Minutes
Barnstable County Charter Review Committee
October 14, 2009
Committee members present: Ronald Bergstrom; Ed Larkin; Fred Gaechter; Charlotte Striebel; Mike Corgan; Greg Milne; Teresa Martin; and Sheila Lyons
Others present: County Commissioners Mary Pat Flynn and William Doherty; Nancy Curley, LWV; and Diane Thompson, Clerk of the Assembly of Delegates.
Speaker Ron Bergstrom opened the meeting at 4:11 p.m.
Speaker Bergstrom said the first order of business is to elect a Chair and Vice Chair. Speaker Bergstrom said he has an interest of what comes out of this as Speaker of the Assembly of Delegates, and Sheila does as a County Commissioner, but it is up to the committee how it would move forward in electing its Chair.
Greg Milne suggested that each member discuss why they are interested in serving on the Charter Review Committee.
Ed Larkin said he is interested in Charters. He chaired two other Charter Review Committees, in Dedham and Mashpee, so he said he is a glutton for punishment. He said that he knew no one else would volunteer in Mashpee for it. He has an interest in government, and he thought it would be a good experience. If he can add to its successful outcome, he will be pleased. Mr. Larkin noted that he will be away in February and March, which he hopes will not be a critical time. Mr. Larkin said he works full time, but he had the same schedule when he worked on the Charters in the past. Both Charters passed. Mr. Larkin stated he would have no problem with any member serving as Chair of the Committee.
Greg Milne said he has been a Town Councilor for 10 years in Barnstable and hopefully he will have two more years until term limits. He has an interest in the County. Mr. Milne said ran for County Commissioner unsuccessfully. He has always been fascinated with how organizations work, and firmly believes that structure matters. He said some believe that it is all up to who the people are that are plugged into the positions, and that is important, but equally so it is how the structure is set up. Mr. Milne said years ago he went to Boston and testified about the County bill. Cape Cod is unique. We deserve a regional entity, said Mr. Milne. As an elected official in Barnstable he said he has been passionate about seeing the 15 towns work more closely together. He also has a background in education and has had other career paths, but this is something that is vitally important. He sat on the second half of a Charter Review committee in Barnstable.
Fred Gaechter said he has been a Selectman in Truro for 5-1/2 years. Previously he was the chairman of the Finance Committee and the Charter and Bylaw committee. They made changes that were all passed by the legislature. Mr. Gaechter noted other committees where he served as chairman. Prior to moving to the Cape he had experience in New Jersey putting in a town council and mayor form of government. He thought at that point that County governments were not cost efficient. After coming to the Cape and working on the Dredge and highway projects, he believes that Barnstable County is a model of what counties can do to help towns. His interest is to make it better. Mr. Gaechter said he has a lot of experience with chairmanships of committees and said he would be willing to serve as Chair of the Barnstable County Charter Review Committee.
Sheila Lyons said she is a County Commissioner and she served as a Delegate for two years. She is a student and lover of history. She said our Constitution is a great, well thought out document. Being a Delegate and a County Commissioner she said she has been asking for some kind of training before you start. Most forms of government provide some type of initiation. Ms. Lyons said we are all citizens so she has asked and pushed for training on the rules of the game to help people out trying to figure out how it works. The regional government is to address the issues that are too burdensome for the towns. She said we can make it stronger and more relevant, and it would be better, and to have all the participants know how to get their arguments across knowing the standards, rules and procedures to get things accomplished.
Mike Corgan said he has lived in Falmouth for eighteen years and he served on the 2nd and 3rd Charter Review Committees in Falmouth and is on other boards. He has always been interested in government and agrees about the Constitution. Mr. Corgan said he specializes in American government and international government. He was in the Navy so when he moved to Falmouth his Falmouth house was his 30th house. The Navy sent him to get a graduate degree in Public Administration. He has used that. He is a teacher in Boston. Mr. Corgan said it is important that this smaller form of government can respond to things. When he finally settled in Falmouth he got involved in politics. He writes a column in the Falmouth Enterprise and assured the Committee that nothing here will get into the column. Because he served in Navy for 25 years, he looked at a lot of governments, lived in many communities, but no one has it the way we have it. He said he is passionate about citizen participation.
