Minutes of the Charter Revision Commission Meeting held on Tuesday February 27, 2007 in the Old Court Room at 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, five members of the public.
Chairman Al Cramer called the meeting to order at 7:00PM.
ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES: 2 Corrections to the minutes were noted. 1. The minutes omitted a motion. Mr. Hemingway made a motion that the Public Building and Site Commission language as stated in the Charter would be unchanged and any variance because of language in the enabling ordinance would require an ordinance change. Motion unanimously carried.
2. Under discussion item number 2, the minutes stated that Ms. Plouffe indicated that the Legislative Council has 12 members because of mandatory subcommittees. Ms. Plouffe did not know if this was the actual reason for the large size of the council, rather she was raising that as a possibility. Upon motion of Mr. Howard, the minutes of the regular meeting on 1/23/07 were unanimously accepted as amended.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION:
Ruby Johnson, Chestnut Hill Rd., supports two year terms for the Legislative Council. Ms. Johnson feels that if two year terms work for Congress, they should work for Newtown. She urged the commission to seek other avenues for dealing with the learning curve of a council position than through extending term length. She offered an example of a program in Bridgeport that sought to identify possible candidates for public service through local companies.
Gary Davis – Charter Ridge Drive supports two year terms for elected officials and town wide elections as opposed to districting. He feels that officials need to be held accountable and voters should have the opportunity to bring new ideas to the table each two years and ensure that the current population in town is being represented. If officials are doing a good job in service, they will have the opportunity for continuity through re-election. Mr. Davis also supports having all boards at an odd number of members to avoid deadlocks and thinks that the town needs to find ways to make and act on decisions in a more timely manner.
Po Murray – Charter Ridge Drive feels that the Charter needs to address voters rights in Newtown pointing to a recent Legislative Council meeting where the council indicated that there is no mechanism to undo decisions on Fairfield Hills. Ms. Murray feels that the voters were bypassed on the Fairfield Hills project. She supports eliminating districts because in the current structure there are eight council members who make decisions on a town wide basis that she cannot vote on since they are outside of her district.
Desiree Galassi – Huntingtown Rd. is concerned with the direction the town is heading. She supports two year terms for the Board of Selectmen, Legislative Council, and Board of Finance. She feels that most candidates go into a board already having a foundation of what goes on through attending meetings and that any additional learning curve could be shortened through training.
DISCUSSION ITEMS:
Reconsideration -- On November 28th, 2006, the Commission voted to maintain two year terms of office for the members of the Legislative Council. Should this action be vacated? Discussion and vote.
· Mr. Hemingway supports four year terms with alternating elections to avoid having the possibility of the full council turning over in one year. The problem with two year terms is that officials are having to spend too much time running in elections.
· Ms. Plouffe supports two year terms for the council to force accountability. Ms. Signorelli agreed with Ms. Plouffe regarding two year terms and questioned the number of members on the council as she feels some of the members are unresponsive.
· Mr. Cramer made a motion to vacate the previous action. Mr. Hemingway and Ms. Frampton voted in favor with the remaining commissioners opposed. Motion denied, two year terms maintained.
Reconsideration – On December 12th, 2006 the Commission voted to maintain two year terms of office for the members of the Board of Selectmen. Should this action be vacated? Discussion and vote.
· Ms. Plouffe would not support four year terms without a recall provision and noted she has heard several residents inquiring about impeachment subsequent to the February 7th Legislative Council meeting regarding Fairfield Hills.
· Mr. Cramer made a motion to vacate the previous action. Mr. Hemingway and Ms. Frampton voted in favor with the remaining commissioners opposed. Motion denied, two year terms maintained.
Reconsideration – On December 12th, 2006 the Commission voted to maintain two year terms of office for the members of the Board of Finance. Should this action be vacated? Discussion and vote.
· Mr. Cramer made a motion to vacate the previous action. Mr. Hemingway and Ms. Frampton voted in favor with the remaining commissioners opposed. Motion denied, two year terms maintained.
Should the members of the same party be limited to one half of the Board of Education seats? Discussion and vote.
· Mr. Cramer feels that if a true election were held for the Board of Education and political parties knew that they could pick up additional seats, additional candidates would emerge. Mr. Cramer made a motion to accept the charge as presented. 0 in favor, 6 opposed, motion defeated.
Should the Board of Education have more members? Discussion and vote.
· Ms. Frampton supports adding one member to avoid deadlocks. She also noted that several schools have been added in town and the board size has stayed the same. Ms. Signorelli agreed with an odd number and feels that it may be more consistent with what voters want. Mr. Hemingway made a motion to increase the Board of Education to 7 members. Motion unanimously carried.
Should some Legislative Council members, or all, be elected at large? Discussion and vote.
· Mr. Howard feels that elections should be held at large since the council doesn’t take action or spend money by district, they should not be elected by district. Election at large gives voters the most options and the Charter should not restrict voter choices.
· Ms. Frampton thinks that there would be too many candidates on the ballot with an at large election and voters would not be familiar with them.
· Ms. Plouffe made a motion to elect the Legislative council at large. Ms. Plouffe, Mr. Howard, and Mr. Cramer in favor; Ms. Signorelli, Ms. Frampton, and Mr. Hemingway opposed. Motion denied.
· Ms. Frampton made a motion to elect the Legislative Council in two districts. Ms. Frampton, Mr. Heminhway, Ms. Signorelli, Mr. Cramer in favor; Mr. Howard, Ms. Plouffe against. Motion carried.
Should the Finance Director be permitted to negotiate the attainment of bonds and not be restricted by requiring three bids? Discussion and vote.
· Mr. Cramer explained that under the current process if the director wants to refinance an existing bond at more favorable terms to the town, he must go through a bidding process and can miss out on the opportunity to obtain more favorable terms due to market fluctuations.
· Ms. Signorelli feels that the renegotiation must be reported. Mr. Howard is not confident with the current checks and balances in town government and feels that information that would be subject to Freedom of Information act should be more transparent. He feels that the director should have to report the renegotiation to more than the Legislative Council.
· Mr. Cramer made a motion to allow the Finance Director to renegotiate existing bonds without bids and that the renegotiation must be reported. Motion unanimously carried.
How many budget referendums do we need? Discussion and vote.
· Ms. Frampton noted that in the past five years the town has had two budgets that went past the two referendums. Because of the time involved with petition, the final vote can fall on the day after Memorial Day weekend which is historically a low turn out.
· Mr. Cramer indicated that several Board of Education members have expressed concern over the length of the budgetary process. He explained that often the school system can lose out on quality candidates because they have to hold off hiring until the final budget has passed.
· Mr. Howard feels that there is more the individual departments can do to avoid having the process being delayed.
· Mr. Hemingway made a motion to decrease the number of referendums to one. Mr. Hemingway in favor, the remaining commissioners opposed. Motion denied.
· Ms. Frampton made a motion to leave the number of referendums at two. Motion unanimously carried.
NEXT MEETING: The next meeting will be held on Tuesday March 13, 2007 in the Old Courtroom at Edmond Town Hall.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Al Rozniki – Hanover Rd. supports electing the Legislative Council at large. He also feels that if the budget is rejected twice, the town meeting should be by ballot. In addition he supports a separate vote on the Board of Education and town budget.
Po Murray - Charter Ridge Drive feels that it is difficult to find information in town and there needs to be more transparency. She does not feel that the problem lies in the referendum itself rather that the budget process needs to be streamlined. She thinks that a question should be added to the ballot to determine why voters may be against a budget.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business Mr. Cramer adjourned the meeting at 9:10PM.
Patrick M. Kelley, Clerk
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