If you’re still unsure about how to vote on the proposed changes to the City of Amsterdam’s charter on Tuesday, here’s a few links and past articles from the Mohawk Valley Compass that may help you explore the proposals in detail. The proposed changes were placed on the ballot by a nine-person Charter Review Commission appointed by Mayor Ann Thane, members of which hold a variety of party affiliations, professions, and prior government experience. Each proposal was agreed on by the commission by at least a 2/3 majority.
September 2, 2014 – Charter commission finalizes five proposed changes
September 16, 2014 – Charter Commission holds public hearing on proposals
You can read the full report from the Charter Commission here. This includes summaries of the five proposals, along with detailed explanations of the changes written by the commission, as well as the exact wording of the changes.
Back in July, I wrote an opinion piece in favor of amendment #2 which would add two at-large members to the common council. You can read the article here: Three reasons a seven member council will be good for the city.
Lastly, please remember that you have to flip the ballot over to vote on the amendments. There are three proposed NY State Constitutional amendments at the top of the ballot, the five proposed amendments for the city are along the bottom. Click on the picture below to see what the ballot will look like.
