LUDLOW — About 50 people gathered at the Polish American Citizens’ Club of Ludlow on July 23 to hear the most up-to-date information about the proposed changes to the town’s charter and form of government and express their thoughts.
The existing structure has a representative town meeting legislative body, with about 90 precinct voters elected to represent their neighbors in approval of the town’s budget, zoning matters, bylaws and use of reserve funds. A five-person Board of Selectmen is the executive body that creates policies, builds the budget and considers routine matters.
Ludlow is one of 32 towns in Massachusetts that utilizes a representative town meeting. Open town meeting is the most common form of local government in the state, with 260 municipalities using it. Still others have a city form of government with a mayor and town council.
The proposal by the Charter Committee had not changed much since it hosted a July 9 public forum. It would create a seven-member elected town council as the legislative body, with an appointed town manager as the chief executive. The council would have staggered three-year terms to avoid seating a completely new body in any one year.
To create greater understanding between the town council and the School Committee than there currently is with the Board of Selectmen, the council president would maintain a seat on the School Committee and would be a voting member, increasing the size of the committee from six to seven people.
The town manager would be accountable to the council and would run Ludlow’s day-to-day operations, including union negotiations and hiring department heads. Eleven other municipalities in the commonwealth use this form of government.
Another proposed change would move the town to appointed positions for all departments and boards except the School Committee and the Library Board of Trustees. The appointments would be made by the town manager. The town council would have the final say in such matters.
Several residents came to the microphone to express their reluctance to change the current system. Resident Al Lariviere called the Board of Selectmen a strong executive branch and said the precinct voters are elected and “independent.” Three current precinct voters spoke in favor of keeping a representative town meeting. Each spoke about Town Meeting as “the purest form of democracy.”
A different precinct voter, however, said the interest in serving at Town Meeting is waning among residents. “There [are] not young people standing up. I look around at Town Meeting and say, ‘Where are the young people?’” He also tried to assuage others’ fears about appointed positions, saying the town manager would operate similarly to the school superintendent, who oversees personnel decisions in the school department.
Charter Committee member George Costa assured those gathered that accountability is built into the town council’s oversight of the town manager. He stressed that the people would elect the town council and if the town manager were not doing their job, residents could take their complaints to the council.
“There’s a lot of checks and balances,” Selectman and Charter Committee member William Rosenblum said, adding that the council would have the final word on personnel decisions. “It would be the dumbest thing in the world for a town manager to come in and clean house,” he said.
Members of the Charter Committee made the case that there would be more options to interact with the town government under a council and manager system. The town council would be required to meet at least twice per month, allowing residents to comment on and bring matters before the board. During the budget process, there would be three separate chances for residents to review the budget and make comments.
The Charter Committee also suggested moving the date of town elections to the first Tuesday in June, because the March election happens in the middle of the municipal budget process. Lariviere objected to this and said councilors elected in June would “have to live with” a budget that they had not had a hand in the approval of. He suggested aligning the election with the state and federal elections on the first Tuesday in November, but Charter Committee Chair Marissa Ribeiro Dahan explained that the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office does not want local elections to coincide with statewide ones.
Residency
A concern voiced by several people was whether there would be a residency requirement for the town manager. Resident Al Laskowski voiced a common sentiment when he said the town manager needed to “have a vested interest” in Ludlow. As a resident, he said the town manager would “have a horse in the race.”
Several Charter Committee members said that while a town manager would ideally live in Ludlow, a residency requirement limits the pool of candidates for the position. “The best thing is to get the best person for the job, regardless of residency,” said Charter Committee member Martin Fanning. He said that according to the Collins Center, requiring residency within one year of hire leads people to find a job in another town just before the window expires.
Charter Committee member Christopher Pelletier remarked that asking someone to uproot their family and change school districts is “a big ask,” particularly considering there are relatively few for sale in Ludlow.
Costa noted that Springfield is considering removing its residency requirement for skilled positions. While one person said Springfield and Ludlow could not be realistically compared, another asked, “If Springfield is getting rid of their residency requirement because they can’t find qualified people in a city of that size, how are we going to find someone in a town this size?”
Cost
Ed Deragon asked how much the switch to a town council and town manager would cost and how Ludlow would cover the extra stipends. Similarly, Geraldine Hanley asked if property taxes would increase to pay for the changes.
Fanning explained that councilors would receive the same annual stipends that the Selectmen currently receive, which he quoted at $3,500 per member and $5,000 for the chair. Because there would be seven members instead of five, it would cost an extra $7,000. The council president would also sit on the School Committee and receive that body’s member stipend of $3,000, he said.
Aside from the $10,000 in additional stipends, Ludlow would need to offer a competitive salary to attract a quality town manager. As town administrator, Marc Strange’s annual salary is $150,000.
While the average salary for a town manager in Massachusetts is $122,548, Rosenblum said a town manager would be paid more because there would be more responsibilities and expectations. The difference between the town administrator’s salary and a town manager’s salary would be an additional cost for the town. On the other hand, it was pointed out that the town would no longer need to fund two town meetings per year.
Approval
“We haven’t come to these decisions on our own,” Fanning said. The Charter Committee was formed in August 2023. Fanning said the committee has reached out to several other towns to discuss what has and has not worked with their forms of government.
“There’s a misconception that we’re going to ram this down your throat,” said Rosenblum. He emphasized that there are opportunities to provide feedback and ideas at the Charter Committee’s meetings on the first and third Thursday of each month at the Town Hall or by emailing them at chartercommittee@ludlow.ma.us.
Residents will also have a chance to vote on the changes. Once the drafted charter is complete, the Board of Selectmen must approve it as a warrant article for Town Meeting. The state must also approve the new charter before it goes to a town-wide referendum vote. Only after passing the referendum would the new charter go into effect.
