Skip to Content

Governance Updates

Under the leadership of our now-dissolved Special Committee on Governance Documents, we underwent a public process in 2023 and 2024 to update our charter and modify ordinances and resolutions. These changes were aimed at improving the way we operate. Our updated charter has been approved by both houses of the Delaware General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Carney. While much remains the same, here are some highlights from recent governance changes:

  • Charter Preamble: A preamble has been added to our charter, reflecting our history and values.
  • Legislative Body: Our legislative body is now called the Village Assembly.
  • Meeting Schedule: We now meet four (instead of six) times a year—in February, May, September, and November—on the third Monday (instead of Thursday) of those months, at 7:00 PM (instead of 7:30 PM).
  • Fiscal Year: Our fiscal year now starts on July 1 and ends on June 30 to align with County and State reporting timeframes.
  • Election Timing: Our elected officials’ terms continue to align with the fiscal year, moving voting from March to May.
  • Term Lengths: Officers now serve two-year terms, like committee members.
  • Committee Restructuring:
    • The Finance and Safety committees have been reduced from five to three members.
    • The Assessments committee has been dissolved, with its functions transferred to Finance.
    • The Recreation committee has been dissolved, with its functions transferred to Public Works.
    • A new Environment committee has been formed to care for our forests and ecosystem, taking over tree permit approvals from Public Works.
  • Ordinance Voting: Ordinances can now be voted on after being read at two meetings, rather than three.
  • Communication: Meeting notices may now be delivered electronically, and meeting minutes are available online but can be printed upon request.
  • Compliance: Where municipal law is already covered by the Delaware Freedom of Information Act, we referenced conformance to avoid redundancy.
  • Fines: Our maximum fine has been updated from $100 to $500 and moved from our charter to our ordinances to keep it current with inflation. Changes to fines can now be made by Village Assembly vote.
  • Charter-to-Ordinance Adjustments: Some provisions were moved from the charter to local control, with the charter setting minimums and maximums to ensure ordinance provisions remain within limits.

More ordinance and policy updates are likely to come in 2024 and 2025, but much of the groundwork has been laid in a way that reflects widespread preferences in our municipality. Many changes were requested in charter change efforts dating back to 2016, however, we would like to thank Arden’s Governance Task Force for leading the way in conceptualizing approaches and some ideas that were adopted in our effort. While their approach was more conservative, it inspired us to seek changes that we felt were right for Ardencroft.