Buxton Charter Commission
meeting minutes
March 23, 2010
6:30 PM
- Call to order at 6:32 pm. Present are Chairman Andy Townsend, Selectman Dan Collomy, David Dunn, Brent Havu, Larry Miller and Jennifer Barschdorf. Absent are Vice-Chairman Dianne Senechal, Judy Sjulander and May Schumacher.
- Approval of minutes from last meeting; approved unanimous
- Public Comments: none
- Review of Correspondence: none
- Open Business
a) Public Hearing information: 10 days required for public hearing notice; ads run already after commission members were contacted by chairman. An attachment of scenarios was included and the meeting has been posted. Copies need to be made available at town hall. It was suggested copies be made available at local libraries as well; it was determined Jen will make copies for Andy and Dianne to distribute. The public hearing to discuss different forms of government, options for a town planner and Town Meeting will take place April 1 at 7 p.m. at Buxton Town Hall in the large meeting room.
b) Budget: The commission discussed a budget for the upcoming calendar year. Initially, selectmen allotted a budget of $2,400, of which 46 percent has been spent. Initial estimates for the budget included 24 hours legal at $265 per hour totaling $6,365; $900 for minute-taker during meetings; $600 for video personnel during meetings and $200 for supplies for a grand total of $8,060. Following discussion, commission members decided to increase the total budget request to $10,000 to include more time for legal review and expanded costs for copies of the revised charter, estimated to be around 25 pages each.
c) Other open business: none
a) Correspondence Policy: Communications from the lawyer were received and distributed prior to the meeting. Commission members discussed a policy that would allow acknowledgement of correspondence without reading aloud during meetings.
Brent Havu made a motion to announce written correspondence as received but will not be read aloud but submitted to the town clerk. If the public wishes to read correspondence it will be made available by town clerk. The motion was amended to include electronic correspondence and seconded by Larry Miller. The motion was approved unanimously.
b) Other New Business: Commission members discussed a summer schedule modification. No decision was made.
Commission members discussed the agenda for the meeting April 8 following the public hearing. Discussion included review of the public hearing; review of the proposed budget; determining a drafting process for the charter and requesting an extension from selectmen. The commission discussed who would write the extension request and if it should be the lawyer. It was determined the commission will draft the request to be approved by the attorney prior to submission to selectmen. The commission decided to include a timeline in the extension request. (attached below is the draft extension request)
Charter Commission Public Hearing, Thursday, April 1, 2010, 7 p.m.
Charter Commission Meeting, Thursday, April, 8, 2010, 6:30 p.m.
Charter Commission Meeting, Thursday, April 22, 2010, 6:30 p.m.
- Public Comments: none
- Adjournment at 7:16 p.m.
EXTENSION REQUEST:
We, the Buxton Charter Commission, would like to request to utilize the full twenty four (24) month allotment to complete our preliminary and final reports, pursuant to 30-A M.R.S.A. Section 2103 Subsection 5E (Home Rule).
Submitted by Stephanie Grinnell, amended April 14, 2010, to reflect the motion to announce correspondence during meeting was made by Brent Havu and seconded by Larry Miller.
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