AMHERST — Several residents concerned with Amherst’s government, featuring an elected 13-member Town Council and an appointed town manager, are asking the Charter Review Committee to recommend revisions to the town charter that might include adding a mayor as part of enhanced checks and balances.
“I think we do need a mayor,” Rani Parker, of North Prospect Street, told the panel at a feedback session Tuesday, explaining that she finds the Amherst government process unfriendly, and that there needs to be one politician who looks out for the interests of all constituents.
As a member of both the Human Rights Commission and a participant in a group working on creating a Resident Oversight Board for the police department, Parker said she is seeing that recommendations often don’t get enacted and reports get put on the shelf because they have no one to shepherd them forward.
For Pat Ononibaku, of Tamarack Drive, a mayor would also be a way to reduce the fear of retaliation many residents have. Ononibaku said she is opposed to the current form of government, which she describes as having the “white and wealthy run the show.” Unlike the town manager, who works under the supervision of the Town Council, a mayor would have wider powers.
“The current model isn’t working at all,” said Ononibaku, who has served on both the Community Safety Working Group and the Community Safety and Social Justice Committee.
The Charter Review Committee, holding its third opportunity to gather oral input, was formed by the Town Council as a requirement of the charter in years ending in the number 4. The committee’s work, and its final report and recommendations that will go to the Town Council, have already been extended for several months.
Voters adopted the charter in 2018, with the inaugural Town Council seated that December.
While stopping short of asking for a mayor, Adrienne Terrizzi, of Pondview Drive, said the current government, which replaced the 240-member Town Meeting and five-member Select Board, is “untenable.” She said the charter’s promises of more public participation and transparency have been ignored, and Town Council is proving no more efficient than when Town Meeting acted as the legislative body.
Though most speakers were residents who have concerns over the current form of government, committee members said their comments would be included in a report that will be delivered to councilors, including aspects that may be outside its scope, such as the idea of a mayor, which could require establishing a new Charter Commission.
Darcy DuMont, of Pondview Drive, a former councilor, said that democracy, transparency and honesty are not part of the current government.
Suggesting the need for more diversity of viewpoints on the Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals and Finance Committee, DuMont said the charter should have language ensuring that seats are reserved on each panel for people who hold different opinions.
DuMont said the Town Council has been flouting a long-standing policy that members of those panels are automatically reappointed if seeking a second, three-year term. Instead, she said, those with views contrary to the majority of the Town Council are being removed.
Anita Sarro of Chapel Road said the public participation mechanisms, embedded in Section 8 of the charter, need to be streamlined, and that it should be easier to petition, with thresholds too hard to achieve. For example, initiatives require that 20% of registered voters participate to become valid.
Other ideas mentioned include writing into the charter that the public, whether in person or via Zoom, be allowed the opportunity to be on equal footing with councilors, meaning that they be allowed to turn on their cameras from home or have a camera on them in the Town Room at Town Hall. “You’re made invisible before you can even speak,” Parker said.
Both Sarro and Terrizzi said the charter should be amended so that reviews are held every five years, rather than every 10. Terrizzi said her concern is that if no changes are made this time around, residents will have to live with the current charter until at least 2034.
Before writing its report, Ononibaku suggested that the Charter Review Committee increase its outreach to the town’s more marginalized communities who often are left out of decision-making.
The last feedback session currently scheduled will be in-person at the Bangs Community Center July 23 at 7 p.m.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
