West Stockbridge — Select Board members received a town report card of sorts from hired consultants, local urban planner Jennifer Tabakin and UMass Amherst government expert Wayne Feiden. The presentation and filed report identified positive action already taken by government officials towards bettering town efficiencies as well as ways those active procedures could improve, along with an explanation of what steps would be needed should West Stockbridge seek a move from its home rule authority to a charter framework.
The Select Board agreed to take the report and presentation into consideration, adding a relevant discussion to a future agenda meeting.
A copy of the report can be found here.
According to Select Board member Kathleen Keresey, the effort began more than a year ago when she reflected on government processes amid personnel changes, including a retiring police chief and other officials. At the time, the town also faced organizational questions: hiring a town planner, amending staff position descriptions for consistency, merging payroll reporting methods, engaging two more members to the Select Board, and considering if West Stockbridge would be better off with a different form of government, she said.
The time was right “to take a really holistic look at the way the town has been running,” Keresey said. Funds were set aside to analyze the operational and organizational workings of the town, and a proposal was developed for the study in February, with Tabakin and Feiden submitting their draft report at the end of October that included two days of interviews with officials and stakeholders.
Given a charter petition’s two-year process—including the creation of a working charter commission—other town improvements can be made concurrently under home rule governance while the actions to establish a charter form of government are ongoing, Tabakin said. The current home rule type of government allows the Select Board to delegate town bylaws and policies. By contrast, a local government ruled by charter adoption allows for that document to serve as “the town’s governing framework.”
Board members heard an explanation of the charter process from Town Counsel Lauren Goldberg of KP Law during their October 29 session, with Goldberg comparing a town charter to a “constitution” that covers the form of government accepted by the municipality and takes priority over local ordinances or bylaws.
“The charter process is a long one; it does involve cost and lots of involvement,” Tabakin said.
The consultants recommended actions that can be taken immediately to modernize town operations, with those steps still benefiting the municipality even if a charter is ultimately not adopted. Specifically, Tabakin and Feiden proposed strengthening the town administrator role; clarifying reporting relationships; updating human resources and information technology (IT) policies, procedures, and manuals; documenting financial management practices; and adding board or staff training and assistance, especially for those new to their positions. For Tabakin, these recommendations reference “very common types of issues many, many towns are facing.” “Incremental and immediate improvements allow West Stockbridge to test solutions, evaluate needs, and determine whether continued home rule changes are sufficient or if a charter would provide longer-term clarity, statutory authority, and stability for the future,” she said.
Feiden praised the administration for “doing a good job” consolidating and indexing local codes and bylaws. However, he suggested the town implement several upgrades such as formalizing its process of providing monthly reports in one format, adopting “the right” software package for employees to report and keep track of their time, and formulating process changes to accommodate the town clerk’s transition from an elected position to an appointed one in two years. The consultants advocated some measures that would require approval by residents at Town Meeting: merging the treasurer and tax collector positions, increasing the Select Board membership from three members to five members, and funding a charter commission.
Tabakin advised adding on-call or temporary service contracts for employees who may take a leave of absence, keeping the town’s Capital Improvement Plan up to date, continuing to work on its Master Plan, brokering other shared-services agreements as the town embarks on a joint fire and emergency services program with Stockbridge, and incorporating technical advisers to bolster volunteer board and commission members in their roles.
She also noted the stress that towns similar to West Stockbridge are experiencing with “less volunteers.” Concurrently, she said, “local government is becoming more complicated and you have to have a lot of technical knowledge.”
“Some of these [recommendations] obviously have cost and some have cost savings involved,” Feiden said.
