CLAREMONT — Residents will have to wait another year before voting on a petitioned amendment to add a citizen referendum provision to the city charter.

The City Council did not take a vote at Wednesday’s council meeting, but did agree to leave in place its May decision to put the charter amendment on the November 2025 ballot.

Under the amendment, a proposed ordinance with the required number of signatures would be presented to the council and if the council did not pass it, it would have to go to a voter referendum.

When the amendment was first introduced to the council in March, a few councilors said they were opposed to handing any decision-making power over to voters.

At Wednesday’s meeting, none of the councilors talked about whether they opposed or supported the amendment. They instead appeared to rely on the opinion of Secretary of State Dave Scanlan and comments by City Clerk Gwen Melcher as their reasons for not changing the date.

Scanlan, who first told the city the amendment could not be voted on the same day as national and state elections, but later changed the opinion after a review of state law, advised against moving the vote to the Nov. 5 election because of likely delays in reporting results.

“Adding an additional ballot on the day of the state biennial election adds to the complexity of conducting an election at that polling place with the potential to dramatically delay the reporting of results,” Scanlan said in a May 9 email to Melcher.

Because Claremont has an “odd year biennial election” that does not coincide with the state biennial election, Scanlan said the exception is permissible but added, “I would not recommend it for reasons stated above.”

Melcher backed up Scanlan’s statement that an additional ballot with voter turnout that could hit 85%, as opposed to 20% to 30% for council elections, will make it a long and complicated night for the poll workers.

“To have two ballots at that type of election is a lot for the poll workers to keep track of first of all,” Melcher told the council. “Then at the end of the night they have to separate all of the ballots and generate all the results. A presidential election is long enough by itself. We will be there until 2 a.m.”

Melcher also said the extra ballot is an additional expense of about $3,500.

Bonnie Miles, a supervisor of the checklist, described a sometimes chaotic atmosphere at a presidential election with registered voters and new voters who are registering.

“It is horrible,” Miles said. “I hope this does not happen.”

Resident Mike Tetu, who worked on the amendment wording, approved by the state, with resident Sam Killay, and collected the required number of signatures, said by delaying the vote until next year the council is “obstructing the voters’ desire to govern themselves.”

“I just don’t think it is fair to the voters to make us wait another year,” Tetu said. “I think you are imposing your will and your personal opinion on the voters when what you should be doing is representing the voters and giving the voters what they asked for in a timely manner.”

Tetu also scoffed at suggestions by councilors Nick Koloski and William Limoges that two months is not enough time for those who are for or against the amendment to “educate” voters.

“If the amendment passes it gives the Claremont citizens the right to put ordinances on the ballot and enact them directly with or without support of the council,” Tetu said. “This is not a big educational thing.”

Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.