On Tuesday night, the Newburgh City Council narrowly voted to approve the formation of a charter review commission, which will study and make recommendations on how to change the city government structure.
Currently, the city of Newburgh has a council-manager system that relies on an appointed city manager to help run the daily operations. But, as Councilwoman Ramona Monteverde put it Tuesday, many of the problems with the city government showed up during the tenure of former city manager Todd Venning.
“When people come to me in my community, or my ward, my constituents, they say, 'Can we do this, can we do that, can you take that parking sign?' No, my hands were tied because I was not loyal to Todd," Monteverde said. "It did not work, so my hands were tied. I couldn't get anything done as a council member in Ward 2. It didn't work.”
While Venning did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Monteverde said that inaction by the former city manager — a position appointed by the city council — showed the need for a change.
On Tuesday, the council took steps toward a possible change as the vote to form a charter review commission passed by one vote.
Monteverde said the commission, which would report to the city council, could consider different options for changes to the city government, like making the mayor a full-time position or making it easier to remove a city manager.
“They might decide, well, let's look at the wards, also, you know, maybe we need to have more ward reps — break it up a little bit, as opposed to four ward reps and two at-large," she said. "That's something that they can look at as well.”
The issue has been widely discussed in Newburgh, including earlier this month when dozens of Newburgh residents — newcomers and old-timers — spoke at a public hearing.
Yaniyah Pearson, who previously served on the Newburgh Industrial Development Agency, said the current government structure does not work.
“Many of the most urgent concerns brought before the city council are met with verbal agreement or public concern from council members, yet meaningful action frequently depends not on the elected body itself, but on the willingness of the unelected city manager to act,” she said.
Orange County Legislator Gabrielle Hill, who represents the city and town of Newburgh, said at the public hearing that, when she spoke to people in Newburgh, many people were not aware that a commission was being considered.
“I found that maybe three out of 10 people vaguely knew what a charter was, and hardly any knew what I was even talking about after that, and that is not to blame them, that is to say, we need to do a better job educating and informing, because this is a very important decision that will have lifetime, possibly, effects,” she said.
Newburgh Mayor Torrance Harvey, who voted against the commission, echoed a similar feeling before the vote took place Tuesday. He said the public hearing had helped change his mind about charter review, but he was also aware of the deep history of mistrust of government in Newburgh and said the council should be mindful of that.
“I don't want them to say that anybody cooked the books or people rushed the process, or that you know the voters were not involved from the very beginning, so we have an opportunity to petition and take that petition to the people, so that they can vote in November on whether or not the commission should move or be brought together,” he said.
Councilmember Tamika Stewart, who voted for the commission, said on Tuesday that charter review should just be standard practice.
“We have all acknowledged in various ways, either publicly or behind closed doors, that it's not working," she said. "There are things that need to be addressed. We do not need to wait until a certain time in order to start the process to fix it. We have the ability to do that now.”
Stewart also said that even a few dozen people turning out to a public hearing in a city of less than 30,000 people shows that the community is invested, and said that even in elections in Newburgh, only about 2% of the public usually turns out.
