Minutes

Barnstable County Charter Review Committee

January 13, 2010

Committee members present: Ronald Bergstrom; Charlotte Striebel, Vice Chair; Mike Corgan; Sheila Lyons; Leo Cakounes; and Greg Milne

Absent:  Fred Gaechter, Teresa Martin, and Ed Larkin

Others present:  County Commissioner William Doherty and Mary Pat Flynn; Diane C Thompson, Clerk of the Assembly; and Jennie Morey, Assistant to Assembly Clerk.

Vice Chair Striebel opened the meeting at 4:00 p.m.

Vice Chair Striebel stated that Chair Gaechter’s e-mailed the Committee a draft letter to County Counsel seeking legal advice on the potential options being discussed for reorganization of the Regional Government and would like that to be the Committee’s agenda.  The Committee was asked to review the letter, suggest changes, and submit the redrafted letter back to Chair Gaechter.  The draft letter to County Counsel is considered a part of these minutes.

Vice Chair Striebel asked for the approval of the minutes of January 4th.  All voted in favor of the minutes dated January 4th.

The Committee began discussion of the draft letter to County Counsel and Vice Chair Striebel asked if there should be other items that the Committee discussed in the past added to the draft letter to Counsel.

Mr. Corgan suggested that County Counsel may know of other legal opinions and the Committee may want to ask if counsel would offer those opinions.

Commissioner Lyons has not been able to contact a person at the State level regarding County Counsel.

Ms. Thompson explained that the office is trying to gather previous legal opinions for Charter Reviews.  The Committee was given Charter minutes of the first meeting in 2000 that may be helpful for the Committee to see what has been previously reviewed and responses they received.

The 2000 Charter Review Committee looked at having regional Commissioners and what geographical regions would be.  Their big concern was small towns getting lost and lumped into a new region.

Ms. Thompson offered to send legal opinions to the Committee as they refer to what they are examining.

Commissioner Lyons again stated that the public is needed to express what they feel the County should consist of and what is needed to change the structure of the County.  Once again she also spoke about having the County Commissioners regional with three regional commissioners and two at large.  The board could balance the structure that could represent the larger towns.

Ms. Thompson stated that the Committee should keep in mind that whatever the Committee recommends has to go through the Assembly of Delegates and you need two thirds of their vote.

Commissioner Lyons said to look at the correctness of the weighted vote not necessarily getting rid of the Assembly of Delegates.  If most dollars are coming from the Deeds you are not getting the representation through taxation.

Ms. Thompson made it clear that the weighted vote is by the 2000 Census not through taxation.

Commissioner Lyons again pointed out that in the beginning of the County there was no Assembly of Delegates and then there were representation issues, which prompted the need for an Assembly. There is no other County with an Assembly of Delegates and our structure is based on so little dollars.

Commissioner Lyons asked for the amount spent for outside counsel at the last Charter Review.

Speaker Bergstrom agreed with the letter presented by Mr. Gaechter but suggested some changes to the length of the wording contained in the letter.

Mr. Milne stated that when the Committee asked for a response from Attorney Troy on some type of voting other than the weighted vote he was not clear.

Mr. Milne is questioning whether there is a need to have an Assembly of Delegates and legally is there a need for the County to have a legislative branch.

Mr. Milne wants to know legally what can be done in regards to a legislative branch and the weighted vote.  Attorney Troy has been unclear with his responses.

Commissioner Flynn suggested the question be what are the legal requirements for the balance of power and what could that be.  If there is a requirement is there anything specific.

Speaker Bergstrom pointed out that the Committee has limited time for this review and cannot wait for legal counsel from the State.  The Committee needs to move on and he intends to proceed diligently on issues that are brought up at meetings so decisions can be made.

Commissioner Lyons would like to invite former Assembly Delegates, County Commissioners, the League of Women Voters, and others to discuss what they have experienced in the past Charter Reviews as well as where they think County structure changes could be made.

Ms. Thompson spoke about the previous Charter Commission going to each town for their input on changes to the Charter and County government.  At that time, the Commissioners provided a list of services for each town as well as regional services to the Selectmen and Councilors and they were asked how could County services be improved, what services could be increased, and what new services could be provided to better assistance their town.

Commissioner Doherty, who was a part of this review, stated that there were no comments on County structure.  The Selectmen and Councilors were thankful and did ask for more regional services.  Few people came forth with negative issues about the County.

Commissioner Lyons stated that the Committee should take a look at voting roles.  Most people do not vote for County Commissioners and do not know them or our County government.  There are people out there talking about the Charter Review because there is a need for regionalization to deal with current major issues.  The County’s role is to go regionally to the people.

Speaker Bergstrom agreed that people do not know County Commissioners. People do not even know the Registry of Deeds.  The Committee should make a decision on where to go with this issue.

The discussion continued about the changes to the letter to Attorney Troy and Ms. Thompson noted those changes in order to draft a new letter to Attorney Troy for Chair Gaechter to review.  The new drafted letter is considered a part of these minutes.

Mr. Cakounes asked that the letter to Attorney Troy be kept simple and to the point.

