Providence Charter Review Commission Records
1979-80
RG 209
During the late 1970s citizen interest in amending the city's charter gained momentum. The election of the city's first Republican mayor in more than three decades led to an effort by the Democrat controlled state legislature and City Council to reduce the new mayor's powers. The city's legislative charter was amended to deprive the mayor of the item veto and his control over the parks department was reduced. Other attempts were made to shift control of several municipal departments to City Council control. Nearly eighty changes had been made to the city's charter since its passage in 1940--none with the approval of the local electoral electorate.
Mayor Cianci joined a coalition of citizens led by The League of Women Voters and East Side physician Melvyn M. Gelch to call for a new home rule charter for the city of Providence. A successful signature drive resulted in the election of the Providence Charter Commission in October 1979. This nine-member commission chaired by Dr. Gelch conducted more than one hundred public hearings and meetings between November 1979 and September 1980 conducting a line-by-line review of the old charter and debating numerous proposed changes to the operation of its municipal government. The drafted home rule charter was presented to voters on November 4, 1980 and passed by a vote of 18,053 to 12,245. The charter became effective in January 1983. A core provision of the new document now allowed the city the ability to change the structure of its own government without General Assembly approval. In addition to strengthening the administrative power of the mayor, other key elements called for the reduction of the City Council to fifteen members (one from each ward), enhancing the fiscal powers of the council, and a reform of the city's personnel policies. The charter also formalized the establishment of the city's Division of Archives and History.
Scope and Content
This collection includes five boxes of meeting minutes, hearing transcripts, correspondence, as well as drafts and final copies of the city's Home Rule Charter. The records cover the period from November 1979 to October 1980.
Size: 6 linear feet
| PROVIDENCE CHARTER COMMISSION | |||
| 1979 - 1980 | |||
| RG 209 | |||
| AN 20105 & 20106 | |||
| BOX NUMBER |
FOLDER NUMBER |
CONTENTS | DATE |
| 1 | 1 | Acquisition and Disposal of Property | 1979 - 1980 |
| 2 | Background | 1979 - 1980 | |
| 3 | Board of Parks & Recreation | 1979 - 1980 | |
| 4 | Brochure - Home Rule Charter | 1979 - 1980 | |
| 5 | Charter Disposition Table | 1979 - 1980 | |
| 6 | Charter Preamble | 1979 - 1980 | |
| 7 | Charters - Other | 1979 - 1980 | |
| 8 | Consultant's Research List | 1979 - 1980 | |
| 9 | Correspondence Incoming January 16, 1980 - September 4, 1980 | 1979 - 1980 | |
| 10 | Correspondence-Outgoing December 12, 1979 - October 2, 1980 | 1979 - 1980 | |
| 11 | Draft-Original Articles: I - V | ||
| 12 | Draft-Original Articles: VI - IX | 1979 - 1980 | |
| 13 | Draft-Original Articles X - XIV | ||
| 14 | Draft-Articles I - X |
March 1980 |
|
| 15 | Draft-Articles: II - IV | July 1980 | |
| 16 | Draft-Articles: VII - VIII | July 1980 | |
| Article V missing | July 1980 | ||
| 17 | Draft-Articles: IX, XI - XIII | July 1980 | |
| 18 | Drafts-Articles: I - IX | August 1980 | |
| 19 | Drafts-Articles: IX - XIII | August 1980 | |
| 20 | Drafts 2 & 3 | September 1980 | |
| 21 | Drafts & Final Copy-Articles VII - XIII | 1979 - 1980 | |
| 22 | Financial Material/Appropriation Ordinance | ||
| 23 | Financial: Budget | ||
| 24 | Financial Material/Financial Statements | ||
| 25 | Memoranda | ||
| 26 | Options for Achieving Administrative Flexibility | ||
| 27 | Press Releases & Public Service Announcement | ||
| 28 | Provisions On Borrowing | ||
| 29 | Public Hearings - Schedules/Agendas | ||
| 30 | Purchase Requisitions - 1/6/1980 - 5/30/1980 | ||
| 31 | Purchase Requisitions - 6/6/1980 - 10/24/1980 | ||
| 32 | Purchase Requisitions - CPD | ||
| 33 | Questionnaires | ||
| 34 | Sign In Sheets | ||
| 35 | Tabled Sections | ||
| 36 | Testimony-Hearing List | ||
| 37 | Testimony - Summary of Taped Testimony | ||
| 38 | Votes Commission | ||
| 2 | Chapter 1 - General Provisions | ||
| 1 | Municipal Court | ||
