Former Framingham Selectman Cardiff Running For Charter Commission

Editor’s note: The following is a press release. Each candidate for Charter Commissioner is allowed to submit an announcement under Framingham Patch’s 2016 election policy.

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Former Selectman and a current member of the Edgell Grove Cemetery Trustee Board, Dennis Cardiff announced he will be a candidate for Framingham Charter Commission.

Cardiff has been pursuing the formation of a Charter Commission for past 6 years and currently serves as the Treasurer of the Framingham First group that garnered the necessary signatures to put the question on the ballot for the Town Election on March 29.

While Cardiff has served as an elected official in one capacity or another over the last 30 plus years, he remains a strong advocate for changing the form of our government to a more efficient and centralized management form that will foster a better and more efficient budgeting process and centralized decision making that will increase management efficiencies and spending policies will be controlled by a central and defined decision process.

His position on City vs Town is simple and strong. Framingham has evolved into a large and diverse population and has outgrown its current representative form of town meeting governance. Proof of this is in the facts. Town meeting struggles to get a quorum and far too many town meeting seats lay vacant leaving the decision making to the same special interest groups that populate town meeting only when their budgets are being considered.

His commitment is to put in place a responsive form of government that will ABANDON TOWN MEETING and put in place a form of government that will formulate a council, board of alderman, and mayor or manager.

We all believe Framingham is and can continue to be a great place to live, work and play, but we must get a seat at the table with our state leaders, something we don’t have with the current form of governance.

Please Vote YES on the formation of a Charter Commission and please consider voting for me as one of the nine members that will serve on the committee on your behalf.

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Photo of Dennis Cardiff from a Framingham First meeting in June 2015 by Petroni Media Company