Charter Revision Questions #7 and #8

In an effort to inform the citizens of Waterbury about the Charter Revision Questions that they will be voting on this year, I have decided to write a series of posts on the 8 questions. These questions will be found on the right side and the back of your ballot. Please take the time to vote on these important measures.

As I discuss each question I will include both the text of the question (in bold) as well as the explanatory text (in italics) that can be found in the informational booklet the City will provide at each polling place.

To start my informational series, I will be discussing Questions 7 and 8. I have chosen these questions because they are the easiest to explain and (in my opinion) the least controversial.

QUESTION 7:
Shall the Charter be revised to replace the term “water rents” with the more accurate and appropriate term “water charges and/or sewer charges”?

This is an editorial revision to update the language used in Charter provisions dealing with charges for the use of City water. These charges, once referred to as “water rents” are now called “water charges”. In addition, there is now a charge for the use of the City sewer system which is treated in a manner similar to water charges. To bring the Charter up to date, this revision replaces the term “water rents” with “water charges and/or sewer charges”.

Personally I feel this question is a non-issue for the voters. As the explanatory text says, the changes implemented by the approval of this question are merely cosmetic in nature. Approval of this question will not change anything in the way the city does business, all it does is modernize the language in the Charter. Since we cannot "rent" water, I feel the changes are useful and should be approved.

QUESTION 8:
Shall the Charter be revised to replace outdated position and department titles with the appropriate titles?

This editorial revision replaces outdated job titles with the appropriate, currently-used titles as follows: “Superintendent of Police” becomes “Chief of Police”; “Chief Engineer” becomes “Fire Chief”; “Health Officer” becomes “Health Director”; “Director of Personnel” becomes “Director of Human Resources”. In addition, the “Department of Personnel” becomes “Department of Human Resources”.

Again, I feel this question is a non-issue. As you can see in the explanatory text, these are changes in name only. Nothing about the workings of these offices will change. Since it has been several years since I've heard anyone refer to the head of the Waterbury PD as anything other than "Chief", these changes seem long overdue. Again, these are changes that I feel should be approved.

For the sake of your sanity, I will stop here for now. I will get the other 6 questions posted between now and Election Day. If you have any questions, just let me know in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them.