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By Janie Dretler, Vice Chair, Sudbury Select Board – I am writing this as an individual member of the Sudbury Select Board. These views are my own.
On May 20, Sudbury voters will consider Article 3 at Special Town Meeting, a citizen petition seeking a Special Act to add a recall election provision to Sudbury’s Town Charter.
This is not a routine policy question. It is a structural change to Sudbury’s governing document.
On May 5, 2026, the Select Board voted 4–1 to oppose Article 3. That vote reflects concern not about accountability, but about whether this proposal has been thoughtfully designed for Sudbury.
Sudbury’s Charter Is Our Local Constitution
Changing the Charter through a Special Act is fundamentally different from passing a bylaw. It alters how our Town government functions and how long voters’ choices remain in effect.
Massachusetts does not provide a one-size-fits-all recall statute. Each town must design its own framework. That means Sudbury must decide:
- Whether recall requires stated grounds
- How many signatures are needed at each stage
- Whether thresholds are based on registered voters or turnout in the most recent election(s)
- When an official is subject to recall during their term
- Whether multiple recall attempts are allowed within a term
- How quickly a recall election must occur
- How vacancies would be filled
One of those decisions is whether recall should require stated grounds. Despite assurances that recall would be a “last resort,” this proposal permits removal for any reason, including disagreement over lawful policy decisions, and does not incorporate Town Counsel’s recommendation to consider requiring stated grounds.
These details matter. They determine whether recall functions as a rarely used safeguard or a frequently deployed political tool. Poor drafting can invite legal challenges, enable misuse, or create costly confusion.
Sudbury’s Voter Patterns Matter
Sudbury’s turnout fluctuates between annual town elections and higher-turnout cycles. A percentage that sounds reasonable in theory can operate very differently depending on whether it is calculated from total registered voters or from those who voted in the last election.
A 10% signature threshold in Sudbury is not the same as a 20% threshold. That difference represents hundreds of signatures. The question is not whether recall should exist in the abstract, but whether the numbers are calibrated to Sudbury’s size, turnout history, and civic culture.
Town Counsel advised that recall should be “hard but not impossible.” Achieving that balance requires modeling based on Sudbury’s actual voter data. That modeling has not occurred publicly.
Accountability Already Exists — Stability Also Matters
Sudbury holds regular elections. Select Board members and other officials face voters at defined intervals. That cycle is itself an accountability mechanism.
Recall introduces mid-term removal. If thresholds are too low or guardrails unclear, recall can be triggered over contentious but lawful policy decisions such as zoning changes, school budgets, tax votes, development approvals. Sudbury benefits from vigorous debate. But we should be cautious about creating a system that could turn every difficult vote into a potential recall campaign.
A concern raised publicly is the possibility of repeated election cycles, a “ping-pong” dynamic of elect, recall, re-elect, with financial costs and governance instability following.
Is that what Sudbury intends?
How This Proposal Reached Special Town Meeting
This proposal began as a bylaw petition and was quickly converted to a Special Act when the author was informed the initial approach would not meet legal requirements. The language draws from other municipalities. But Sudbury is not every other municipality.
Major Charter changes here have historically gone through structured review processes with public hearings, comparative analysis, and legal vetting. That deliberate, public and transparent work did not occur here.
If Sudbury wishes to consider recall, a Charter review process would allow residents to examine multiple models, review data, weigh costs, and craft language tailored to our community.
Deliberation Is Responsible Governance
The question is not whether accountability is important. It is. The question is whether this particular proposal has been carefully designed to deliver accountability without undermining stability for Sudbury.
Structural changes deserve structural thinking.
If Sudbury chooses to add recall to its Charter, it should do so through a transparent, data-driven process reflecting our town’s size, history, turnout patterns, and civic values. Instead, residents are being asked to vote on an expedited Charter amendment assembled from multiple sources without any opportunity for broader community input. The result of that opaque process could destabilize Sudbury far more than it strengthens accountability.
Sudbury deserves governance that is both accountable and stable. I encourage residents to vote “no” on Article 3 and to engage in a thoughtful, fully vetted process tailored to Sudbury.
