Selectmen took another step toward making changes in the town’s form of government by making preparations for a May special election to determine the makeup of a charter commission.

Selectmen plan to officially set the date for the election – now tentatively schedule for May 26 – during a brief meeting on March 24. Candidates for the nine open positions on the commission are expected to begin filing for the election early in April.

Though the voting came down to the wire, residents gave selectmen permission to go ahead with the creation of the commission during last week’s elections.

The move may mean the end of the town’s current five-member Board of Selectmen, Town Meeting form of governance.

According to Town Manager Jonathan Sistare, the charter commission has several options to consider, including proposing Salem retain the annual Town Meeting for budgetary concerns while switching from a Board of Selectmen to a seven or nine person town council.

A second option could see the formation of a city council, which would bring an end to the institution of Town Meeting in Salem all together.

While the commission will have the authority to operate independently of the Board of Selectmen, any proposed changes to the town’s current charter will have to go before voters for approval at next year’s Town Meeting.

Though some selectmen have expressed reservations about the potential demise of the Town Meeting form of government in Salem, Sistare has been supportive of the commission as a periodic review of the town’s ability to govern effectively.

Communities that have changed as much as Salem has in the past 10 years should revisit their charter to ensure that the best type of government is in place to serve the needs of the residents, he said.

“Other towns turn toward town councils mostly because they can be more reactionary when there is a need to do so. They have an executive governing board’s powers and legislative powers,” Sistare said. “They can make changes quicker or just handle budgetary items. (For example) in response to the floods, if they need to appropriate more money they have a mechanism to do that instead of town meetings, which can be a bit cumbersome.”

Salem is the last remaining community with a population of more than 25,000 in the state to retain the Town Meeting form of government.

The move toward changing the town’s charter began picking up steam last year after selectmen authorized a charter reform commission to make suggestions on how the town could be governed more effectively.

Among other recommendations made to the board last September, the subcommittee proposed the creation of a charter commission, the first in 11 years.

One of three special elections to be held in the coming months, selectmen have estimated the price tag to be between $4,000 and $5,000, though the town is considering running a bare bones operation at the polling stations to minimize the overall cost.