COVENTRY — State Sen. Leonidas P. Raptakis, D-Coventry, and independent School Committee candidate Lisa P. Tomasso have teamed up to urge that voters reject all 11 Town Charter amendments that will be on the November referendum ballot.

The two, in a joint statement, contended that the Town Council was too quick to accept the recommendations of a review panel that submitted the proposals after holding 18 poorly attended hearings.

They singled out amendments that would lower the qualifications for candidates for town manager and public works director; add two at-large members to the council, whose five members are elected by district; increasing the time frame in which School Committee vacancies can be filed by the council rather than in a special election.

The question dealing with qualifications would eliminate a charter requirement that manager candidates have a master’s degree and that applicants for DPW director have engineering experience.

“What is the point of watering down the education requirements and the experience standards? It looks like someone has an agenda to hand out town jobs to cronies who don’t meet the current qualifications,” said Raptakis, who is running unopposed for reelection.

As far as expanding the Town Council, he said, “There doesn’t seem to be a compelling need to add more seats … You are looking at more cost to the town. We are trying to cut money.”

Tomasso is running for the District 5 seat on the school board from which Donna Hayden resigned in June. Democrat Michael Reeves, who was appointed to fill the vacancy, also is running for the seat in November.

One charter amendment would empower the council to fill board vacancies that occur up to a year before the next election. Currently, a special election is required if the vacancy occurs six months before the election.

“I think it’s an affront to voters to propose taking away their right to fill school committee vacancies in a special election and give it to the powers-that-be on the council,” Tomasso said in the joint statement.

In response, charter review commission members stood by their recommendations and the timetable for seeking voter approval.

Rep. Victor Moffitt, R-Coventry, vice chairman of the bipartisan panel, said the process was fair, well organized and always open to the public. He added that the board unanimously adopted all of the proposed amendments it submitted to the council.

Regarding the proposed council expansion, Moffitt said the commission felt that adding two at-large members to the district members “would give people in the town three people to call instead of just one.”

He said eliminating the master’s degree requirement for town manager “gives us more latitude in choosing someone with that experience without the master’s degree.” In the most recent search for a manager, he said, there were “some good candidates that the Town Council couldn’t consider because of the master’s degree requirement.”

Charter commission member Thaddeus Jendzejec, a Democrat and former council member, said Raptakis served on the town manager search committee and should remember how hard it was to find a candidate with the charter-mandated credentials.

Jendzejec added that he does not recall seeing the senator at any of the charter panel’s hearings.

Raptakis acknowledged that he did not attend any of the sessions. He cited General Assembly and other commitments.

lsparks@projo.com