WETHERSFIELD - At the Town Council meeting two weeks ago, Wethersfield Independence Party Chair and Founder Paul Copp announced that his party would be making a run for Town Council election season.

       A little over a week later, the full slate had been announced. Copp revealed the Party’s Council candidates this past Thursday. It includes Jodi Latina and Charles Carey, two of the town residents on the Republican ticket, in a cross-party nomination.

       â€�"During the budget I got to know Carey and Latina,” Copp said Thursday afternoon. â€�"I was amazed at how close we were in philosophy. I think they should be on the Council.”

       As it turns out, Copp himself is also a candidate on a slate that includes Ted Burhans, Gastone Colantonio and Charlotte Bailey.

       â€�"I think people are fed up,” Copp said. â€�"In chatting with people, that’s become evident. They’re dissatisfied and they need a change.”

       From Copp and the Independence Party’s perspective, that change needs to be improved transparency, curbs on spending increases and enhanced accountability under the Town Charter-proposed changes, which will be up for referendum this November.

       Among the areas discussed throughout the charter revision process was the power given to the Ethics Committee. Residents, as well as Charter Commission members, felt that it should be expanded to allow the committee to enforce sanctions against a party guilty of an ethical violation. On the advice of the town’s attorneys, however, this proposed amendment was not included due to a potential to create complications with existing labor contracts, commissioners said during the review process.

       â€�"Yes, but it could have been done,” Copp said. â€�"The charter revision is a missed opportunity. They have some of the brightest people in Wethersfield on that commission.”

       And then there were other tentative amendment proposals, such as a referendum process before the passing of a budget.

       â€�"A town budget should go to referendum,” Copp said. â€�"It’s been done in most towns, but not in Wethersfield.”

       Copp would also like to allow residents to vote for all nine Town Council candidates, as opposed to the current six. That was the subject of a complaint that he filed with the Justice Department several months ago.

       The party’s slate is also running with the intention of looking to establish a Citizens Audit Committee.

       â€�"It’s not a financial audit--it’s an operations audit,” Copp said. â€�"Efficiency: What can be done better? Their purpose is to assist the current management.”

       To what extent? That would be up to the Town Council, which would grant the committee its scope of powers, Copp said.

       â€�"It’s been done in many other towns,” he said. â€�"It’s a proven assistance to town management.”

       Copp said that he would like to see the parties’ representation split evenly on the Council--a result that he says could put a stop to councilors voting along party lines.

       â€�"I think the ideal outcome is to have three Democrats, three Republicans and three Independents,” he said.