Commissioner Lyons stated that there are many Delegates that go back to their town concerns when dealing with Assembly issues or Delegates come to the Assembly with their gut feelings

Mr. Milne stated that a legal answer to the weighted vote would allow for confirmation of the parameters the Committee has.

Speaker Bergstrom stated that he represents Chatham but still responds to Barnstable County. Why go down the road of questioning whether or not have an Assembly of Delegates and the weighted vote if it will not go anywhere.  The Charter Review Committee only has a short amount of time.

Vice Chair Striebel feels that the Committee needs to begin to come to some decisions because since the beginning the Committee has not made progress in that area.  At this meeting they have done the same and their review needs to be in the hands of the Assembly of Delegates by April 7^th.  The Committee should look at suggestions and recommendations made by the previous Charter Committees that were never elected.  Then decide if they are recommendations for this Committee to adopt and get that much out of the way.  This Committee has the Major Issues Charter which is like trying to rewrite the Charter and the legal issues questions.  Time is very limited for all these tasks.

Vice Chair Striebel stated that the Committee review, with Chair Gaechter, changes that have been suggested by the Committee and then look at the major issues Chart at the next meeting.

Mr. Corgan suggested that the Committee also look at the personnel matters within the Charter which should not be included.

Mr. Milne stated that the Business Roundtable is not looking at custodial changes to the Charter but are interested in some robust changes.

The Clerk will submit the redraft of the legal counsel letter to Chair Gaechter and once it is approved will forward the letter the County Administrator for Attorney Troy’s response.

The next meeting of the Committee is scheduled for January 27^th to review the letter to Attorney Troy, to discuss concerns about moving forward, concerns of the timing of this review, and discuss the Major Issues Charter.

The committee meeting adjourned at 5:30 p.m.

At the Committee meeting on February 24, 2010 these minutes were approved with all in favor.

CAPE COD REGIONAL GOVERNMENT

Charter Review Committee

First District Courthouse – Route 6A

Barnstable, Massachusetts 02630

(508) 375-6761/6762  Fax:  (508) 362-6530   E-Mail:  aofd@barnstablecounty.org

Fred Gaechter, Chair (Truro) Edward Larkin (Mashpee)

Charlotte Striebel, Vice Chair (Yarmouth) Sheila Lyons, County Commissioner (Wellfleet)

Ronald Bergstrom, Speaker (Chatham) Teresa Martin (Eastham)

Leo Cakounes (Harwich) J. Gregory Milne (Barnstable)

Michael Corgan (Falmouth)

Draft for Fred

January 15, 2010

Robert Troy, Esquire

Troy Wall Associations

90 Route 6A

Bourne, MA 02563

Re:       Barnstable County Charter Review

Dear Attorney Troy:

As you are aware, the Cape Cod Regional Government’s Charter Review Committee has been meeting to discuss potential recommendations to the Assembly of Delegates regarding the current iteration of the Home Rule Charter, as adopted on November 8, 1988 and last revised on May 31, 2000. The Committee has been looking at several change options regarding the structure of the Board of Regional Commissioners and the Assembly of Delegates in addition to the option of not making any changes.  These include:

1. Increase the number of Commissioners elected to the Board of Regional Commissioners from the current 3 Commissioners to 5 or 7 Commissioners, having at least 3 elected regionally and maintain the at-large representation;

1. What is the requirement in County government for a balance of power?  Does the need for a balance of power require that there be an Assembly of Delegates?  If there is a requirement, is it stated what the power should be?

1. Revise the voting procedures currently in use by the Assembly of Delegates. What votes are required to be by weighted vote [2-5(b)]?  The current exception to this policy is the internal election of the Assembly of Delegates officers who are elected by each municipality’s representative having one equal vote. Two alternatives are being discussed.

1. 1. Eliminate the weighed vote for all votes in favor of one equal vote for each Barnstable County municipality; and

1. 1. Maintain the weighed vote for a set of matters before the Assembly (e.g., all financial matters) and use the one equal vote for all other matters before the Assembly.

The committee also asks for further guidance about the Assembly of Delegates voting on Charter changes discussed in your memorandum to the Committee dated November 09, 2009.

1. Revise the current election procedures for the Delegates to the Assembly that would eliminate the current method. Representatives from each town would be elected by all Barnstable County voters, but representatives so elected would not be considered at-large. They would still represent their individual communities.

1. Can the powers and responsibilities of the Assembly of Delegates be increased? There has been no discussion regarding the specific areas of increased powers or responsibilities, hence, this option is general in nature.   The advice sought is with regard to the legality of such a concept.

The Charter Review Committee would like a determination as to the legality under Massachusetts General Laws and other pertinent regulations of each change option being discussed. Several of these change options are not mutually exclusive and could, thereby, be simultaneously recommended.

Are there any court decisions that may affect the Committee’s review of the Charter?  If so, please provide the Committee with the citation and a copy of the case.

The default option for all of the change options is to not make any changes, i.e., maintain the status quo.

Thank you for your assistance.

Sincerely,

Fred Gaechter, Chairman

cc:  Mark Zielinski, County Administrator