After meeting twice monthly since February, the draft charter created by Princeton’s Home Rule Charter Commission went before council.

City Attorney David Overcash presented some of the key points in the charter during the regular council meeting Monday, Aug. 8. The commission finished the drafting process during its final meeting Wednesday, Aug. 3.

The placement of the charter on the November ballot would be a way of council listening to the will of its voters, said Overcash. If approved, residents would also have the power of initiative, referendum and recall, which are three powers they lack because of Princeton’s status as a general law municipality.

Typically, the process to transition from general law to home rule takes place when a city reaches 5,000 inhabitants.

“The city of Princeton has been there for some time and is really behind the historical curve where most cities of this size would have already adopted that and gone to home rule status,” Overcash said.

If approved, the charter would establish a council-manager form of government, said Overcash, which would be a transition away from the mayor-council government the city currently has. Doing so would make the city manager the top city official responsible for day-to-day administration.

In a council-manager government, councilmembers exert oversight on the city manager but the mayor is less involved in city administration compared to the mayor-council government.

For the full story, see the Aug. 11 of The Princeton Herald.