By Emma Bouthillette 

Staff Writer

After working on revisions to the Kennebunk Charter for a year, Charter Commission Chairman John Costin presented proposed changes of the Charter to selectmen Sept. 9. 

The last revision of the charter was in 2003, and a proposal to edit the Charter led to forming a nine-member commission to review the existing document and propose changes to improve and clarify the Charter. Costin said this time around the commission broke the proposed changes down into six questions for the Nov. 4 ballot.

“We did our best to word the questions to reflect the proposed changes and make it easy to understand,” Costin said. 

The first two questions address the budget approval process and adoption of land use ordinances. Question one asks if the town wants to vote on the annual budget exclusively by referendum vote after a public hearing, and the second question asks if the town should adopt or amend land use ordinances by referendum vote only. The commission recommends 7 to 2 and 6 to 3 that voters approve both questions. 

If approved, Costin said town meeting, where residents attend and vote by a show of hands, will be eliminated. He said this led them to posing the third question to voters, which asks to shift the remainder of town’s legislative authority in a town meeting forum to selectmen.

The commission recommends the change by a margin of 8 to 1, which would give selectmen authority to act on town issues excluding budgetary, zoning ordinance and comprehensive plan matters. 

The fourth and fifth questions deal with changes to the board of selectmen, including shifting composition from five to seven members and establishing a term limit allowing selectmen to serve no more than three full terms with a minimum three-year break from office before they can be elected again. 

While a majority of the commission recommends changing the number of selectmen, the term limit did not receive majority approval.

If question four passes, there will be four selectmen seats open to be voted on in June 2009.

Costin said the final question handles smaller changes such as changes in capitalizations, correcting grammatical errors and clarifying any language. 

“We decided it would be best to break out the hot button issues, and then group all the other changes under one question,” Costin said. 

Selectmen expressed concern about grouping multiple changes under one question.

Costin recommended if residents want to review the remaining changes in further detail, draft copies of the updated charter are available in the town offices and underlines, strikeouts and color blocks indicate changes.

The selectmen approved the six questions to be placed on Nov. 4 ballot and the proposed changes to the Charter will be discussed at a public hearing scheduled during the next selectmen’s meeting Sept. 23 and again at a public informational meeting at 7 p.m. Sept. 30 in the town hall meeting room.