SUNAPEE BOARD OF SELECTMEN
7:00 PM Town Office Meeting Room
Monday, October 4, 2010
Present: Fred Gallup Chairman, William Roach Vice Chairman, Charlotte Brown, Stephen White, Donna Nashawaty, Town Manager
Also Present: See Sign-in Sheet
Chairman Gallup opened the meeting at 7:00PM
Donna Nashawaty stated that the Recreation Committee consists of 7 members. The Recreation Committee thought they had 2 alternate positions, but never had people to fill them. Last month the Recreation Committee asked the Board to approve one candidate for an alternate position, which the Board approved. It was found when applying the new member to the Recreation Committee that the committee had no official alternate positions. Motion to add 2 alternate positions to the Recreation Committee by Selectman Brown, seconded by Selectman White. All in Favor
Peter Joseph-Town Manager of Lincoln, NH.
Peter Joseph explained the Charter Commission process that he was involved in when he was Assistant Town Administrator in Peterborough. The town of Peterborough was a traditional town meeting town that was slowly moving towards a SB2 town. A charter commission shall consist of 9 members, all of whom shall be registered voters of the municipality and elected. All "town" chartered forms of government described by RSA 49-D have two things in common. First, there must be a Town Council. This council can be called a Board of Selectmen, Town Council, Board of Aldermen, etc. Whatever it is called, it shall have the executive authority of a council, and in some forms of government, it has the legislative and budgetary authorities normally given to Town Meeting. Secondly, the charter must provide for a Town Manager. This
position can be called a Town Manager, Town Administrator, Chief Administrative Officer, etc., however the position shall be vested with the authority and responsibilities of a Town Manager as described in RSA 37. The five forms of town government available under RSA 49-D are as follows:
1) Town Council
- Town Council is both the legislative and executive body of the local government
- No Town Meeting - budgetary and policy matters are decided by the Town Council
- Detailed in RSA 49-D:3 (I)
2) Official Ballot Town Council
- Town Council is both the legislative and executive body of the local government.
- Charter may specify (with precision) certain matters that must be voted on by the public on an official ballot. Town Council may not act on these matters, but may act on all others.
- Town Meeting exists only in the form of the official ballot. There is no "open" meeting.
- Detailed in RSA 49-D:3(I-a)
3) Budgetary Town Meeting
- Town Council is the legislative and executive body of the local government.
- All budgetary decisions (including bonding and transferring funds) are made by Town Meeting. Town Council handles all non-budgetary legislative decisions
- Town Meeting exists only to deal with budgetary issues.
- Detailed in RSA 49-D:3 (II)
4) Official Ballot Town Meeting
- This form of government is a variation of the "open town meeting" form of government.
- Town Council is the executive body of the local government.
- The Charter must specify (with precision) matters which are to be considered on the official ballot.
- The Charter may specify other legislative decisions to be made by the Town Council, or by an open town meeting.
- The Salem and Peterborough Charters specify both an official ballot session and an open session of Town Meeting.
- Detailed in RSA 49-D:3(II-a)
5) Representative Town Meeting
- This form of government is another variation of the "open town meeting" form.
- Town Council is the executive body of the local government.
- All matters that would normally go to open town meeting are instead handled by a representative town meeting, made up of a group of elected individuals.
- All matters that would normally be voted on by the public on an official ballot are still decided by official ballot.
- Several towns in MA use this form of government. None in NH currently use it.
- Detailed by RSA 49-D:3(III)
49-B:12 Return to Former Form of Government. –
~~~ I. Notwithstanding the provisions of this chapter, any town, through the petition procedure in RSA 49-B, may repeal its charter and return to its former form of government without establishing a charter commission.
~~~ II. The question of whether the town should repeal its charter and return to its former form of government shall be put to the voters in the same manner as an amendment to a charter, under RSA 49-B:5.
Donna Nashawaty suggested that she would put the word out to find a group of people in the community for a work session to discuss the possibilities of a Charter Commission. Chairman Gallup thought a question on the website would be a great place to start to see if there is interest out there. If there is interest then the Board would hold a public meeting. The Board thanked Peter Joseph for his presentation on the Charter Commission.
Public Comments
Representative Suzanne Gottling informed the Board that the audit exit interview will be on the October 5th agenda of the Sullivan County Board of Commissioners.
49-B:12 Return to Former Form of Government. –
~~~ I. Notwithstanding the provisions of this chapter, any town, through the petition procedure in RSA 49-B, may repeal its charter and return to its former form of government without establishing a charter commission.
~~~ II. The question of whether the town should repeal its charter and return to its former form of government shall be put to the voters in the same manner as an amendment to a charter, under RSA 49-B:5.
Source. 1991, 304:10, eff. Aug. 23, 1991.
Selectmen Action
•Donna Nashawaty asked the Board what action they want to take regarding the petition that was received to change the speed limit and traffic pattern on High Street. The Board of Selectmen asked Donna to send petition to the Highway Safety Committee for review and comments.
•Tax Deeded Property was paid by Owner. Motion to sign quit claim deed for Daniel & Dawna Vinal by Selectman White, seconded by Selectman Roach. All in Favor.
•Motion to allow Chairman Gallup to sign the use of facilities application for the SMHS Bonfire in the Harbor on October 8th by Selectman Brown, seconded by Selectman White. All in Favor.
•Motion to allow Chairman Gallup to sign the use of facilities application for Project Sunapee Halloween Events at the Gazebo on October 31st by Selectman White, Seconded by Selectman Roach. All in Favor.
Board Comments
Selectman Brown wanted to know if the Board had any guidelines or questions that they wanted to present when the Board meets with the School Board on Wednesday, October 6th. Selectman Brown made some suggestions that she felt were important.
Meeting adjourned at 8:48PM
Submitted by,
Barbara Vaughn
Administrative Assistant
Approved:_____________
____________________ ______________________
Frederick Gallup, Chairman Charlotte Brown
_________________________ _______________________
William Roach, Vice-Chairman Stephen White
_________________________
Emma M. Smith
| 
