Norton Signature Drive For Charter Underway
by Bill Gouveia for the Sun Chronicle
f you were around Norton this holiday weekend (and with the golf tournament, many no doubt were), it’s possible you noticed people with clipboards collecting signatures at various events and locales throughout the community.
No, they weren’t getting signatures for candidates running for office. Those were Norton residents collecting signatures from other Norton residents requesting the formation of an elected charter commission that would study making changes to the charter currently in place.
Under state law, signatures from at least 15 percent of the town’s registered voters are required in order to form a nine-member commission, to be chosen at a future town election. That body would be charged with holding public hearings, suggesting possible changes to a wide variety of town governmental structures and procedures, and submitting a recommendation which would ultimately be voted upon at a general town election. It would be similar to the process currently winding down to a conclusion in North Attleboro.
If successful in forming said commission, Norton’s government would be studied from top to bottom. Everyone in town would have an opportunity to make suggestions or comments to people with the authority to actually bring them to a vote. Every registered voter would then have the chance to come out and vote on making changes and hopefully improvements to the way Norton operates.
But none of that happens unless approximately 2,500 Norton voters (about 15 percent) bother to write their names on a petition requesting the mere opportunity.
A group called Norton Citizens for a Charter Commission has been formed to further this cause. They have a Facebook page and are attempting to put forth an organized signature drive.
The group itself does not offer any specific change to government, though many individual members may have certain ones they favor. The one and only goal at this point is to give Norton voters an opportunity to actually cast their ballot on improvements that have been studied and researched by a group of their fellow citizens chosen only for that purpose.
Some changes have been made to the existing charter over the years, but those changes were limited under law because they were not part of a proposal by an elected charter commission. For example, you can’t change from a town to a city, or a town meeting to a town council, unless you go through the charter commission process. A commission is under no obligation to change those things, but are the only entity empowered to study and report to the town on them.
So the question is not so much why would Norton residents want to study improving or changing their government, but rather — why would they not? How does anyone know what can be improved unless and until it is documented and presented?
But gathering 2,500 signatures is a lot of work. Just ask those in North Attleboro, who had to gather even more than that to bring their efforts to fruition.
Here’s hoping all Norton voters will consider signing the petitions and bringing the issue of improving government to the forefront. Then they can elect people to the charter commission, and eventually accept or reject their recommendations.
Bill Gouveia is a local columnist and longtime local official. He can be emailed at billsinsidelook@gmail.com and followed on Twitter at @Billinsidelook.
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