Chelsea City Charter Consensus Process
Office of the Receiver
Massachusetts Executive Office of Administration and Finance

Consensus process to create a new city charter and governance structure for the City of Chelsea, Massachusetts, which was under state receivership

Susan Podziba & Associates created a multi-layered public consensus building process to enable Chelsea residents to develop a new charter to begin a new chapter in the history of the City of Chelsea, Mass. The process, which resulted in a voter-ratified charter, created innovative opportunities for citizens to engage in local decision-making and self-governance.

The City of Chelsea was required to create a new charter after the State of Massachusetts suspended all activities of its elected bodies because of fiscal mismanagement and corruption. Due to the breakdown in the local democracy, few citizens participated in city government. The Office of the Receiver retained SP&A to design and implement a consensus process to reach deep into the community to involve residents in creating the new charter.

SP&A provided multiple opportunities for members of the public to contribute to the creation of the city’s governing framework. Community members nominated representatives for the Chelsea Charter Preparation Team (the Team) through interviews, facilitated meetings, cable television shows, and a charter hotline. SP&A trained residents to facilitate community meetings where participants discussed their good governance ideals as related to the city charter. During the six months of Team meetings, citizens throughout Chelsea learned of and responded to their deliberations via newsletters in English and Spanish, call-in public television shows, a hotline, a survey, and facilitated meetings at local clubs, centers, and places of worship. The facilitators later ran a second round of community meetings to obtained feedback on specific elements of the draft charter.

These communication channels enabled the city’s residents to inform the Team’s discussions and to shape the city charter. The Team incorporated the public’s comments into the final version of the Chelsea City Charter, which was subsequently ratified by a significant majority of Chelseans through a special election.

The Chelsea Charter Consensus Process marked a fundamental change in Chelsea citizens’ relationship with their city government. Under the new charter, new elections for city posts attracted a wide range of diverse candidates and produced new city leadership. Within five years, Chelseans had transformed their virtually bankrupt city and failed democracy into a vibrant, stable, and growing city, which received the prestigious All American City Award from the National Civic League as well as a flow of private investment dollars.

Press on Chelsea Charter Consensus Process

Kettering Foundation case study on Chelsea Charter Consensus Process (pdf)

Chelsea Charter Consensus Process Map (pdf)