By Anne White
The New Canaan Town Council spent its June 17 regular meeting addressing disputed minutes, reviewing an internal audit report, confirming two appointments and taking a series of non-binding straw polls on proposed charter revisions that were returned to the Charter Revision Commission the next night.
The first issue of the meeting involved approval of several sets of minutes. Administrative Officer Tucker Murphy explained that the April 22 minutes had raised a problem because votes on several bond authorization items had been recorded as unanimous after Mauro announced them that way, while Kimberly Norton later said she had intended to vote against certain items.
Murphy said Norton had asked to amend one motion, that amendment failed and the council then returned to the original motion. She said the record showed Mauro stating that the vote was unanimous after several votes, but Norton later said she wanted the minutes to reflect her opposition to some items.
“I’ve recommended that going forward we do the votes by roll call now so that we don’t ever get into this problem,” Murphy said.
The votes for the rest of the meeting were by roll call.
Audit Report and Appointments Precede the Charter Review
The council received an update from Bill Bradley on the town portion of an internal audit review. Bradley said the town had engaged CLA, also known as CliftonLarsonAllen, to review town and school processes . He said his presentation was limited to the town report and focused on purchasing policies, procedures, and controls.
“This was actually not a bad report,” Bradley said.
He said CLA identified nine areas for improvement, many involving policies, procedures and documentation, including
purchasing-policy updates, emergency-purchase procedures, vendor management, purchase-card controls and training on the Tyler Munis system. Council members asked about invoice tracking, purchase cards and implementation timelines, while town officials said several corrective steps were already underway, including tighter purchase-card controls and a working checklist for follow-up.
The council then unanimously confirmed Alan Badanes as an alternate member of the Board of Finance for a term ending Dec. 1, 2027, and Bernie Clarke as New Canaan’s representative policy board member for the Aquarion Water Authority for a term ending June 30, 2027.
First Selectman Dionna Carlson spoke in support of Clarke’s appointment. She said the position was created following the sale of Aquarion Water to the Regional Water Authority and that each town in the system needed a representative.
“Bernie is a current member of the Utilities Commission,” Carlson said. “If you look at his background, he worked at Moody’s. He did some rating of utilities.”
Carlson said Clarke also lives in the area served by Aquarion Water and has been a consistent participant on the Utilities Commission.
“He understands it,” Carlson said. “He’s affected by it. So I thought he would be an excellent representative.”
Public Comment Focuses on Whether Appointed Boards Should Remain Appointed
Public comment focused largely on whether members of the Planning and Zoning Commission and Board of Finance should remain appointed or become elected.
Selectman Amy Murphy Carroll, a former Board of Finance member, urged the council to preserve the current appointment system. She said New Canaan’s structure gives voters a direct role in electing the executive and legislative branches, while those elected bodies appoint members to boards and commissions through a vetting process.
“While admittedly not perfect, I believe our current government system works pretty well, actually incredibly well,” Murphy Carroll said.
Murphy Carroll said boards such as Planning and Zoning and the Board of Finance need to operate in a nonpartisan manner and make decisions based on the town’s long-term interests.
“Running for office is hard,” Murphy Carroll said. “It takes a lot of money and I think those of us who have run for office frankly would generally agree this money could be better spent in other endeavors.”
Murphy Carroll said New Canaan should not assume that elected-board systems in other towns are better suited to New Canaan.
“I have heard arguments that X number of other towns have elected boards versus appointed and I would counter that our town government is the envy of many,” she said.
Sarah Pierce, speaking remotely, urged council members to place their views clearly on the record. She said the Charter Revision Commission should not force consensus where none exists and said the public record matters because residents need to understand the arguments being made.
“I hope that you’ll say your honest thoughts into the record because you have really good feedback to give this commission,” Pierce said.
Zonis Says Ethics Allegations Should Not Become Accepted as Fact After Formal Review
Zonis later addressed comments about ethics questions, conflicts and public trust. She said public officials should respond when broad assertions are made in public meetings, particularly when those assertions concern ethics or alleged conflicts of interest.
“I do feel that what happens often is people on different sides of the issue, perhaps than I am, make broad statements than are then left out in the ether,” Zonis said.
Zonis said residents may file ethics complaints, but the existence of a complaint or allegation does not establish misconduct. She said one matter had been reviewed and rejected by the Ethics Committee.
“Anybody can raise an ethics complaint and it was shot down by the ethics committee,” Zonis said.
She said the existence of an allegation or the asserted appearance of a conflict did not establish wrongdoing.
“Just because it is said and there is an appearance does not mean anything untoward happened,” Zonis said.
Zonis said the process had been conducted properly and that officials should answer claims directly when they believe they are inaccurate.
Council Members Split Over Whether Appointed Boards Need Direct Electoral Accountability
Mauro said the council had received the Charter Revision Commission’s draft report on May 4 and had held multiple discussions and hearings since then. He said the purpose of the June 17 discussion was to give the commission guidance through straw polls, not to take final binding votes.
Many Charter Revision Commission (CRC) members said that they had not listened to the comments of the Town Council by the time the CRC met the following night.
Russell urged the council to recommend that voters be allowed to decide whether the Board of Finance should become elected rather than appointed. She said New Canaan is unusual in giving an appointed finance board significant authority and said the question should go to voters as a separate ballot item.
Norton urged the council to recommend stronger ethics language in the charter, including provisions on public disclosure of conflicts of interest, recusals and documentation in meeting minutes. She also objected to proposed charter language involving dismissal of seasonal and part-time employees and administrative policies governing elected and appointed officers.
