One way to evolve towards a new form of government is to make many relatively small bylaw changes over time. This is both inefficient and unlikely to address the totality of the issues that the town is facing.

Another way is to institute a charter by means of an elected "Charter Commission", as outlined in Massachusetts General Laws, Section 43B (see, Home Rule Procedures). This was attempted in Groton during the 1990s, but the elected commission was not in favor of adopting a charter at that time.

The approach being taken this time involves three steps: first, Town Meeting would approve a proposed charter; second, the Charter would be approved by a Special Act of the State Legislature; and, finally, the Charter would be adopted if it received a majority of the votes in a town-wide election.  Once these three steps are completed, the changes defined in the charter would take effect as defined within the charter.