Charter Reform Redux

Although Charter reform has been considered, reconsidered and voted on in the past, city government is angling to take it up again. Sponsored by several members of the Board of Alderman, and Peter Napolitano, a member of the Common Council, the charter reform item will be taken up by the Common Council on Monday, May 2. Everett has a unique style of city government, a bicameral legislative body that includes the Board of Aldermen and the Common Council. Many assume that reforming Everett’s Charter will mean the end of the Common Council. In reality, it means abolishing the current bicameral form of government in favor of one representative branch, the structure of which remains to be determined. In addition, it also means that, whatever the final form the body should take, each seat would be subject to an election. Therefore, there is no guarantee that current members of the Common Council -- which seems to be the bone of contention with people favoring charter reform -- would lose their seats. The "cream" does not always rise to the top in politics.

“Streamlining” government and making it smaller is all the rage these days. It remains to be seen whether the council will embrace it, or leave it to a small band of signature gatherers to get charter reform on the ballot.