City of Torrington MEETING MINUTES
2011 Charter Revision Commission November 7, 2011
Present were Chairwoman Elinor Carbone, Vice-Chairman Vic Muschell, and Commissioners Gerry Zordan, Marie Soliani and Jim Thibault. Also present was Corporation Counsel Ernestine Weaver. Commissioners Debra Brown, Bill Battle, Jim McKenna and Secretary James Steck were absent.
The City of Torrington 2011 Charter Revision Commission (the “Commission”) opened its fourth meeting at 5:01 PM in Room 215 at City Hall, Torrington.
The Agenda for this meeting read as follow:
1. Approve minutes of the October 17, 2011 meeting;
2. Public Comment and Participation – (3 minutes per speaker);
3. Discussion of proposed changes to the Charter;
4. Old Business
5. New Business
6. Adjournment
(Agenda Item #1) Approve Minutes
The Commission reviewed the minutes. Vic Muschell requested a change to his comment on page 4 regarding the need for a two year election. Elinor Carbone suggested removing the sentence in question completely, everyone agreed and the Minutes were accepted. Marie Soliani abstained from accepting the minutes.
(Agenda Item #2) Public Comment and Participation
There were no public participants present
(Agenda Item #3) Discussion of proposed changes to the Charter
Discussion started with a review of previous questions and requests for further information.
Ernestine Weaver confirmed that the Comptroller language issues in § C15-1 can be revised as a correction.
Elinor Carbone reported the last time the extraordinary expense limit was raised was 1982 to $100,000. Gerry Zordan suggested we review 1982 to present.
An online suggestion box has been set-up. It is not fully tested, but will be tested when Elaine Fabiaschi returns to her office. Elinor Carbone suggested we limit the time online suggestions will be considered. Vic Muschell added that a late suggestion entry could still be considered.
It has been determined that public funds cannot be used for advocating or influencing a referendum item, such as the extraordinary expense limit increase.
Vic Muschell sent a Charter revision request pertaining to the Board of Safety on November 1. His proposal includes changes to the disciplinary and termination process associated with Board of Safety. In essence, Vic suggests that the current process is different from the process used for other city positions. He believes his proposal is more streamlined and allows the police/fire chiefs to be a bigger part of the process.
Paul Summers sent an email on November 7 that pointed out how New London, CT is structured. New London has a City Manager and elects only City Council and Board of Education. City Clerk and Treasurer are appointed. The Commission determined that we need Paul to elaborate on what suggestions he is specifically interested in making.
Marie Soliani commented that she is very much interested in re-visiting the tax collector issue. Her main concern is that the City may be missing out on substantial revenue opportunities via fees and fines. She is not confident that the 100% collection guarantee tells the entire revenue story.
Elinor Carbone suggested we look at collection data from similar DRG municipalities, evaluate the cost of City Department to take over tax collection and ascertain occurrences of tax foreclosures, tax sales and related costs. She shared information from 14 other municipalities that were considered similar to Torrington. The group agreed this was a good approach.
Jim Thibault asked if this issue was too large and might impede work on other important items on the list. The group responded that it was comfortable with the proposed analysis for the stage we are at.
Marie Soliani and Jim Thibault suggested we settle on a target number of Revision recommendations to work on and present. The group settled on five recommendations as a target. The intention is to pare down the current list to the top five and proceed with discussion from there. Committee members are asked to send their top five recommendations to Elinor Carbone prior to the next meeting.
Ernestine Weaver suggested a possible Charter change to the extraordinary expense language in the event of natural disasters. The language could utilize State catastrophe definitions as a guide.
Elinor Carbone asked if a public hearing could substitute for a referendum in the event of an extraordinary expense. Ernestine said she would investigate.
It was reported that a more specific recommendation for the City/Volunteer Fire arrangement is in the works.
(Agenda Item #4) Old Business
No discussion.
(Agenda Item #5) New Business
No Discussion
(Agenda Item #6) Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 6:04 PM
Respectfully submitted,
James A. Thibault
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