With the clock ticking, Plymouth fine-tunes new government plan

With time running short, Plymouth's Charter Commission is reconsidering important elements of a new plan of town government that the elected body has spent a year crafting.

The plan -- a "hybrid," in the words of chairman Mark Withington -- encompasses elements of both city and town government, including a mayor, a council, an assembly, a town manager, and a "strategic" planning board.

Now, in response to recent criticism that the hybrid plan is "too layered" and "confusing," commissioners are strengthening the central role of an elected mayor.

"It has been an uphill climb but an extremely worthy one," said commission member Karen Buechs, who has advocated a strong mayoral form of government. The earlier plan, she said, probably would not have won voter support and, she noted, "We are painfully aware that time is running out."

Commission vice chairman Anthony Schena said the group is still on course to present a draft charter to the state by mid-September and a polished plan to the voters by next spring.

The recent changes, which give central authority to a popularly elected mayor, address the problem of accountability posed by having "multiple executives," Schena said. The commission's majority wants a mayor "at the top of the pyramid and able to lead," he said. The mayor will have independent appointment and budget-preparation power.

The committee diminished the power of the strategic planning board, intended to look at the town's long-range, open-space issues, placing it under the mayor.

Still, the mayor would function with some limits. Under the current thinking, he or she would be part of an elected five-member executive board. While the mayor would be in charge of both operational and long-range decisions, the presence of other executive board members would serve as a "check" on the mayor's power.

The nine-member charter commission, elected last year, has met weekly for a year, hearing both from local sources and practitioners of town- and city-style governments throughout the state. But none of the existing models seemed to meet Plymouth's needs -- so the panel came up with its own hybrid plan.

Plymouth, at 103 square miles, is the largest municipality in the state. Plymouth's size means it has many different neighborhoods, each at a different stage of development and with its own problems. Each deserves its own representation in town government, Withington said.

To meet these special requirements, the commission concluded that Plymouth needs its own governing structure.

From the city government, the commission's hybrid plan takes the elected mayor to replace the Board of Selectmen and meet the goal of improved accountability over the current "cast-of-thousands" town meeting system.

To replace a semi annual town meeting's legislative authority, the commission proposes a seven-member Town Council, elected at large. To ensure representation for the town's varied neighborhoods, the council proposes a 49-member representative assembly to be elected by precinct, and headed by the Town Council, whose members also take part in the assembly's deliberations.

To assure a professionally run town hall, the plan calls for a qualified town manager appointed by the mayor. And to ensure that long-range issues aren't ignored, the plan calls for an elected strategic planning board.

The complexity of this uniquely layered governing structure, however, is precisely the problem for some other town leaders.

"One of things we had trouble getting our arms around is how they envision the whole system working," said Kevin O'Reilly, who spoke this month to the commission on behalf of the Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce. "It seemed to us very multi layered and convoluted."

The chamber's board of directors believes that the commission "created so many branches of government that there will be a severe lack of accountability and leadership," O'Reilly said.

"What people are telling me is they don't understand it," said Buechs, who particularly objects to the large representative assembly. "There still won't be one person to go to."

The critics argue that the proposed hybrid structure will fail with voters who seek, along with checks and balances, leadership "willing to stand up and be accountable," in Buechs's words.

The commission has a budget for a legal consultant, charged with putting ideas into language that passes legal muster, and expenses such as printing and mailing the proposed charter.

"I want to make sure they understand the time frame," Withington said, "and the money they have left."

Robert Knox can be contacted at rc.knox@gmail.com.