Minutes of the Charter Revision Commission Meeting held on Tuesday April 10, 2007 in the Old Court Room at Edmond Town Hall, 45 Main Street, Newtown, CT.
PRESENT: Al Cramer, Guy Howard, Joan Plouffe, LeReine Frampton, Joe Hemingway, Carolyn Signorelli, First Selectman Herb Rosenthal, Community Development Director Elizabeth Stocker, two members of the public, one member of the press.
Chairman Al Cramer called the meeting to order at 7:00PM.
ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES: Ms. Plouffe noted that a motion that was made was omitted from the minutes. The motion was to begin the budget process at the same time, to hold a joint public hearing with the Board of Finance and Legislative Council on the last Wednesday of February, and to hold the first budget referendum on the 2nd Tuesday in April. The motion was tabled. Upon motion from Ms. Plouffe the minutes of the March 27th 2007 meeting were accepted as amended.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION:
Desiree Galassi, Huntingtown Rd. feels that the commission should find ways to encourage the public to participate in government. She feels that we need a Town Planner as a separate position. She feels that the Town is currently only going in one direction and that we need new ideas. She supports adding language to the Charter to help guide unaffiliated.
DISCUSSION ITEMS:
First Selectmen Herb Rosenthal and Director of Community Development Elizabeth Stocker – To Discuss Town Planning
· First Selectman Herb Rosenthal explained that the Economic Development Director currently serves as a planner for the Town. Mr. Rosenthal commented on a previous proposal by a Charter Commissioner outlining a Town Planner position. He feels that the position as it was proposed would be unlike any other position in the State and that it would take away some of the roles of the Board of Finance and the Finance Director. Mr. Rosenthal distributed research from the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (Attachment A). Out of 88 town charters, only 21 have a reference
to a Town Planer. For those that do make a reference, it typically has a short statement, rather than a detailed description as previously proposed by the commission. He urged that if the commission does include the position in the Charter, the description should be brief to allow for changes based on town needs, since needs of the town may change faster than the next opportunity to revise a Charter. He also had concern that including the position in the Charter may create an unfunded mandate in the future.
· Mr. Rosenthal distributed a draft charge outlining a proposal for a Strategic Long Range Planning Committee (Attachment B). The plan was developed after reviewing those of other communities that have plans in place. He feels that the committee would help the Board of Selectmen fulfill their obligation under the Charter.
· Mr. Rosenthal responded to an email by Commissioner Howard regarding discussions at a recent Board of Selectman meeting regarding the proposed Strategic Long Range Planning Committee (Attachment C). Mr. Howard’s email stated “Herb agreed that the committee would be forbidden to provide any information or to dialogue with any of the people from whom the committee would gather information, that they would only provide information to the Board of Selectman”. Mr. Rosenthal indicated that Mr. Howard’s statement is absolutely false and that the
concern of the Selectmen was that the proposed committee should realize its role as an advisory committee and that members of such a committee would need to understand their role not to conflict with the roles of Board of Finance and Planning & Zoning. At no time would the Selectmen forbid the committee from dialoging with other committees. Mr. Howard responded later stating that he listened to the conversation carefully and was astounded at what he was hearing. He informed the commission that he will be recording all conversations he has with people regarding Town matters as he feels people have murky memories.
· Economic Development Director Elizabeth Stocker distributed a biographical note on herself (Attachment D), a summary of duties of the PUBLIC PLANNING AGENCY?? (Attachment E), and a summary of the research distributed by Mr. Rosenthal conducted by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (Attachment F). She indicated that she would not be opposed to having a Town Planner included in the Charter as it is a useful position for a community to have. She indicated that there is currently a lot of planning going on in Town with the Plan of Conservation and Development
being one of the more involved projects that is mandated by the State. The plan is a 10-year plan for the Town that is driven by Planning & Zoning, which produces a public document. The plan maps out land use addressing current and long term needs. The plan was most recently revised in 2004 and involved all Boards and Commissions in Town. P&Z relied heavily on input from other groups to develop and implement the plan.
· Mr. Rosenthal added that in addition to the Plan of Conservation and Development, there is also a 5 year Capital Improvement Plan, a strategic plan by the Economic Development Commission, open space plans, and Board of Education studies that currently go into town planning. He stated that in most communities, coordination of planning is an executive function and that the Board of Finance and P&Z play important roles.
· Mr. Howard stated that it was good to see that many elements of planning are currently happening in town but questioned if there is a better way to coordinate it and questioned what specific duties should be included in the Charter for a Long Range Planning Committee. Mr. Rosenthal indicated that many planning elements are mandated in State Statutes and that the Charter is not needed to mandate duties. The penalty for any elected official not doing their job is losing re-election.
· Ms. Plouffe asked Ms. Stocker how much of her time is dedicated to planning and how much toward economic development. Ms. Stocker responded that her position has been flexible over the past 17 years depending on the needs of the community. She indicated that currently approximately 80% of her time is dedicated toward planning and 20% toward economic development. She offered Sandy Hook center as an example of long range planning. In 1990 the area was identified as having long range potential however existing zoning regulations were incompatible. Over the years zoning
regulations were changed, grants were obtained for the Streetscape project, and the area saw a revitalization over the years.
Review all prescribed time periods, particularly those associated with the budget process and referenda, to make certain that the same work efficiently? Should defeated Town Budgets be returned to the Board of Finance for review and then forwarded to the Legislative Council? Discussion and vote.
· Mr. Cramer distributed a proposal for the Commissioners for review and discussion (Attachment G).
· Ms. Frampton made a motion to hold the first budget referendum on the 2nd Tuesday in April. Motion unanimously carried.
· Mr. Hemingway made a motion to hold a joint public hearing to be held prior to any action being taken by the Board of Finance. 5 Commissioners in Favor. Mr. Cramer opposed, motion carried.
· Ms. Frampton made a motion to have absentee ballots mailed with sufficient time for comply with State Statutes between adoption and referendum on the budget. Motion unanimously carried.
· Mr. Howard felt that the commission must review the duties of the Board of Finance and Legislative Council before they can vote on if a defeated budget is to be returned to the Board of Finance.
Mr. Cramer distributed suggested additions to the Charter regarding the Fairfield Hills Authority and the Water and Sewer Authority (Attachment H). Mr. Cramer also distributed suggested language to address unaffiliated candidates in the Charter (Attachment I). The issues will be discussed at the next meeting.
NEXT MEETING: The next meeting will be held on Tuesday April 24, 2007 in the Old Courtroom at Edmond Town Hall.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Gary Davis, Charter Ridge Drive read a prepared statement for the Commission (Attachment J).
Desiree Galassi is pleased that the Commission is undertaking shortening the budget process and that this will help to keep people involved. In response to Mr. Rosenthal’s comment that the previously proposed Town Planner position is unlike any that currently exists in the State, Ms.Galassi feels that if the Town searched, they could find someone to fill such a role. She added that if long range planning were occurring in Town, the closure of Dickinson Pond would have been foreseen and the Town could have acted. She feels that we need someone to dedicate 100% of their time towards planning and that we need to start building cohesiveness in Town.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business Mr. Cramer adjourned the meeting at 9:25 PM.
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