Override Question Plans Ditched

Mayor Lisa Wong said today the plans to place a bunch of non-binding override questions on this November's ballot are not happening. You can get some background through the story at the Fitchburg Pride website. In fact, I'd say read that short story first, and then read on here.

Let's just say this situation is kind of confusing, in that there's different deadlines for different types of questions. It took two calls to the Secretary of State's office for me to get it all straight, and in the second call, we weren't sure if the non-binding part of the situation or the override part took precedence (it was the non-binding), and that was an important distinction because there were two separate deadlines.

Anyway, as of last week, city officials were saying they were aware of the deadline, and expected to move forward. But early this week, a new curveball popped up (which I found out in my second call to SOS) in the form of the need for special legislation. That, really, was the deal killer.

The SOS needs stuff by Sept. 5. If it was simply local approval, the council could have passed the questions on Sept. 2 and walked the questions to the secretary's office in plenty of time for the 9/5 deadline. However, the special legislation could only move forward after the council approval. Or, it would have to be filed, passed, and signed in three days. During informal session. On what might be precedent-setting legislation in that no one is sure if a community has offered non-binding override questions before.

Before yesterday's meeting at City Hall, Council President Tom Conry said in an e-mail "I suppose" the deadline could be met. Rep. Steven DiNatale was also talking like a guy who thought things were moving forward -- but honestly said he wasn't sure it was possible.

But the reality of the situation is that the three-day window between the Sept. 2 council meeting and the deadline was probably too small. For this to have gotten done, the council probably needed to see and approve the questions before the August recess. I'm not sure when everyone figured all this out, but the result is the deadline and the window are going to be missed.