Administrative Code
To: Honorable City Council
From: George Proakis, City Manager
Date: September 22, 2025
RE: Agenda Item – Administrative Code Draft
Attached is a draft of the proposed Administrative Code for the City of Watertown. The purpose of this document is to serve as a single, consolidated ordinance that outlines the structure and organization of city government. The City Administration has worked with the Collins Center at UMass Boston on this project over many months, and it is now ready for initial review by the City Council.
Under Section 6-2 of the City Charter, the City Administration is authorized to submit an Administrative Code. Until now, we have submitted organizational charts as part of each budget cycle, illustrating any changes to the administrative structure and requesting the Council’s approval. This proposed code would replace those charts, providing a more consistent and comprehensive approach.
Per the Charter, once an Administrative Code is “officially” submitted, it must follow a specific review and approval process. The plan becomes effective 90 days after submission unless it is disapproved by the Council. Importantly, the Council may only vote to approve or reject the plan as a whole; it may not amend it.
To accommodate these procedural limitations and ensure meaningful input, I am providing this version today as a draft for discussion — not as an official submission. My goal is to review the overall structure and specific provisions with the City Council or a Council committee prior to any formal submittal. This approach will allow for thoughtful review and feedback from both the Council and the public.
The final page of the draft includes a list of existing ordinances recommended for repeal. The bodies and powers established in those ordinances are proposed to be established in the Administrative Code in a more concise and organized fashion, so leaving these ordinances in place would cause these bodies and powers to be established in two different places. Eliminating these ordinances will ensure a clearer, more accessible set of regulations within a single, organized framework.
As part of this effort, we also engaged the Collins Center to review the City’s personnel ordinance. This ordinance is significantly outdated — it predates Watertown’s transition from a town meeting form of government to a council-manager system. It refers to a Personnel Board that has not existed for over 40 years, and assigns responsibilities to a Town Moderator, a position abolished in the 1980 charter revision. Based on their review, the Collins Center recommended repealing the ordinance entirely, while incorporating select, relevant elements — such as City building hours — into Article VI of the new Administrative Code.
Overall, the Administrative Code largely reflects the City’s current organizational structure and operational policies. The intent was to translate existing practices into a formalized code. That said, a few recommended changes are included and outlined below.