BREWER, Maine — City officials will host a public hearing on a proposal to repeal the requirement that the school superintendent live in Brewer, which voters approved less than three years ago.
The hearing will be held at 6 p.m., Tuesday, March 31, at Brewer City Hall.
After the hearing, two items will appear on the city council’s consent agenda: one to send the repeal before voters in June and the other to set an effective date for the charter change, which likely would be July 1, if it is approved by voters, according to City Clerk Pam Ryan.
In June 2012, Brewer voters approved a charter amendment requiring the city’s superintendent of schools to live within city limits. The vote was 579-454. The 2012 charter change was spearheaded by Larry Doughty, who was a city councilor at the time. He has said the repeal effort “makes a mockery of the charter” but is confident voters would reject a referendum to override his initiative.
Doughty has argued it’s reasonable to expect the head of Brewer schools to live in the community they serve, especially with Brewer trumpeting its quality of living.
It’s unclear who will be Brewer’s school superintendent in June, after current Superintendent Jay McIntyre’s two-year contract with the city expires. The school board declined to renew McIntyre’s contract. A search for a new head of schools is underway.
Supporters of the push to repeal the charter change argue the requirement that a superintendent live in Brewer will limit the search for the next leader of the district and make the process unnecessarily difficult.
The residency requirement repeal question would appear before voters on the June 9 ballot.
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