City councillor Patty Nolan was crucial to getting a review of Cambridge’s 80-year-old charter. (Photo: Julia Levine)

It’s not clear when officials and voters will decide changes to Cambridge’s governing charter – from letting 16-year-olds cast ballots in city elections to adding a way for residents to take part in policy decisions via yearly “assemblies” or even eliminating the city manager and giving more power to the mayor.

After 17 months of work by a Charter Review Committee that included two extensions, on Feb. 12 the City Council approved a motion by councillor Paul Toner that the city solicitor, Election Commission and any other relevant departments and officials review the committee’s final report and provide written feedback to the council. The councillors would like the various departments to comment on the “legality and practicality” of the report’s recommendations.

The city solicitor’s office had a representative giving input during the committee’s work; election officials have been discussing proposed changes already in recent meetings.

Toner also asked to have the charter matter referred to the Government Operations, Rules & Claims committee, which he leads. That motion received pushback from councillor Patricia Nolan, who was crucial to getting a charter committee approved two years ago, and councillors Sumbul Siddiqui and Burhan Azeem.

“I wonder if this is important enough that, instead of referring to the government ops, which only has five members on it, we instead refer it to a special meeting of the City Council, called as soon as we get that report” from the city solicitor, Nolan said. 

When the council couldn’t decide which committee would tackle the review, Mayor E. Denise Simmons said she would work with a few of the councillors to work out a process. She used her “charter right” to pause discussion for one regular meeting.

In-depth but with gaps

Cambridge residents approved a 2021 ballot measure establishing decennial charter reviews in the city, and the council appointed 15 members to the Charter Review Committee in 2022 to review the city’s “Plan E” charter, which was first adopted eight decades ago. In January, the committee submitted its final report to the council.

Nolan complimented the committee members on their diligence throughout the lengthy review process. She said she especially appreciated the committee’s outreach efforts, which included mailing fliers, surveying residents, interviewing councillors and meeting with community groups, among other efforts. “I want to give a huge ‘thank you’ also to Anna Corning,” who served as charter review project manager throughout the committee’s tenure, Nolan said.

Nolan noted that, although the committee produced a lengthy, in-depth report, it didn’t have time to answer every question, meaning the council will need to fill in gaps.

“Even though they had a year and a half, there were some questions they just didn’t even have time to get to, which means we’re going to have to wrestle with them,” Nolan said. 

The road ahead

After staff reports for council consideration come in, the charter review process has a few steps to go.

The council will consider the reports, prepare a final draft charter and submit it to the state. Either the Office of the Attorney General or the state Legislature would approve – or possibly shoot down – the council’s draft. Finally, once approved by the state, the draft charter would go before the residents of Cambridge as a ballot measure. If approved, it would become law.

How long any of those steps would take is unclear. Because the city’s charter hasn’t been reviewed in 80 years, the council will need to figure out the best process as it goes.