After City Council rejected our recommendations to Hartford’s Charter Revision Commission 3-2 with an abstention and three members not present, we feel compelled to call out anti-democratic behavior from the Mayor and his appointees throughout the Charter review process, and the unwillingness of a majority of our colleagues to make the process truly transparent and representative.
Our City forms the Charter Commission every 10 years because we know that in order for our local government to serve its residents, the rules we follow must be reviewed and improved. Our city cannot achieve progress unless our government progresses.
We were extremely disappointed to learn, some months ago, that the Mayor and some of his commission appointees shirked this responsibility by privately conferring with the Mayor to avoid any and all transformative change for Hartford. Tonight, City Council had an opportunity to ask the Charter Commission to try to make this right – to include the members who were alienated and to give some important issues more attention. We were again disappointed, although not exactly surprised: the Council majority wouldn’t so much as ask the Commission to give these problems a second look.
We knew that something was terribly wrong when six commission members, including every Black member, walked out in protest of the behind-the-scenes meeting and planning that was happening with the Mayor and some Commission members. The fact that the Commission continued its work without any attempt to engage with the serious complaints of the members who spoke out is an affront to Hartford’s Black community, and to any resident who values transparency and democracy. We stand in solidarity with the commission members who volunteered their time and energy toward improving Hartford for their neighbors and loved ones, and we sincerely resent that their work was not valued in the same way by the Mayor’s office.
Many of the original ideas we had heard from Commission members and the general public were about improving and expanding our democracy. These included a Board of Education with a majority elected by the people, not appointed by the mayor; other boards and commissions with majorities appointed by the Council; the creation of districts for City Council – a step that every other municipality in the state has taken, because it has been shown to increase voter participation and government accountability; and the creation of an elected board of Police Commissioners with the independent authority needed to take on police misconduct and propose real reform without conflicting interests.
Monday night’s vote wasn’t even binding – it was just a chance for City Council to urge the Charter Revision Commission to reexamine certain issues. It would have cost the majority nothing to vote in favor of a second look for proposals that have been proven to increase voter engagement and help hold elected officials accountable – proposals that residents have been demanding for years. But the majority chose the status quo: minimal transparency, minimal voter engagement, and power centralized in the mayor. Residents should wonder why the Charter Revision Commission heard from nationally recognized experts about tried and true ways to increase voter participation, and then ignored all of their recommendations. And they should demand to know why their elected Council members weren’t willing to call out the Commission’s errors.
Despite the outcome of the Council vote on this matter, we will continue to speak up in favor of transparency and civic engagement, and will urge residents to vote no when the Charter is on the ballot. Improving our City’s Charter is an opportunity for progress that we only get once every 10 years, and Hartford’s Mayor and Council majority have decided to neglect that opportunity for the next decade.
