Reading pulls all 13 charter questions off the fall ballot

Reading voters will not see 13 proposed changes to the city's Home Rule Charter on the November ballot. City Council voted at its June 22 meeting to remove the referendum ordinances, two weeks after introducing them, because the Charter Review Commission missed the charter's six-month deadline for delivering its report, per WFMZ's coverage of the meeting.

The reversal ended a fast, contentious arc. Council introduced the 13 ordinances on June 8 (Bills 39 through 51 of 2026) at the commission's direction, then spent the June 15 Committee of the Whole airing objections, then killed the slate on June 22 on a motion by Councilmember Melissa Ventura. Councilmember Raymond Baker's summary: "There are deadlines. There are rules and laws that must be followed." Commission Chair Evelyn Morrison objected to the removal.

What the questions would have asked

The commission's slate would have put structural changes to city government before every Reading voter, including:

• Creating a city Department of Public Health. Managing Director Jack Gombach warned this could require hiring a licensed physician and create an "unknown financial obligation to the taxpayer," with a possible tax increase.
• Merging the Board of Ethics and the Charter Board.
• Barring council members from voting seats on municipal authorities, and barring active city employees from authority seats.
• A five-year, non-partisan City Clerk term.
• Three-term limits for board and authority members.
• Mayoral appointment of a single police chief subject to council approval.
• Forensic-audit authority for the City Auditor once per mayoral term.
• A "Freedom from Toxic Trespass" environmental right.

At the June 15 committee session, Baker called some questions "blatantly unconstitutional," Councilmember Rafael Nunez said "I'm not going to support this," and Councilmember Chris Miller argued 13 questions at once would overwhelm voters. City Solicitor Fred Lachat advised that the charter made the referrals mandatory once the commission acted, which is why the deadline miss, rather than a policy vote, became the exit.

What it means

Reading's charter is the city's constitution, and this commission's work is now shelved without a single question reaching voters. The episode leaves two open threads: whether any of the proposals return through a future commission or petition route, and Lachat's observation that cities like Allentown and Lancaster operate without a charter review commission at all, a model council could pursue to eliminate the mandatory-referral mechanism.

November's ballot in Berks County still carries the governor's race and legislative contests; city charter questions are off it. Turnout context from the spring is in our primary report.

One number we could not confirm: the June 22 roll-call tally. The city had not published the June 22 minutes as of July 7; we will add the vote breakdown when they post.