Letter To The Editor: Vote Yes On Early Voting, No On Charter Revision

Letter To The Editor-

I am voting “Yes" to the early voting question on Tuesday’s ballot because I believe that it should be easy for people to cast their votes in an election. Presently, voters have to forget other obligations on Election Day in order to vote in person. I would hope it passes the Legislature this time around but I also would like to see about week or ten days allotted before the actual Election Day so that voters listen to the candidates and the debates before casting a knowledgeable and informed vote!

As for the Charter Revision question, I am casting a “No” vote. I do not feel we, the voters, have a clear picture of the proposed Revision for the governance of our town. For example, I am sorry that given the growth going on in Fairfield, the Selectmen did not leave in the potential for 56 members of the RTM. The RTM is the legislature body who have an important say in the budget process for the town and the Board of Education. Ten districts with 40 members and a population of 60,000+ is expecting a lot of each RTM volunteer. We want our representatives to serve more than one term as it takes time to learn their “job.”

Having earlier watched the Administration diminish the conservation protection of our town, I was looking to see in the one-page Revision summary if the Public Works Director no longer needed to be an Engineer. I could not find it. I would have preferred a point-by-point opportunity to vote on the Revision changes and not on a brief one page summary.

Bottom line to me is that this hasty but well-intentioned work by the dedicated (many thanks to our fellow citizens) Commission deserves a vote of “NO.” We have come thru the pandemic and can now turn the full amount (18 months) of attention to updating our Charter as it seems to require and we can do it in a civil, unhurried and polite manner.

Carol Waxman
Fairfield