The Charter Review Committee presented its current suggestions for charter revisions at Monday’s Special Town Meeting. Its goal was to inform the public and generate feedback before the final recommendations are voted on at May’s Annual Town Meeting.

The CRC has been reviewing the charter since December 2025. The town’s charter must be reviewed every 10 years to ensure that its language reflects current values.

As part of that process, CRC vice chair Peter Mimmo said members solicited town staff and committee feedback on proposed changes. Members then met with stakeholders to discuss potential impacts. It sought wider public engagement at a public forum on Sept. 30.

“This is your town government,” Mimmo stressed. “This is your opportunity to have a voice in how our town government is structured and how it delivers services to our town.

“And it’s our job to review that, to study that and to come up with good recommendations acceptable, hopefully, to the town ultimately,” he added.

One potential change is increasing the number of Board of Health members to five from three. Board of Health chair Nasiba Mannan, adamantly opposes this change. She said that the board researched the size of other boards of health in surrounding communities and found that there were three members on them, with the exception of Ashland.

Peter Mimmo talks about the town charter at Monday’s Special Town Meeting. PHOTO/JOHN CARDILLO

She added that the Hopkinton Board of Health scored in the top 97% in state measures, proving its effectiveness at its current size.

“So, considering all of this, we at the moment do not see any requirement for a change for the next 10 years,” said Mannan.

The CRC also proposed making one member of the Community Preservation Committee elected rather than appointed. Another change would call for the Select Board to appoint Cemetery Commission members. A change of the name of the Appropriation Committee to the Finance Committee was proposed as a housekeeping issue.

The CRC also has studied whether to make the town clerk an appointed or elected position. Another possible change is to have the Parks & Recreation, library and Health Department directors report to the town manager rather than to their respective boards. Recall provision changes also were proposed.

A form with a QR code was distributed to allow people to take a survey regarding town charter changes. In response to a question about the questionnaire being available for those who do not use the internet, Town Moderator Zachary Kosan said it would be distributed via multiple means.

The next CRC meeting will be Nov. 5, Mimmo added.