Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP Sonia Prince, one of the organizers of the petition drive to get a city charter change question on the Nov. 2 ballot, speaks with other organizers and volunteers outside City Hall Wednesday, after the group presented the petitions with more than 2,100 signatures to city officials. (Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP)

NASHUA — Canvassing neighborhoods on foot in conditions ranging from summer heat to tropical downpours over the past two months, volunteers behind the movement to let voters decide whether Nashua should change the way police commissioners are appointed have gathered a total of 2,100 signatures — more than 500 above the minimum 1,539 required to put the matter on the Nov. 2 ballot.

More than a dozen organizers and volunteers gathered outside the Elm Street entrance to City Hall Wednesday afternoon, finding whatever shade they could to ward off the 92-degree heat to congratulate each other and express confidence they scored enough signatures to easily survive the signature-verification process.

“We did the math … we needed at least 1,539 (signatures), so we set a goal of 1,800,” said Sonia Prince, one of the organizers of the petition drive — and one of the more vocal proponents of amending the city charter to bring police commission appointments under local control, and to expand the commission from 3 to 5 members.

She said the volunteers went above and beyond the goal by some 300 signatures, allowing organizers to present a total of roughly 2,100 signatures to City Hall earlier Wednesday afternoon.

The next step is the verification process, which involves city officials comparing the signatures to names on the city’s voter rolls. Residents must be registered voters for their signature to count.

Price said the group, which calls itself Citizens for Local Control, hopes to hear from city officials sometime Thursday, or possibly Friday, regarding the outcome of the verification process.

Assuming enough signatures are verified, a referendum question will be written up and placed on the ballot for the Nov. 2 municipal election.

Wednesday’s delivery of the stacks of petitions comes two weeks after the Board of Aldermen voted down, by an 8-6 margin, the resolution to amend the city charter regarding the police commission appointment process.

Proponents of amending the charter have contended all along that the time has come for Nashua to do away with what some call an “antiquated” process, and bring the appointment process under local control.

They have also frequently cited the fact that Nashua is the only municipality in the state whose police commissioners are appointed by the governor, then confirmed by the Executive Council.

Mayor Jim Donchess, who was not present when the petitions were delivered Wednesday, is a strong proponent of changing the charter, insisting that Nashua would be better served if the authority to appoint commissioners rested with local officials and residents.

Donchess, at the Board of Aldermen meeting two weeks ago, called the change “very modest reform” that’s “being done all over the state.

“Things have changed since 1891,” he said referring to the year the current process was written into the charter. Over those 130 years, Donchess said, “only one woman has been appointed to the commission.”

He referred to the late Margaret Q. Flynn, a lawyer, Superior Court judge and longtime Board of Education member who served as a police commissioner in the 1970s and 80s.

Meanwhile, opponents of the change have been speaking out individually and in groups in recent weeks. A letter signed by more than 50 business people, current and former office holders and “concerned citizens” was delivered to aldermen at the outset of the Aug. 10 meeting.

Police Chief Michael Carignan has firmly spoken against the so-called “local control” the change would bring, citing the strong potential for corruption if local politicians are given the authority to appoint commissioners.

Such a structure, Carignan has argued, could open the door to political favoritism, such as in the police hiring process or if the police department is called in to investigate an issue involving aldermen or other city officials.

On Wednesday, Mike Ballentine, a leader of the movement to amend the charter, called it “wrong for politicians from Union, Rye, Concord, Milford and Manchester are dictating who runs the Nashua Police Department.”

He referred to the hometowns of the current Executive Council members.

“It is time that commission appointments be made here in Nashua.”

Carol Houde, one of the signature-gathering volunteers, said expanding the commission from 3 to 5 members “will enable us to make the (commission) more inclusive. The commission should represent all of the people of Nashua. There are qualified women in Nashua. It’s time to break the glass ceiling that has existed at (the commission) for over 100 years.”

Many residents Prince said she has spoken with “are surprised, often shocked, to learn that Nashua is the only city in the state that doesn’t have local control of its Police Commission appointments.

“It is time that Nashua joins the other cities and adopts local control,” she added.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.