4-4 split. A Planning and Zoning-only conversion poll failed 4-8, with Lee voting no but conditioning support on the term-limit and open-application provisions also being adopted.
Ethics provisions in the charter. Kim asked the council to recommend the CRC add specific ethics language to the charter itself rather than leaving it solely to Chapter 17, the town's ethics ordinance, and to section C15-4, the "code of ethics for town employees" provision she said consists of a single sentence. She cited two recent incidents: an unanswered resident email asking why a Planning and Zoning commissioner had recused himself from a matter, and a gap identified in Bradley's own audit around undocumented conflict-of-interest tracking. Her proposal — public disclosure of conflicts, mandatory recusal, documentation in meeting minutes and a formal disclosure process — would not replace the existing ethics ordinance but would elevate core principles into the charter, which only voters can amend. After the council settled on language asking "should the reference to the code of ethics in the town charter be expanded or modified in any way," the straw poll produced three votes in favor — Ross, Kim and Russell — with the remainder opposed or, in the case of the three absent members, previously stated as opposed.
Outcome and Next Steps
No item from Wednesday's session was formally adopted into the charter; every vote beyond the minutes and the two appointments was explicitly framed as a non-binding straw poll intended to guide, not bind, the Charter Revision Commission, which meets again Thursday. Marorrow said the council remains free to appear before the commission to help draft specific ballot language, particularly to separate substantive items currently bundled inside recommendation five. The commission's next step is to determine which of its recommendations require standalone ballot questions and which can remain in a catchall provision, followed by a public-education campaign before any charter questions appear on the fall ballot.
Mike Marorrow, Chairman, present Janet, Member, present (surname not given in the transcript) Lena Lee, Member, present Mike Rogers, Member, present Christina Ross, Member, present Heather Russell, Member, present Jennifer Zanis, Member, present Hillary, Member, present (surname not given in the transcript) Kim, Member, present (surname not given in the transcript) Maria, Member, absent (transcript is inconsistent — a roll call response was recorded as present, but she is later repeatedly described as absent with her position on each straw poll relayed by Mike Rogers) Penny Young, Member, absent Eric, Member, absent (surname not given in the transcript) Tucker, staff, present — handles and drafts council meeting minutes Kathleen, present — appears to represent the Charter Revision Commission before the council Nick, present — answered legal questions on charter provisions and state statute, apparently serving as town counsel Bill Bradley, Internal Audit Subcommittee, present — presented the CLA purchasing audit Amy Murphy Carol, public comment — Board of Selectmen member, 43 Trichester Street, self-described 30-year resident Sarah Pierce, public comment — appeared via Zoom Bernie Clark, appointee — Utilities Commission member, appointed to the regional water authority representative policy board; not present in person but addressed by phone/remote Alan Banis (referred to elsewhere as Al Bedaines), appointee — Board of Finance alternate member; not present
Charter Revision Commission (CRC) — authored the draft charter report and five recommendations that were the subject of the evening's straw polls; meets again the following day. CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA) — outside firm that conducted the internal audit of town purchasing processes discussed under item four. Aquarion Water / Regional Water Authority (RWA) — new regional entity created after Aquarion Water's sale, to which Bernie Clark was appointed as New Canaan's representative. Board of Finance — subject of the term-limit, property-ownership and elected-versus-appointed straw polls. Planning and Zoning Commission — subject of the elected-versus-appointed straw polls; cited in connection with the 751 Weed Street litigation. 751 Weed Street — cited by Mike Rogers as a Planning and Zoning denial overturned in court, now proceeding as a 102-unit development. Tyler Technologies "Munis" system — the town's financial and purchasing software platform discussed in the audit presentation. Town Charter sections C15-1, C15-4, C2-16, C3-4 — specific provisions debated in connection with the CRC's catchall recommendation and Kim's ethics proposal. Chapter 17 (town ethics ordinance) — existing town code provision Kim's proposal would supplement, not replace. Connecticut General Statutes Section 9-167a — minority-representation statute cited by Town Counsel Nick in response to Christina Ross's concerns about nomination rules. Moody's — credit-rating agency quoted by Heather Russell in support of her argument for an elected Board of Finance. Westport — cited by Sarah Pierce and Mike Rogers as a model combining appointed alternates with an elected sitting Planning and Zoning Commission. Darien — cited alongside Westport as a town that held orderly, bipartisan elections for Planning and Zoning and Board of Finance in 2025.