Everett Independent Staff
A major public hearing is being held Wednesday evening starting at 7 p.m. at city hall council chamber to hear from Everett residents about their views on the preliminary report recently released by the Charter Review Committee.
After many months of research and study the Charter Review Committee has come up with a bold plan to completely change the 1892 city charter in order for the city government to come into the 21st Century.
Expected to be discussed Wednesday evening is the change from a bicameral form of government to a single branch consisting of an11-man board.
In addition, the two-year term for mayor will be changed to four years.
“In all, the city charter is simply being brought up to date. You can’t be running a 21st century city with an early 20th Century document,” said former mayor and now Charter Board member John Hanlon.
Hanlon said it was his belief that the charter review document will pass and that when all is said and done, the document will simply be brought to a place where it is much more relevant than it is today.
“I will be curious to listen to what the people have to say. They will do one of two things. They will either voice their support or they will voice their concern about the new document,” Hanlon said.