Proposal Would Give Concord Residents Recall Power
Concord residents may soon have the power to kick town officials out of office.
Resident Lee Ann Kay introduced a recall article, which will be voted on April 12 at the Concord Town Meeting. Kay moved to Concord over 25 years ago and has been participating in Town Meetings ever since.
She said there isn’t any town official in particular she wants to oust—but she said “there have been questions about accountability in the past,’’ and the petitioners want the same recall ability that exists in other communities in the state. In fact, they modeled their proposal after similar, recent legislation in the towns of Lancaster, Middlefield, Wales, and Northfield.
“I and the petitioners thought that this would be a good means to increase accountability here in the town of Concord,’’ Kay told Boston.com
If the provision passes at Town Meeting, the Concord Board of Selectmen will submit it to the state legislature, which will then decide whether or not to approve it.
Stephen Ng, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, told Boston.com the board unanimously agreed not to take a position on the article.
“It’s legislation that will affect our positions, so we didn’t want to influence the public one way or another,’’ he said. “We thought it wasn’t our place to take a position on proposals that would affect us.’’
If the provision passes, here’s how the recall process would work:
• First, 100 signatures from registered voters in favor of recalling a specific official would need to be collected.
• The town clerk would then print up official recall petition sheets, asking selectmen to demand a recall and the election of a successor.
• Petitioners would then have 30 days to collect signatures from 10 percent of registered voters in Concord (that’s roughly 1,300 people by 2013 stats).
• If those signatures are collected in time, selectmen would schedule a recall vote within the next 60 to 90 days.
• The ballot would have two questions: One, whether the sitting official should be removed, and two, which new candidate should take their place.
Ng pointed out that the Town Governance Study Committee, a group commissioned in spring 2013 to review Concord’s Town Charter, recommended that the town not adopt a recall process. Their final report, released in August 2014, noted that a series of ethics and transparency laws already in place offer ways to hold officials accountable for their actions—and deemed the three-year cycle that local elections run on frequent enough.
Kay said that the petitioners reached the opposite conclusion after viewing the report. She said measures for removing elected officials are needed for those who might willfully disobey ethics laws, or to remove and replace an incapacitated office holder. Kay said—and Ng confirmed—that there are currently no means within the Town Charter to remove an elected official before the end of their term.
“The petitioners and I believe that the Town Governance Study Committee have had their say,’’ she said. “Now it’s time for the citizens to review the evidence for or against and make their decision at Town Meeting.’’
In Concord, every registered voter in town has a say at Town Meeting.
Though Ng and the board remain neutral on the recall article, he praised the Town Meeting process and Kay’s efforts.
“I think what’s great is that the petitioner is using Town Meeting the way it should be—she has a concern, and she feels that this article addresses this perceived need, and it’s pure democracy at work,’’ Ng said. “Whether the town feels they need this just in case, that’s something they can decide, and we’ll put it on the books if they want to have it.’’
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