Minutes of the Charter Revision Commission Meeting held on Tuesday October 17, 2006 in the Mary Hawley Room at the Edmond Town Hall, 45 Main Street, Newtown, CT.
PRESENT: Al Cramer, Guy Howard, Joan Plouffe, LeReine Frampton, Joseph Hemingway, Carolyn Signorelli, one member of the press, three members of the public.
Chairman Al Cramer called the meeting to order at 7:01 PM.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: There will not be a Commission meeting on Tuesday October 31st due to Halloween or Tuesday November 7th due to Election Day. The Commission will be inviting Selectmen Bojnowski and Brimmer to the November 14th meeting, if available, to hear their input on the future of the Board of Selectmen.
MINUTES: Approval of the minutes was postponed until the next meeting. The members received the minutes, however, it appeared that a section towards the end was omitted.
DISCUSSION ITEMS:
1. Should the Board of Education have more members?
· Joe Hemingway stated that a benefit to having more members on the Board of Education would be that the Board could develop subcommittees to handle many of the duties (contracts, curriculum, budgets, etc.). This may help meetings run more efficiently. Lereine Frampton agreed, in that although the Board does not currently operate in this manner, they would have the option of doing so with more members. Guy Howard questioned if language should be included into the Charter that would encourage subcommittees on the Board of Education. Carolyn Signorelli responded that a downside to adding seats is that it may be difficult to fill the additional
seats with qualified candidates.
· It was generally agreed that at least one seat should be added in order to create an odd number on the Board to avoid the possibility of a tie for voting purposes.
2. Should members of the same party be limited to one half of the Board of Education seats?
· LeReine Frampton feels that under the current structure more candidates are discouraged from running because they know that only a certain number of seats can go to their party. Ms. Frampton would support a structure where at least one seat would go to each party to satisfy minority representation and the majority party would not be limited to only half of the seats. Joan Plouffe agreed with Ms. Frampton stating that such a structure would encourage the political parties to put up more candidates if more seats would be available.
· Al Cramer noted that if one seat was added to the Board of Education, the even split structure that is currently in place would no longer apply, and the minority representation structure that Ms. Frampton proposed would make the most sense.
3. Ms. Frampton believes that the electoral process in Town can be improved by moving to an “at large” system and by cutting down to two districts. This would eliminate the need to have polling at the elementary schools, cut down on confusion for residents as to what district and polling location they are in, and would save the Town money.
4. Regarding the Board of Selectmen-The commission recommended that the revision regarding easements (agenda #5a.) which refers to Section 330(a) paragraph 6 of the Charter be adopted as presented on the agenda.
5. Should it be necessary to sell or dispose of property at public auction if the Selectmen determine that such procedure is not in the best interest of the Town?
· LeReine Frampton explained that there are many small parcels of land throughout the Town that abut homeowner’s properties. These parcels are of no use to the Town, are too small to be developed by builders, and are only of use to the adjacent property owners. If the properties were sold to these individuals, at least the Town would be able to collect taxes on the parcels. Selling such properties in an auction format would likely be too costly. Ms. Frampton added that the Charter could state a dollar threshold based on Tax Assessment to qualify which properties would be eligible to bypass an auction format. Al Cramer agreed with the
premise as long as no more than one party is interested in purchasing a property.
· Guy Howard felt that an additional body, perhaps the Legislative Council should have the final approval for such sales.
· Joe Hemingway felt that the way the language is written is too open ended and questioned what State Statutes say in reference to Town sales of properties.
· Al Cramer will check with the Legislative Council on specifically what they are charging the Commission to examine on the topic.
6. Board of Finance-
· Does the Charter trump General Statutes, which may be applicable to the Board of Finance? Al Cramer explained that Statute requirements for the Board of Finance used to be satisfied by the Legislative Council having powers to: adopt budgets, lay taxes, special appropriations, transfer over $200,000. Per the Charter, the Council has delegated to the Board of Finance. There are Statutes that may currently be conflicting under the current language in the Charter. Mr. Cramer suggested that the name of the Board of Finance be modified to avoid conflicts with Statutes referring to a Board of Finance. Mr. Cramer emphasized that the Board plays
an important role in being a non-political independent body that keeps an eye on the Town’s finances year-round as opposed to just at budget time, which was the previous structure when there was a Finance Subcommittee of the larger Legislative Council.
· All members expressed the importance of the Board of Finance for the Town and that it remain an independent “advisory board” where they would not be controlling rather making recommendations and holding the Board of Education and Town Government financially accountable.
· Guy Howard questioned if there is a body that currently links the financial analysis performed by the Board of Finance with a gauge of the long-term interests of the Town’s citizens.
7. Regarding alternatives to the current government structure, Carolyn Signorelli considered increasing the Board of Selectmen and having the Board of Finance be the legislative body that would deal with budgets, appropriations, etc. Guy Howard questioned if Statutes are broad enough to support a Board of Finance type committee as a legislative body. LeReine Frampton noted that in such a structure the Board of Finance would become a political group and may not function as objectively as they do as an advisory board now.
8. Al Cramer distributed a handout on the Roberts Rules of Order procedures in small boards.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION:
1. Bob Merola, Ashford Lane stated that the function of the Board of Finance is critical to the Town and he feels that they should remain separate from the Legislative Council. He feels that they currently function effectively by making recommendations to the Council and does not feel that the Board of Finance is dictating decisions.
ACTION TAKEN: None
NEXT MEETING: October 24, 2006 in the Mary Hawley Room at Edmond Town Hall 7:00 PM.
Motion to adjourn by Guy Howard, 2nd by Joe Hemingway, meeting adjourned at 8:50 PM.
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