Medford Charter Approved In The Nick Of Time

MEDFORD, MA — The City Council voted to approve the draft of the city charter during its meeting Tuesday night.

The vote passed by a vote of 6-1, with Vice President Kit Collins being the sole “no” vote. The approval comes on the heels of the last meeting in which the council chose to delay a final vote on the charter, after making several amendments to the draft. The most polarizing being the removal of the mayor from the school committee. However, Tuesday’s meeting saw the council vote to reinstate the mayor on the committee by a vote of 5-2, but as a regular voting member as opposed to the chair.

Compromise was a common word used by several council members, with Justin Tseng and Anna Callahan expressing their dissatisfaction with the charter draft process overall despite ultimately voting to approve it.

Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn has urged the Council to approve the charter so that the State Legislature can receive it in a timely manner.

“This is for the future… this isn’t about the people who are in these offices right now,” Council President Issac Bears said. “We’re lucky that the people who are in these offices right now agreed to disagree to move something forward.”

Once implemented, the charter will have its first review in five years, with each subsequent review opportunity coming every 10 years afterward.