"Each of the undersigned voters respectfully requests the municipal officers to provide for the amendment of the municipal charter as set out below.

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"Shall a charter commission be established for the sole purpose of establishing official ballot voting under the current form of government?" (RSA 49-B:3 VI)

A1: This is a petition to place a question on the March 14^th 2005 ballot. March 14^th 2005 is the day when we hold an election for local officials (Town Council, School Board, etc).

A2: The purpose of this petition is to gather the requisite number of signatures so that the above stated question may be placed on the ballot in March.

A3: The question before the voters will be as stated above "Shall a charter commission be established for the sole purpose of establishing official ballot voting under the current form of government?" What it means, is that we are asking the voters to support electing a charter commission which would have one purpose only, to see what items or duties currently voted on solely by the Town Council (7 people) should be changed to become subject to election by the voters at future March elections.

A4: The charter commission would get to decide which items, but they could be the Annual Budget (currently only 4 Councilors, or a majority of the 7, need to pass the budget, which is currently in the mid $30 Millions range). Bonding (long term debt) could also be subject to voter approval (The $6 Million Town Hall which needed only 5 Councilor votes to approve, could have required the citizens to vote for the bond instead, had the "Official Ballot" Town Council government already been in place). Additionally, Union Contracts, Land Use changes, and any other "Legislative" function, could be turned over to the voters for approval under this form of government.

A5: Great question! Let me walk you step-by-step through this.

• Step 1: Once we get the signatures, we must turn them into the Town, and assuming we get enough signatures of registered voters, then the question as mentioned above appears on the ballot.
• Step 2: Assuming the voters approve the question in March (simple majority needed), then there will be a SPECIAL ELECTION in May of 2005 to elect 9 members to a Charter Commission. (We will need you to come out and VOTE in that special election)
• Step 3: The 9 members elected will then work on the Charter making changes ONLY related to official ballot voting (They will NOT be able to make wholesale charter changes that could hurt the voter/taxpayer, which is why we favor this particular form of Charter Change). As mentioned above, the Budget, Bonds, Union Contracts, Land Use regulations and any other Legislative functions could be made subject to YOUR VOTE instead of 7 COUNCILORS. The Charter Commission must make these decisions and then finish their business by year's end.
• Step 4: After a series of public hearings, the Amended Charter with Official Ballot voting, would appear on the March 2006 ballot. If approved, THEN YOU, not the COUNCIL will get to vote, on whatever approved functions were transferred to the VOTERS, within the amended charter.

A6:

Alliance of Derry Taxpayers (ADT), email info@derrytax.org, on the web www.derrytax.org