BIDDEFORD — In a special meeting Monday, the Charter Revision Commission unanimously voted to send voters individual questions pertaining to the changes to the city’s charter in the November referendum election.

The decision marks a major advancement in a heated debate between commissioners, city officials and the public, who have disagreed for weeks over how to format the Nov. 8 ballot – either as one question, individual questions or as the commission’s recommended six-section referendum.

The recommended format included packages, or “bundles,” of four to five questions regarding establishing residency requirements for both the city manager and school superintendent unless otherwise approved by the City Council; increases in compensation for city councilors and school committee members; removal of the police and fire commissions; and powers of the mayor and City Council.

The final section, “All Other” proposed revisions, outlined 13 recommended revisions such as the establishment of a five-year capital improvement program and changes to the city’s budget approval process.

In July, City Councilor Rick Laverriere voiced his strong disapproval of the commission’s proposed six-question ballot, calling it a “disservice to the city” to not display all proposed changes as individual questions.

And in a public hearing in late July, several members of the public also said they wanted individual questions instead of packages, and felt the commission was ignoring their voices in the decision making process.

Their appeals eventually swayed the commission.

“The way I look at it is, I was elected by the voters of my ward, and it’s pretty clear there has been many requests to go with individual questions,” commission Vice Chair Robert Provencher, who represents Ward 6, said Monday. “And I say that we should honor the voters’ requests and go with the individual questions.”

“(Voters are) too concerned with positioning multiple questions as one for the sake of they don’t want to vote for something if they’re against something else,” said Commissioner Dominic Deschambault, echoing concerns expressed in last month’s public hearing.

To reduce the number of questions voters will have to deal with in November, the commission evaluated each question to clean up language and combine any of the 32 questions where possible .

While the ballot’s language and format are still tentative, the commission was able to whittle the ballot down to 22 questions by combining questions regarding a capital improvement program, compensation for city councilors and members of the school committee, and eliminating the police and fire commissions.

The commission also voted to remove several other questions because of duplication or because they could be updated with grammatical revision.

Two questions that drew the most contention pertained to the removal of the police and fire commissions, which would subsequently be replaced with police and fire advisory committees.

Commissioner Bruce Benway suggested that the questions be combined to reduce the question load and to clarify the commission’s intent in establishing advisory committees.

“This is relatively simple to me,” Benway said. “If one goes, they both go. You can’t have one without the other.”

Chairman Paul Therrien expressed concern about combining the questions, because the commission had devised no backup plan should the public vote against removing the police and fire commissions.

“If the voters reject both of these, then we’re going back to the existing charter the way it is, which is the exact problem to begin with,” Therrien said. “If this gets rejected, we come out of this with the exact problem we have. We have a police and fire chief report to a commission, even though we have a city manager.”

Commissioner Deschambault said he thought the ballot didn’t make it clear to voters why the commission wanted to remove the two entities and establish advisory committees.

“I don’t get the point that what we’re trying to do is clean up the chain of command,” he said.

Ultimately, the commission voted to approve a combination of the two questions without a backup plan, stating that the City Council shall establish police and fire advisory commissions in the code of ordinances while deleting the ordinance regarding the police and fire commissions.

Monday’s special meeting followed a progress report with City Attorney Keith Jacques, who is acting as corporation counsel for the commission. The latest revisions will go to Jacques today for another round of evaluation.

Commissioners hope to receive feedback from Jacques before the ballot goes before the City Council on Aug. 16. They plan to schedule an additional special meeting this week or on Aug. 15 to discuss final details before the council meeting.

The ballot format is still undecided, and commissioners worry it will be too lengthy for voters to devote their full attention to it – especially when this year includes a presidential election and statewide referenda. Some city residents will also have to fill out a separate fluoridation question.

“I think you’re going to lose some voters,” Benway said. “It has to do with a sense of priorities about what should I be voting about at a given time, and the top of my priorities is still the presidential election.”

— Staff Writer Alan Bennett can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or abennett@journaltribune.com.