WESTBROOK – The city’s Charter Commission at the moment is trying to figure out how to create terms for elected officials that make more sense, eliminate needless and confusing bureaucratic layers of government, and eliminate conflicts that contributed, in at least one case, to a high-profile lawsuit against the city.

So naturally, commission members feel they need more time.

This week, they got it.

The Westbrook City Council Monday night granted the commission an extension on its Aug. 2 deadline to March of 2012. The vote was unanimous, with City Council President Brendan Rielly absent.

The vote came with no comment from the council, but Drew Gattine, the commission’s chairman, addressed the council. He said the commission is working hard and making progress on the issue.

“We’re going about our business very methodically,” he said.

Eileen Shutts, the commission’s vice chairwoman and secretary, said the commission needs the extension because it wants more input from city officials and the public. Right now, the commission has a workshop scheduled with the Westbrook School Committee on Aug. 11, and wants to schedule a similar workshop with the council. Shutts said the commission would also like adequate time to hold more public hearings to give voters a voice in the process.

There is no official date on how old the charter is, according to City Clerk Lynda Adams, but some of the city’s laws date back to 1889. While many sections of the city charter have been changed over the years, Adams said there has not been a full review of the entire charter since 1907.

Shutts said Maine state law does not require that a community review its charter, but once it elects to do so, which Westbrook did last fall, there is a timeline by which certain steps in reviewing the charter must be taken.

The request to the council, Shutts said, is part of the mandated process for extending the deadlines.

Among the popular changes so far, Shutts said, is a move to extend City Council terms from two years to three. Right now, Shutts said, the commission feels councilors are forced to spend more time campaigning for re-election than they do serving.

“It would just give people more time to focus on issues,” she said.

At the same time, she said, the commission would also like to stagger the terms, so that all the councilors do not come up for re-election at the same time, like they do now.

Shutts said there is the opposite problem on the school committee. Members, she said, serve four years there, and shortening those terms to three years might make people more interested in running for office.

“A lot of people hesitate to do something for four years because that’s a very long commitment,” she said.

The other major change on the commission’s radar is the Municipal Officer provision, which mandates some routine business decisions, such as the granting of liquor license renewals, be handled by an eight-member group made up of the mayor and the City Council. This often takes place at the top of council meetings, and is confusing to people, Shutts said. In addition, an eight-member group makes it possible for tie votes, Shutts said.

“There seems to be a strong support for eliminating that,” she said.

The commission also said it is reviewing “inconsistencies” arising from piecemeal changes to the charter. One such conflict in the charter is at the heart of a civil suit now in federal court by former Fire Chief Daniel Brock. Mayor Colleen Hilton declined to reappoint him in 2010, citing a charter provision that gives her the right to dismiss city employees by non-reappointment. Brock, in his civil suit, argues that a 1969 change to the charter mandates there must be cause for the chief to be removed from office. The 1969 change never eliminated the original provision Hilton cited, making it unclear just what the law allows.

“It’s not organized real well,” Shutts said of the current charter.

The extension also allows the commission to hold off on its final report, initially due in November, to June 2 of next year. Shutts said the public would get to vote on the final version of the new charter in November 2012.