After choosing its leadership and establishing some parameters for attendance and meeting schedules, the Wicomico County Charter Review Committee appears ready for business.

In their first formal session held last Wednesday, the 14 citizens who will thoroughly examine and possibly rewrite the document that governs county operations selected two community leaders to chair the effort.

Mike Dunn, President and CEO of the Greater Salisbury Committee, was elected Chairman.

Dunn is a Salisbury native and former President of the Salisbury City Council.

Attorney Robert A. Benson of the Salisbury law firm Laws, Insley & Benson, was elected Vice Chairman.

A Delmar native, Benson has represented the towns of Delmar and Mardela Springs for more than 25 years.

The committee agreed to hold its next meeting on Thursday, March 25, at 5 p.m. at the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center.

The County Council selected 14 people to serve directly on the 2021 Charter Review Committee, with seven additional county residents slotted to serve as alternates.

Under the charter adopted in 2006, the county’s governing document must undergo scrutiny every decade. The panel will spend the better part of a year reviewing the document and suggesting changes.

Council members have already floated their own list of possible changes, ranging from abolishing the County Executive form of government, to tinkering with the much maligned property tax revenue cap, to mandating an in-house County Attorney.

The last Charter Review Committee was formed and made recommendations in 2011. In the years since, the County Council has amended the charter multiple times, with those changes being initiated by council members and approved by voters in a referendum.

The last complete rewriting of the charter occurred in 2006, when the County Executive form of government was implemented.

The committee must complete its work so the County Council can weigh its recommendations, hold public meetings and to prepare language for any proposed Charter amendments for placement on the ballot of the general election in 2022.