Rodgers spoke in favor of a hybrid model for the Board of Finance and Planning and Zoning Commission, with a bare majority of each board elected and the remaining members appointed. He said that approach would preserve appointed expertise while giving residents a direct role.
Zonis Says Experience With the Budget Process and Appointed Boards Matters Before Proposing Structural Change
Zonis opposed converting the boards to elected bodies. She said the appointment system works in New Canaan and that the town’s financial and school performance reflect effective governance.
“We are laser focused on what is best for this town,” Zonis said.
Zonis said she had respect for her colleagues and believed council mem bers reached conclusions through integrity and work. She said, however, that some members were making broad judgments about the Board of Finance and other appointed bodies before having more experience with the council’s full cycle of meetings and budget review.
She said those members had not been on the Town Council “for more than a year” and had not yet experienced the repeated meetings involved in watching the Board of Finance process develop over time.
Zonis said the Board of Finance does more than make value judgments. She said its work also reflects “incredible diligence” and “many many years of institutional knowledge” about town departments.
“I feel that perhaps a little more experience is needed before you can make sweeping generalizations like that,” Zonis said.
Fonss also supported the appointed-board model, saying the town benefits from residents with professional expertise who volunteer for service.
Mauro Intervenes After Russell Accuses Zonis of Saying Democracy Does Not Matter at the Local Level
A tense exchange followed Zonis’s comments about representative government and the appointment system. Russell responded that the issue was whether voters should be allowed to decide the structure.
“It’s not whether appointed or elected is good or bad,” Russell said.
Russell then accused Zonis of saying democracy does not matter at the local level, a characterization that Zonis immediately rejected. Mauro intervened and emphasized that members should not attribute views to one another inaccurately.
“I want to make sure we continue to be precise in how we’re recording these proceedings and everyone is being attributed to correct attributions to what they’re saying,” Mauro said.
Mauro said members should have an opportunity to correct inaccurate characterizations, including instances where one member may be “putting words in someone else’s mouth.”
Zonis reiterated that she believed in democracy and said her comments reflect that.
Council Straw Polls Show Support for Some Charter Items and Rejection of Others
The council then went through the Charter Revision Commission’s five recommendations.
The first recommendation, establishing 12-year term limits for appointed boards, commissions and committees, received five yes votes and seven no votes.
The second recommendation, requiring Town Council approval for certain changes to town-owned real property, including changes in use, capital leases, sales or transfers, was supported unanimously.
The third recommendation, requiring Town Council confirmation of Board of Selectmen appointments to Planning and Zoning, was supported unanimously. The fourth recommendation, adding three alternates to the Ethics Board, received broad support, with Thunem relayed as the only no vote.
The fifth recommendation, a broad category of technical and conforming charter changes, drew substantial concern. Mauro said the proposal grouped too many changes together and could leave voters unsure what they were approving.
Mauro also objected to proposed language making certain elected and appointed town officers subject to administrative rules, policies and procedures. Speaking as an employment lawyer, he said the wording was too broad and could create conflicts with collective bargaining agreements, insurance coverage and other provisions of the charter.
The council then took additional straw polls. A proposal to put before voters whether the Board of Finance should change from appointed to elected failed, 4-8. A proposal to change both the Board of Finance and Planning and Zoning to hybrid appointed-elected bodies also failed, 4-8. A proposal to change Planning and Zoning from appointed to elected failed by the same count. A proposal to expand or modify the charter’s reference to the Code of Ethics failed, 3-9.
Board of Finance Property-Ownership Requirement Raises a Separate Legal Question
The council also discussed removing a charter requirement that Board of Finance members own real estate. Ormond said the town had received legal advice indicating that the requirement may be unlawful and should be removed. Council members discussed whether that change could be included as a conforming change rather than as a separate ballot question.
The issue returned the next night at the Charter Revision Commission meeting. Corbet said the current charter requires a Board of Finance member to be an elector and a taxpayer, specifically a property owner or real-estate taxpayer, and said voters rejected a 2016 proposal to remove that requirement.
The legal discussion centered on state authority and federal constitutional concerns. Palo cited Connecticut General Statutes Sec. 7-340, saying it requires electors and taxpayers for boards of finance in statute towns and gives non-statute towns such as New Canaan the option. Bamonte said the existence of a state statute does not end the federal constitutional analysis and said property ownership as a condition for public service raises a constitutional concern.
The U.S. Supreme Court addressed a freeholder requirement for school board membership in Turner v. Fouche in 1970, ruling that the requirement violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Mauro Frames the Charter Review as a Local Constitutional Convention Before Commission Takes Up the Issues Again
Mauro closed the council’s charter discussion by saying members had placed their recommendations on the record before the Charter Revision Commission resumed its work. He framed the charter review as more than routine municipal housekeeping, saying the process concerned the document that defines how New Canaan’s government is organized, how authority is assigned and how residents participate in decisions.
“This is a constitutional convention,” Mauro said. “It really is, right? For us, it truly is.”
Mauro said the timing was notable because the town was reviewing its charter as the country approached its 250th anniversary. He said council members and Charter Revision Commission members approached the process with different perspectives and experiences, but shared a responsibility to produce a clear set of recommendations.
“We all approach this with different perspectives and experiences,” Mauro said. “But I know we’re all here in good faith trying to figure it out.”
The council then voted unanimously to adjourn.
