SACO — Three charter amendments are on the ballot for Saco voters to decide Nov. 5. Two involve how public hearings and borrowing initiative notices are made available to the community; the third involves a change in the election of election wardens and warden clerks.

Charter Question 1 asks voters to approve a charter amendment which allows the municipality to post, rather than publish, an entire proposed ordinance on the city’s website and in a public place at City Hall, and to publish a brief summary along with a notice of public hearing. A public hearing would take place within seven days of the publishing and posting. If the ordinance under consideration is approved, it would be posted, rather than published.

According to the July 1 City Council minutes, the change is proposed to add posting of proposed ordinance amendments or new ordinances to the city website and at City Hall for public hearings and the adoption of any ordinance as a requirement. The minutes state the proposed change saves money on advertising costs by publishing a summary of the proposed ordinance for the public hearing, versus the full ordinance, and striking the requirement that the ordinance be published again after adoption.

The minutes do not reflect estimated savings.

Question 2 is similar, and ask voters to amend the charter to allow the city to post full notices of proposed borrowing on the city’s website and in a public place at City Hall, and to publish a summary in a daily newspaper of general circulation in the city.

Question 3 asks voters to amend the charter to strike the portion that currently mandates that terms of ward clerks and wardens be concurrent with City Council terms. The warden and ward clerk positions would continue to be two year terms.

Voting on Election Day, Nov. 5 is from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Community Center, 75 Franklin St.

Absentee voting is being conducted in the City Hall Conference Room on the first floor. Oct, 31, regular hours will be extended to 7 p.m.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 780-9016 or twells @mainelymediallc.com.

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