Council votes to keep town clerk an elected office, asks Commission for clearer appointed‑model safeguards

The Danbury City Council’s Committee of the Whole voted to recommend keeping the town clerk as an elected office and asked the Charter Revision Commission to revisit any proposal to make it appointed with written safeguards. The recommendation passed after more than an hour of debate about tenure, removal authority and how a transition would affect the incumbent.

Councilman Brian Hawley, who moved to strike the Commission’s proposed change, said the council needed ‘a burden of proof’ before moving such a fundamental governance change. Hawley urged charter language to specify whether a clerk would serve a fixed or indefinite term, who could remove the clerk and under what due‑process protections, and how a current elected clerk would be treated if the office were reclassified. ‘These protections belong in the Charter,’ he said, adding that leaving them to future ordinance would not create durable safeguards.

Supporters of keeping the clerk elected stressed the office’s statutory responsibilities and institutional independence. Several council members said an appointed model could be defensible but only if the Commission drafts transition rules, causes‑for‑removal procedures, professional qualifications, and explicit oversight that preserve voters’ interests. The council’s recommendation sends the matter back to the Charter Revision Commission for redrafting; the Commission will return a revised proposal for further council consideration and a joint meeting to confer on final language.