Friday, August 24th, 2012 | Posted by David Reid

State Officials, Not the City, Screwed Up on Charter Question Ballot Deadline

The mayor’s public records request to the Secretary of State’s office and its response yesterday reveal that city officials were never notified in time to meet a June 1 state deadline to place a proposed new city charter on the November ballot.

By DAVID REID

NORTHAMPTON, MA — The Mass. Secretary of State’s office never notified city officials directly of a June 1 deadline to finalize a city charter ballot question for the Nov. 6 elections, city officials learned yesterday.

This revelation, of course, was not news to city officials, who have said all along they never saw deadline warnings. The proposed charter, years in the making, has been recently undergoing small charges at the state Legislature, which must approve the final version, which needs the governor’s signature before it can be legally placed before city voters.

The first time that the mayor, city solicitor or city clerk learned of the June 1 deadline was in mid-July, too late to get a proposed new city charter on the state’s Nov. 6 ballot.

Last month, Mayor David Narkewicz filed a public records request to force the office of Sec. of State William Galvin to prove his office had informed the city prior to June 1, as a spokesman for Galvin told reporters last month. City officials denied the charge. (See the Daily Hampshire Gazette’s Aug. 11 story by reporter Chad Cain by clicking here.)

But, in a letter dated yesterday from a lawyer for Galvin, his office now acknowledges that it sent no emails or other correspondence directly to city officials before mid-July.

(To see the state’s Aug. 23 letter to the mayor, in response to his public records request, click here. )

As a result, the City Council — to get the new charter before city voters this fall — must OK a special Nov. 6 election that will cost the city thousands of dollars over and above administering the state ballot, which includes candidates for the US Senate and for president.

City Clerk Wendy Mazza, who said she was outraged that state officials falsely claimed she knew about the June 1 deadline but did nothing, has put out the call for dozens of extra volunteers to staff the polling precints on election day.

Meanwhile, Mazza said, Galvin’s office owes her and other city officials an apology, after having impuned their professional integrity. “It wasn’t us,” she said today. “They were incompetent on this.”

Last week, the City Council took a first vote to hold a special election on Nov. 6 for the city charter ballot question. A second and final vote takes a second on Sept. 20.

Even if Galvin’s office acknowledges it made a mistake, Mazza said, it’s too late to get the charter ballot question on the state’s Nov. 6 ballot. Instead, voters will have to check in at two separate tables on election day, voting on the proposed new city charter separately from the state ballot.

The dual-election process will require more than 100 extra poll workers that day, Mazza said.

David Reid can be reached at dreid@northamptonmedia.com