| 2 | Probate Court | ||
| 3 | School Committee | ||
| 4 | Public Records | ||
| Chapter 2 - Powers of the City | |||
| 5 | Civil Service System | ||
| Chapter 3 - Mayor and Council | |||
| 6 | Mayor | ||
| 7 | City Council | ||
| Chapter 4 - Appointive Officers and Employees | |||
| 8 | City Clerk | ||
| 9 | City Treasurer | ||
| 10 | Recorder of Deeds | ||
| 11 | City Registrar | ||
| 12 | City Sergeant | ||
| 13 | Superintendent of Weights and Measures | ||
| Chapter 5 - Departments, Boards, Bureau and Commissions | |||
| 14 | Retirement Board | ||
| 15 | Board of Tax Assessment Review | ||
| 16 | Building Board of Review | ||
| 17 | Civic Center Authority | ||
| 18 | Department of Police and Fire | ||
| 19 | Department of Public Works | ||
| 20 | Department of Planning and Urban Development | ||
| 21 | Housing Authority | ||
| 3 | 1 | Board of Park Commission/Department of Recreation | |
| 2 | Water Supply Board | ||
| 3 | Board of Sinking Funds | ||
| 4 | Board of Canvassers and Registration | ||
| 5 | Department of Public Parks | ||
| 6 | General Issues | ||
| Chapter 6 - Finances | |||
| 7 | Duties of Directors | ||
| 8 | Personnel Director | ||
| 9 | Budget | ||
| 10 | Purchasing and Contracts | ||
| 11 | Conflict of Interest | ||
| 12 | City Assessor | ||
| 13 | City Collector | ||
| 14 | City Controller | ||
| Additional Areas | |||
| 15 | Archives | ||
| 16 | Civilian Review Board | ||
| 17 | Human Relations Commission | ||
| 18 | Initiative, Referendum, Recall | ||
| 19 | Ombudsman | ||
| 20 | Residence Requirements | ||
| 21 | Sewer Authority | ||
| 22 | Traffic Engineer | ||
| 4 | Meeting Minutes | ||
| 1 | November 1979 | ||
| 2 | December 1979 | ||
| 3 | January 1980 | ||
| 4 | February 1980 | ||
| 5 | March 1980 | ||
| 6 | April 1980 | ||
| 7 | May 1980 | ||
| 8 | June 1980 | ||
| 9 | July 1980 | ||
| 10 | August 1980 | ||
| 11 | September 1980 | ||
| 5 | Audio Tapes of Meeting Minutes | ||
| December 17, 1979 & December 26, 1979 (Building Inspector Office - No Date) | |||
| Police and Fire (No Date) | |||
| December 26, 1979 | |||
| December 26, 1979 & January 2, 1980 | |||
| January 2, 1980 | |||
| January 2, 1980 & January 9, 1980 | |||
| January 9, 1980 | |||
| January 9, 1980 & January 10, 1980 | |||
| January 10, 1980 & January 15, 1980 | |||
| January 10, 1980 | |||
| January 14, 1980, January 15, 1980 & January 16, 1980 - Public Hearing | |||
| January 16, 1980 - Meeting and Public Hearing & January 22, 1980 | |||
| January 22, 1980 | |||
| January 23, 1980 & January 29, 1980 | |||
| February 6, 1980 Public Hearing | |||
| February 12, 1980, February 13, 1980 - Public Hearing and May 12, 1980 | |||
| February 13, 1980 Public Hearing, February 19, 1980 & February 20, 1980 - Public Hearing |
|||
| February 20, 1980 Public Hearing | |||
| February 26, 1980 & February 27, 1980 - Public Hearing | |||
| February 27, 1980 Meeting and Public Hearing & March 4, 1980 | |||
| March 4, 1980 & March 5, 1980 | |||
| March 5, 1980 & March 11, 1980 | |||
| March 10, 1980 & March 11, 1980 | |||
| March 11, 1980 & March 12, 1980 | |||
| March 12, 1980 & March 18, 1980 | |||
| March 18, 1980 & March 19, 1980 | |||
| April 1, 1980 & April 2, 1980 | |||
| April 2, 1980 | |||
| April 8, 1980 | |||
| April 8, 1980 & April 9, 1980 | |||
| April 16, 1980 & April 22, 1980 | |||
| April 22, 1980 & April 23, 1980 | |||
| April 23, 1980 & April 28, 1980 | |||
| April 29, 1980, April 30, 1980 & May 6, 1980 | |||
| May 7, 1980 & May 13, 1980 | |||
| May 13, 1980 | |||
| May 20, 1980 & May 21, 1980 | |||
| May 21, 1980 & May 27, 1980 | |||
| May 27, 1980 & May 28, 1980 | |||
| May 28, 1980 & June 3, 1980 | |||
| June 3, 1980 & June 4, 1980 | |||
| June 4, 1980 & June 10, 1980 | |||
| June 10, 1980 & June 11, 1980 | |||
| June 11, 1980 Public Hearing & June 17, 1980 | |||
| June 23, 1980 & July 23, 1980 | |||
| July 3, 1980 & July 8, 1980 | |||
| July 8, 1980 & July 9, 1980 | |||
| July 9, 1980 & July 15, 1980 | |||
| July 22, 1980 | |||
| July 28, 1980 | |||
| August 6, 1980 | |||
| August 8, 1980 | |||
| August 13, 1980 | |||
| August 19, 1980 | |||
| August 20, 1980 | |||
| August 21, 1980 & August 26, 1980 | |||
| August 26, 1980 & August 27, 1980 | |||
| August 28, 1980 | |||
| September 3, 1980 | |||
| September 4, 1980 | |||