Four-Year Mayor, Library Rules and a Charter Rewrite: West Haven’s Three Ballot Questions Explained

Below the races for governor and Congress, West Haven voters will find three local questions on their Nov. 3 ballots. Together they would make the biggest changes to the City Charter in years.

The first asks whether the mayor and the town and city clerk should serve four-year terms instead of two. The second rewrites the rules for how the West Haven Public Library is run. The third is a broad package of changes touching nearly every part of city government.

The City Council approved the wording of all three questions on Aug. 5, according to the meeting minutes. Each passed unanimously among the nine council members present.

Question 1: Four-year terms for mayor and clerk

Today West Haven elects its mayor and its town and city clerk every two years. Question 1 would make both terms four years, starting with the 2027 municipal election.

If it passes, the next mayor and clerk would be elected in November 2027 to serve four years, according to the proposed charter. City Council members would still serve two-year terms.

Mayor Dorinda Borer has argued that short terms make it harder to keep top staff. Earlier this year the city lost its finance director to New Haven and its economic development director to Hamden. Borer said West Haven cannot offer the same job security as places with longer mayoral terms, The Hour reported in August.

The Charter Revision Commission said longer terms would “provide greater continuity,” according to a city news release.

West Haven would not be alone. Hamden’s mayor, elected in 2025, is serving that town’s first four-year term, and New Haven’s mayor will move to a four-year term after the 2027 election, according to The Hour.

Question 2: The library and the VIA

The West Haven Public Library is run by the Village Improvement Association of West Haven, Inc., a private nonprofit, rather than directly by the city. The current charter covers that arrangement in a section called Chapter XX.

Question 2 would replace Chapter XX with new language. Under the proposed charter, the association would keep running the library system. But the library would be treated as a “budgeted entity” when it uses city money.

The proposed rules would require the association to:

• Submit an annual budget and plan to the city, on forms the city supplies.
• Send monthly reports comparing what it planned to spend of city money with what it actually spent.
• Carry insurance and follow competitive purchasing and personnel practices in line with public library standards.

The association would remain responsible for its own employees and for upkeep of the property it owns. Its employees would not become city employees. Private and endowment funds would stay under the association’s sole control, and the City Council would keep full say over how much city money it gives the library.

Question 3: Everything else

The third question is an omnibus. A yes vote approves a long list of other changes recommended by the Charter Revision Commission and the City Council. Among them, according to the city and the proposed charter:

• Tax collector. The elected tax collector’s job would end. Starting in December 2027, tax collection would be handled by an employee of the city Finance Department.
• Treasurer stays elected. The commission had recommended making the treasurer an appointed job too. The council kept it as an elected office in its final version, according to notes in the proposed charter.
• Financial controls. New checks for both the city and the Board of Education, including rules for multiyear contracts.
• Ethics. Stronger ethics language that makes clear employees and elected officials must follow the charter.
• Departments. Civil Preparedness becomes Emergency Management/Homeland Security. The Allingtown Fire District, already made a city department by resolution, is written into the charter. The city could regionalize its Health Department by ordinance, which the current charter does not allow.
• Other updates. Rules for filling a mayoral vacancy, a requirement that departments use city personnel and legal staff in labor and contract talks, the gender-neutral title “Chair,” and removal of outdated language.

How we got here

The council appointed a bipartisan Charter Revision Commission, which first met March 19. Arthur Kelly chaired it. The other members were Roberta Garlock, Arthur Gilbert, Bridgette Hoskie, Steven Iadarola, Tony Mancini, Lalani Perry and Gayle Tagliatela, according to the city.

“Our focus was on professionalizing key roles, streamlining our departments and providing the clarity needed for effective governance,” Kelly said in a city news release when the commission sent its report to the council.

The council made its own changes and approved the final report on July 28. It voted on the ballot wording Aug. 5 to meet the state’s Sept. 3 deadline. Council Chairman Christopher Vargo, D-8, said the council had done an estimated “18 months of work in 18 weeks,” including during budget season, The Hour reported.

Voters have said no before. A previous charter revision failed in 2020 by 439 votes after a two-and-a-half-year process, according to The Hour.

The charter changes also arrive at a turning point for city finances. West Haven was released from oversight by the state’s Municipal Accountability Review Board in May 2025, according to the city’s most recent annual financial report.

Learn more before you vote

The full proposed charter, approved by the council July 28, is posted on the city website. A hard copy is available at the City Clerk’s office in City Hall.

The council has scheduled a public information session on the changes for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20, in the City Council Chambers on the third floor of City Hall, 355 Main St. An earlier session was set for Oct. 6.

Each question is decided separately. You can vote yes on one and no on another.

Do you have a view on the charter questions? We want to hear from residents and officials on every side. Write to us at the address below.

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