Westbrook voters Tuesday rejected a measure that would have changed the city clerk’s position from an elected one to an appointed one.
The ballot question to change the city charter failed, 854-1,115. The city clerk will continue to be elected by voters every two years.
City Councilor Ed Symbol, who proposed the move in March, was disappointed the proposal didn’t pass.
“It is what it is,” he said. “I brought it forward, got it on the ballot, and they voted it down,” Symbol said with a shrug.
“We just wanted to give people a chance to speak, and they spoke,” said Council President Brendan Rielly.
Kelly Benson, the last voter to pass through the Ward 1 voting booth at Wescott Junior High School gymnasium Tuesday night, said she voted against appointing the clerk.
“I just think it’s important that we have a general consensus for all public officials,” Benson said.
But June Smith, also voting at Ward 1, voted in favor of appointing the clerk, saying, “A lot of people could vote, and not know who they’re voting for.”
Judy Getchell, casting her ballot at the armory, voted to keep the clerk elected, saying, “I’m scared you might get the wrong person in there doing the appointing.”
Because the procedure of choosing a city clerk is under the city’s charter, 30 percent of the total number of citizens who voted in the last gubernatorial election had to vote Tuesday if the charter were to change.
City officials were concerned that a low voter turnout could end in a “yes” vote that would be insufficient to make the charter change. To be valid, the referendum needed 1,906 votes. It received 1,969, but since the question was defeated, the issue was moot.
Nevertheless, Rielly said it was good to see that there were enough voters out on Tuesday to make the vote count in either case.
Symbol suggested Tuesday night that it was not the end of city charter changes, and expects to open up the “old and antiquated” charter again for the November election.
Kelly Benson was the last voter to walk through the Wescott Junior High School gymnasium for Tuesday’s referendum in Westbrook. Benson voted yes on both the school and the auditorium, but voted down appointing the city clerk. “I think it is important that we have a general consensus for all public officials,” Benson said.
Polling clerks chat at an empty Wescott Junior High School gymnasium during Tuesday’s referendum. City officials feared a light voter turn-out might invalidate a charter change to appoint a city clerk. Enough voters came out to make the vote count, but they defeated the question anyway.
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