Groton City to hold hearing on timing of municipal elections
Oct. 21—GROTON — Residents on Monday will have an opportunity to voice their opinions about when the city should hold its municipal elections.
A public hearing will be held at 6 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Building at 295 Meridian Street, according to a public notice. People also can email questions and comments, with their name and address, to mayor@cityofgroton-ct.gov before noon Monday.
A section of Public Act No. 21-2, says that every municipality should hold its municipal election in November of the odd-numbered years, except if the municipality's legislative body decides in a 3/4 vote to instead hold the election in May of the odd-numbered years.
The City of Groton holds its elections in May, so City Mayor Keith Hedrick said the new state legislation means that the city's next election is moved to November of 2023, unless 75% of the City Council members vote to move the election to May.
Hedrick said the city has discussed the matter for two to three months and sent questions from the council to the state and received answers.
"We want to hear what's on the residents' minds regarding this election," Hedrick said.
The City Council will discuss the election date at its Committee of the Whole meeting Monday after the hearing, and then hopefully make a decision next month about whether the election will be held in May or November of 2023, Hedrick explained.
Hedrick said it's ultimately up to the Council to decide. He said if the Council decides it does not have enough information from residents, one option would be for the Council to move the election to May 2023 and have a question on the ballot about when the election should be held moving forward.
