CHARTER SUMMARY 2025

What's on the Ballot

In addition to choosing local officials, Fairfield voters will decide on seven ballot questions this year - six individual questions and one omnibus question containing approximately 40 changes. If passed, the changes will revise Fairfield's Town Charter, the Town's oldest governing document. Voters should understand that these changes create, amend, and/or repeal local laws. 

In 2022 there was a single question on the ballot. That is not the case this year. However, some of the changes voters vocally opposed in 2022 are back before the voters this time. And there are still close to 40 changes in a single omnibus question. Before voting yes on any question, voters should take time to understand the reasons for the change and the possible consequences. 

Town Resources

Unfortunately, the Charter Revision Commission (CRC) provided limited information that is readily accessible to voters explaining why it recommended each change and what the consequences would be of the change. A three-page summary Final Report was provided by the CRC to the Board of Selectmen that contains an overview of the changes. But it doesn't provide justification or comments on each change or identify who requested the change. The Representative Town Meeting did not prepare a list of pros and cons for each of these changes (as allowed by state law) that would have been helpful for voters.

State law allows Town Clerks to provide explanatory text outlining the intent and purpose of each question, which Fairfield's Town Clerk did and was mailed to every voter. However, by law, the text cannot advocate for or against any question and does not provide any substantive background information.

On August 6, the Board of Selectmen held a five hour meeting to review and vote on the changes proposed by the Commission. Approximately seven changes were rejected; the remainder were accepted. That meeting is the best opportunity to hear a single public discussion on the proposed changes. The meeting can be viewed here.

Also, members of the public provided written feedback (pros and cons) to the Charter Revision Commission during the revision consideration process that may be helpful to voters as well. Those comments can be viewed here.

For those seeking more detail, a chronological record of the discussions, votes, and public comments from the twenty-one meetings of the Charter Revision Commission (October 21, 2024 - July 23, 2025) is available in the commission's meeting minutes and video recordings. You can view both here.

F4GG Resources

Fairfielders for Good Government (F4GG) closely followed the revision process and is sharing information we believe will help voters make informed decisions on each question. This information includes background on this year's process including reference documents, individual pages on each of the seven questions (see links in drop-down and below), and F4GG's voting recommendations. 

Page Links 

• Background and Documents

• Question 1 - RTM ability to hire legal counsel

• Question 2 - Water Pollution Control Facility management 

• Question 3 - Chief Operating Officer position

• Question 4 - Newspaper publishing requirements

• Question 5 - Filling of Board of Selectmen vacancies 

• Question 6 - Town Seal

• Question 7 - All other (40+) changes

• Recommendations - F4GG Vote Recommendations (Summary)

Additional Information

Please check back as additional information is added. If you have questions or would like us to consider adding your pros or cons on an issue or question to our web content, feel free to contact us.