Minutes of the Charter Revision Commission Public Hearing held on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 in the Lower Meeting Room at the Edmond Town Hall, 45 Main Street, Newtown, CT.
PRESENT: Al Cramer, Guy Howard, Joan Plouffe, Carolyn Signorelli
ALSO PRESENT: 1 Legislative Council member
ABSENT: LeReine Frampton, Joseph Hemingway
Meeting called to order by Chairman Al Cramer at 7:05 pm
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
July 25th meeting will be in the Old Courtroom with our Municipal Attorney David Grogins, primarily to identify problem areas that we as a commission should avoid.
August 8th meeting will be in the Old Courtroom with First Selectman, Herbert Rosenthal and will discuss the Executive Branch of Government with questions to follow.
August 15th will be in the Mary Hawley Room with the acting Legislative Council Chairman, Timothy Holian to discuss the Legislative Branch of our government.
August 22nd will be in the Mary Hawley Room with Finance Director, Ben Spragg to discuss the works of the Finance department.
*Board of Education will be invited at a later date yet to be determined.
Chairman Cramer stated that there will be two Public Hearings, tonight being the first and the second hearing will be when the draft is completed and before it is presented to the Council.
Future topics of interest that the Commission will be discussing:
- Will 4year terms be better or any or all of our elected offices
- Should the budget referendum be separated to Board of Selectman and Board of Education?
-Should Town Meetings be eliminated?
-Should membership of the Board of Education be increased?
-Should some or all Legislative council members be elected at large?
-Should the Board of Selectman be abolished in favor of an alternate form of government?
- Capital Improvement Plan
-Recognize and provide for the existence of Fairfield hills Management Authority
-Is there a role for the public building committee?
Chairman Al Cramer encouraged public participation at all future meetings at the end of regular meetings on agenda items. Meeting agendas can be found in Town Clerk’s office and/or posted on the Town’s website.
Chairman Al Cramer opened the session for discussion:
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION:
Ruby Johnson, 16 Chestnut Hill, Sandy Hook, passed out a list of objectives she and others would like to have addressed
Al Roznicki, said this committee has one of the most important tasks have ever seen especially now that schools are expanding and energy cost are going up, so how we structure the government and the charter is a critical issue and offered support in the areas that the committee might need sub-committee studies of that nature to help create a successful Charter Revision. Supports separating budgets.
Tom Gisson, 35 Horseshoe Ridge Rd, supported increasing terms to four years for some of the elected officials.(the same as the federal level) to help take the pressure off of running for office so to focus more on public issues. Also wants to streamline town government.
Motion to adjourn meeting by Carolyn Signorelli, seconded by Joan Plouffe all agreed. Public Hearing was adjourned at 7:50pm
Respectfully submitted,
Debbie Aurelia
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