CHARLESTOWN –– The Town Charter includes language to remove an elected official from office, but no means to do so.

In November, residents will have their say on whether to include a removal clause.

The controversial proposal was approved last night by the council on a 3-1 vote, with council members Katharine H. Waterman, Harriet A. Allen and Bruce W. Picard voting in favor. It was one of two key votes in which Picard broke ranks with acting council president and 2006 Democrat running mate James M. Mageau.

The apparent political affront didn’t go unnoticed by Mageau, who cast his stern “no” vote looking at Picard angrily. Picard made no eye contact.

Picard also sided with Allen and Waterman to support an amendment that would allow Planning Commission alternates to vote and also voted to reject Mageau’s proposal to require all police and reserve officers to live in Rhode Island.

Mageau objected to the council’s appointment of John R. Trammell, a retired Charlestown police detective now a police chief in New Hampshire, as a reserve officer.

Picard also sided with Waterman and Allen over proposed changes to require all elected and appointed officials to abide by “the code of ethics statutes of the State,” including “regulations, rules and opinions promulgated by the Rhode Island Ethics Commission from time to time,” but voted against them on new hiring requirements that would prevent the sitting council from appointing key positions, such as the town administrator.

Picard’s votes were met with applause and oohs and aahs from the estimated 40 residents in attendance.

“This is better than any circus I ever went to,” said resident Janice Falcone, who watched the show from a front-row seat.

“I’m embarrassed I’m a resident of this town,” said Tom Gentz, a resident who shared video recording duties with fellow Charlestown resident Clifford Vanover.

Originally, the council rejected all proposed charter changes, including those proposed by the Charter Revision Commission and by Mageau.

In the end, following a plea by commission chair Deborah Carney to prevent “a whole year’s worth of work to go down the drain,” the council approved some eight changes proposed by the Charter Revision Commission, including one to shift duties from a nonexistent health department to the director of public assistance, who currently performs those duties. That proposed change, originally rejected on a 2-2 vote, passed unanimously on a revote.

Also last night –– a meeting rescheduled from July 14 –– Town Solicitor Robert E. Craven recommended that the town hire Patrick Sullivan, Coventry’s town solicitor, as a special prosecutor to represent the community in its case against Mageau, who was charged last week with simple assault for allegedly striking Vanover’s video camera on July 14.

Mageau is due back in court July 31.

Sullivan, Craven said, is a retired Cranston police officer and agreed to prosecute the case on a $30 hourly rate.

IN OTHER NEWS, the council approved on a unanimous vote a change to the zoning ordinance that would allow dog daycare/training centers in the commercial, industrial, and planned unit development areas by special permit with a number of “mandatory performance standards” as recommended by the Planning Commission. The proposed change had been originally proposed for the traditional village district, but the commission recommended against it.

marmenta@projo.com