Town Charter Revisions to be voted on: What you need to know

Weston’s Town Charter stands to undergo significant changes as a result of the Charter Revision Commission (CRC) of 2026. Conflicting views of these revisions will reach a consensus this November 3rd when the new charter will be put to a vote.

Background

There are essentially three main components that dictate the laws of Weston, Connecticut. One is the Connecticut State statutes, the laws of the state as whole. The second is the Town Charter, and the third is the ordinances which are passed by the Board of Selectmen.

Weston’s Town Charter was adopted in 1967 and has been amended three subsequent times since. The 2026 Charter Revision Commission will mark the fourth time the charter is amended. The document acts as the Constitution of Weston, outlining what the town is allowed to do regarding the government. 

However, the charter is unable to dictate the governance of the town outside of what the Connecticut statutes allow. “We actually don’t have any rights as a town that aren’t granted by the Connecticut State statutes. But the Connecticut State statutes grant towns who want to have a charter that option,” says Kevin Thompson, vice chair of the Charter Revision Commission.

In summary, the Statutes are state-wide laws. However, they allow some towns to create charters that dictate the form of government that the town has. In Weston’s case, the residents are the legislative body, meaning the public gets to vote on changes, as opposed to a representative democracy, where each neighborhood has a representative. However, this form of government cannot conflate what is ordained in the Statutes. And finally, there are ordinances which are laws passed by the Board of Selectmen. These are not subject to public approval, and also cannot conflate with the State Statutes.

Being a democracy, the people of Weston retain the ability to vote for various elements of the town’s governance. This includes electing the selectpersons, initiating town meetings via petition, and even voting to reduce line items in the town budget, one of the biggest points of discussion for the CRC. 

Points of Controversy

The CRC is a board of volunteers appointed by the Board of Selectmen. Before beginning their work, the commission received a list of charges that the Board of Selectmen wanted at the forefront of their attention. This included issues regarding the Annual Town Budget Meeting, and the minority party representation, but it also included maintenance issues like cleaning up typos and updating out-of-date language. “[The charges] are what they want us to look at, but this isn’t an exhaustive list,” says Thompson. “The charter is an independent body. We were allowed to do and change whatever we thought needed to be changed.” 

Town Budget Meeting (ATBM)

As mentioned before, one of the biggest points of discussion in the Charter were changes regarding the Annual Town Budget Meeting. One of the rights that the charter outlines is that at the Town Budget Meetings, which are public meetings, the public can vote to reduce line items in the budget. 

The Charter Revision Commission located potential issues with this. “Some people are very well informed, they’ve followed the budget process. Some people appear to be less informed,” says Thompson. “That’s just how it is. And you go up and you have the ability to reduce these budgets.” This can prove to be an issue if the budget reductions don’t reflect the needs of the town.

The process for developing the town’s budget is very in-depth. “The budget is huge in this town because there’s really not much else going on. It’s property taxes.” There are three main budgets: the Board of Education budget, a town operating budget, and a capital budget. These are read through line by line, and can be reduced by a majority vote of the meeting.

Given that these meetings are only held once a year, the Charter Revision Commission noted that those who are unable to attend those meetings have no say in which budget items are reduced, as they are not able to cast their vote. “Our perspective ultimately was that the annual town budget meeting disenfranchises people.”

Those in support of maintaining the ability to reduce line items are concerned that in taking this right away, they will be eliminating one of the last forms of direct democracy. Most democracies in our government, both at a local and federal level, are representative. The Annual Town Budget Meeting is an area in which the public is able to have a direct effect on issues at hand.

The CRC experienced a great deal of pushback on this issue during their public hearings. Despite this, however, the current draft of the new charter contains a shift in the ATBM: the people will no longer be able to vote to reduce line items; however, they will be able to interact with the Board of Finance and Board of Selectmen in order to clarify any parts of the budget that might be confusing. 

The Minority Rule

Another point of controversy the CRC addressed lies with the minority rule. The Weston Town Charter does not allow any board to have more than a bare majority of a single party. This means that on a board consisting of five members, only three can be registered voters from the same party. On a board of seven, only four can be from a single party, and so forth.

Thompson explains how the CRC changed this slightly: “We recommended that those standards align with the state standards rather than the more strict Weston standard of bare majority.” 

Thompson states the reasoning for this decision was because the CRC felt that this rule was not adequately representative of the town: A board consisting of a bare majority, 60% Democrats and 40% Republicans, doesn’t reflect the fact that only about 20% of Weston are registered as Republicans. Moreover, a whopping 40% of Weston’s registered voters are unaffiliated with any political party.

“We thought that [the bare majority rule] was taking away the will of the people in a certain way because if people were just to vote, this is how the boards would turn out. But because they’re not allowed to compose the boards the way that the town might do it, you’re kind of taking the voice away from the people a little bit,” says Thompson.

Again, the CRC experienced the discontent of the public regarding this issue, as some felt as though their voices were being squashed in the process. 

What will Happen this November

The process of revising the Town Charter began in September of 2025, when the Board of Selectmen appointed the CRC to revise the charter. Going through, charge by charge, the commission revised the charter, and, to the best of its ability, reflected the values and opinions of the town. The vote for whether or not to adopt these changes will appear on the November ballot.

Thompson remarks on how the decision being up to the people is comforting: “If we’re right, then they’ll vote for it. And if we’re wrong, then they’ll vote it down, and the town can make another Charter Revision Commission. The voting is really important because that’s where the voice is heard.”

Government in its ideal form is an ever-changing, objective conduit of the common consciousness. It is a living, breathing entity, powered by the voices of the public. The only way for our voices to be heard is to speak up. 

“It’s our chance to have some uniqueness to the way we run our town,” says Cian O’Suilleahbain, chair of the CRC. “Be critical, and figure out where you should put your vote, and then put your vote. If there’s a call out for younger people, it’s pay attention, get involved.”

To find more information about our town’s government, as well as the full list of revisions to the charter, visit westonct.gov.