Somerville City Council's Charter Review Special Committee recommended approval of a Home Rule Petition to establish a new charter for the City of Somerville during a remote meeting on March 18, 2025, voting to send the amended text to the full council for its next meeting.

The petition, revised by three council sponsors after months of negotiation with the mayor's office and consultant review, keeps 2-year terms for mayor and council, clarifies procedures for posting and board confirmations, and adds procedural language about appointments and vacancies. Committee members said the document modernizes the city's century-old charter but does not adopt all the advisory committee's recommendations amid political compromise.

The committee discussed the charter line by line and debated several substantive items that shaped the final recommendation. Chair and Ward 2 Councilor J.T. Scott opened the session and framed the committee's role: "this is a committee of the whole, but it is still a committee," noting the group could only recommend the petition and that the full council would take a final vote. The sponsors' representatives described the text as the product of lengthy negotiation and said it retained what they viewed as the best achievable balance of changes.

Mayoral term: The draft before the committee retains two-year terms for the mayor and council. Sponsor Councilor Davis said he and the other sponsors could not "make a good argument to support a 4 year mayoral term without, you know, other changes that we ultimately weren't able to to agree to with the administration," and therefore proposed the two-year term as the "best case scenario." Several members urged that a four-year option could be posed separately to voters in the future.

Posting and public notice: The committee approved language replacing an earlier "and" requirement for posting (website, city hall, local newspaper) with "or," a change that drew public questions. City Clerk Wells clarified the operational effect: "the city is required to file with the state its place of posting of record in 2020. And since 2020, that has been the city website. There is currently no longer a physical posting in city hall." Members said the "or" formulation preserves any state-mandated posting requirements while avoiding an across-the-board newspaper mandate for routine postings.

Board confirmations, temporary appointments and vacancies: The charter adds reconfirmation requirements for certain multi-member bodies defined as "quasi-judicial" or "regulatory" and tightens timelines on temporary appointments. The sponsors said reappointments to quasi-judicial or regulatory boards would be subject to council confirmation and the charter cross-references a 150-day temporary appointment timeline. On ward council vacancies, the committee kept a 180-day threshold: vacancies more than 180 days before term end trigger a special election; vacancies within 180 days will remain open until the regular municipal election.

Acting mayor and mayoral vacancy: The petition clarifies that a special election must be called within 90 days when the mayor's office is vacated with more than six months remaining in the term; the person elected would serve the balance of the term. Committee members removed language that could have been read to vacate a council seat automatically when the council president serves as acting mayor, after members noted it created ambiguity.

City attorney and appointment processes: The charter renames the city solicitor as the city attorney and requires reappointment/confirmation every two years. It also requires the mayor to submit an administrative order establishing a selection and screening process for the city attorney within six months if the charter is adopted, including a screening committee with at least one council appointee.

Independent auditor: The mayor will continue to select the independent auditor, but the final contract must allow the council, once per year, to specify one department, division or program for an expanded audit scope or internal control review. Councilors discussed whether a single-department specification could be too narrow if issues cross departmental lines; sponsors said "program" language should allow broader reviews.

Voting and eligibility language: The charter removes prior provisions that would have allowed noncitizen voting and 16- and 17-year-old municipal voting from the charter text; sponsors said separate Home Rule Petitions on those topics had been filed with the state. Councilor Burnley introduced a failed amendment to replace the phrase "statewide voter" with "municipal voter" in eligibility language for multiple offices; the amendment failed on a 3-8 roll call.

Civil service: A late amendment accepted by the committee preserved civil-service status for the fire department's uniformed positions. The committee replaced a sentence so that, as amended, "uniform positions within the police department below the rank of chief of department, and the uniform positions of the fire department, shall continue to be subject to said chapter 31." Members asked staff to double-check whether any other positions (for example, deputy chiefs) might be affected and flagged follow-up review before the council vote.

Procedural cleanup and other changes: The petition updates the charter's definitions (including clearer definitions for multi-member bodies), narrows a proposed periodic review committee from eight members to five, drops a participatory-budgeting study committee in favor of considering adoption of Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 41, s.91, and contains transition timing and contingency language for placing the charter question on the municipal ballot should Beacon Hill approve the special act.

Votes at a glance:
- Approval of minutes (Oct. and Nov.): approved 9-0, 2 absent (recorded at start of meeting).
- Motion to delete final sentence of Sec. 3-13(b) (language that could vacate a council seat when the council president serves as acting mayor): moved by Councilor Davis; approved by roll call with all councilors voting in favor (motion approved as recorded).
- Amendment to replace "statewide voter" with "municipal voter" in four sections (2-1(c), 3-1(c), 4-1(c), 4-6): moved by Councilor Burnley; failed 3 in favor, 8 opposed.
- Amendment to preserve fire-department civil-service status wording (Section 9-1(b)): moved by Chair Scott; approved by roll call (all councilors in favor as recorded).
- Final motion to recommend the Home Rule Petition as amended to the city council: moved by Councilor McLaughlin; recommended for approval by roll call (all councilors in favor as recorded). The committee's action is a recommendation; the full City Council must vote next and the mayor must sign before the petition is sent to the state legislature.

What happens next: If the full city council votes to approve the Home Rule Petition and the mayor signs it, the petition must be filed with the state legislature (Beacon Hill) as a special act; if approved at the state level it would return to Somerville for a municipal ballot question (the committee discussed placing it on the November ballot). Committee members and city staff said they would continue to coordinate with the mayor's office and the Collins Center consultant on any technical edits before the council vote.

The committee spent about two hours and five minutes reviewing and amending a 44-page draft that sponsors described as the product of multiple years of advisory-committee work, council deliberations and mayoral negotiations. Councilors emphasized that many substantive matters, including the mayoral term length, could be revisited later or presented separately to voters.