Change doesn’t come easy, and in small communities where everybody knows your name, sometimes change can feel nigh-impossible.

Nevertheless, Bath voters on Tuesday will be looking at change to its decades-old charter that, if implemented, could greatly help the city in its search for an new manager.

According to the current charter, the city manager “may not reside outside the City of Bath” during his tenure of office. This requirement doesn’t appear consistent with other high-level positions in the city. For example, neither the police nor the fire chief are required to live within the city.

A local referendum, however, would give the City Council the power to approve whether the manager can reside outside the city limits.

The city manager’s job is both critical and myriad. Most crucially, it’s the manager every year who submits the proposed budget, and administers said budget after adoption.

True, changing the charter could mean mean hiring a manager whose tax rate isn’t affected by the budget he or she proposes. But, at the end of the day, it’s up to the manager’s boss — the council, who must all be Bath residents — to adopt that budget, setting the tax rate. It should also be noted that most tax dollars go to Region School Unit 1, which does not require its superintendent to live within any of the communities the RSU services.

Former Bath City Manager Bill Giroux left big shoes to fill when he resigned after serving the City of Ships for 11 years. Former Public Works Director Peter Owen has stepped up in order to take over as interim manager. But under the current charter, Owen would be unable to become the permanent manager, were he and the council inclined to take that direction.

The bottom line is, the council needs to have this option in order to hire the best possible candidate. And in approving this change, voters will be showing they trust that the council won’t hire someone who phones it in. The next manager must have a stake in the city that is personal as well as professional. He or she must love the city as much as they love their job, even if they don’t live there.

The world is changing, and Bath, if it wishes to remain competitive economically and in its development, must change with it.

Bath residents should vote to approve the charter change.