Teresa Martin, Delegate from Eastham, said she starts companies so profit and structure means a lot. She has lived in many places where county governments play significant roles. She is involved in this because she believes she needs to be involved to offer opinions.
Charlotte Striebel said she is the Yarmouth Delegate on the Assembly. She is in her 11th year. Ms. Striebel said she served as a Selectman in Yarmouth for nine years. She has not served on a Charter Committee, but she said she attended many meetings of the Ad Hoc Committee that reviewed what the Charter Review Committee did, and she found it most helpful. That is why she said she wanted to serve on a Charter Review Committee.
Ron Bergstrom said he is Speaker of the Assembly and from Chatham. He has been a Chatham Selectmen for 12 years. He also chairs the Regional Transit Authority. When he was a Selectman and found out that the former Speaker was not going to run he thought it important for Chatham to have a seat at the table. He had a write-in campaign. The same is true with the RTA. The man who had done the job became ill so he stopped going. Mr. Bergstrom said he would do it and they elected him as Chairman because no one else wanted to be chairman. It has worked out well. He has two goals. He would like at the end to be able to say that the world is a little bit better place. The other thing, he said he has a fascination of how things work and don’t work. Mr. Bergstrom said he sat on the panel with Greg Milne to set up the Cape Cod Water Protection Collaborative. There was a lot of discussion about how to structure it, and now there is a move to make the CCWPC even more efficient and consolidate its membership. You want a structure that can move things forward. His fascination is how entities like this can be democratic, pursue an agenda, deal with problems, make compromises, and move ahead. He said he is busy. He is on the committee because the resolution says the Speaker shall be on the committee. He thinks that because he is Speaker and Sheila is Chair of the County Commissioners that it would be better to have someone chair the committee who doesn’t have a stake in the outcome.
Sheila Lyons nominated Fred Gaechter as Chair; Mike Corgan seconded the motion. All voted in favor.
Ron Bergstrom nominated Charlotte Striebel for Vice Chair; the motion was seconded by Greg Milne. All voted in favor.
Chair Gaechter asked for an explanation about the documents they were given.
Assembly Clerk, Diane Thompson, stated that the Committee was given reports of two previous Charter Review Committees and a report prepared by an Assembly Ad Hoc Committee. The committee members were given a copy of the Barnstable County Home Rule Charter and a list of all ordinances adopted in Barnstable County since 1989.
Chair Gaechter asked Clerk Thompson to provide the Committee with a timeline for the committee. He also suggested that County Counsel be asked to attend the next meeting to discuss the role of the Charter Committee, and review what requires a charter change or what could be changed by Ordinance.
Mike Corgan said in Falmouth they had Counsel at every meeting.
Ron Bergstrom said at some point the committee may want independent legal counsel to come in.
Clerk Thompson stated that there isn’t funding in the Assembly’s budget for special counsel; however, if the committee wanted to hire special counsel an ordinance could be put before the Assembly for funding.
Ed Larkin said he has a very good relationship with Michael Curran, an attorney who specializes in Charter reviews, and he could go to Attorney Curran for free with some questions.
Chair Gaechter said the committee needs guidance as to what are the expectations as to output.
Ron Bergstrom said this is a mandated process that must take place every five years. He said the biggest issue seems to be the weighted vote by Delegates, where smaller towns feel at a disadvantage. Some people talk about doing away with Assembly. There has been noise about having Regional County Commissioners. There has been a suggestion about going to a larger Board of County Commissioners and do away with Assembly, having 5 County Commissioners and they would make all decisions. The committee’s work could run the gamut from tweaking language to changing the whole structure. This committee can go whatever way it wants.
Chair Gaechter asked if the committee is required to conduct public hearings.
Clerk Thompson explained the process in that the Charter Review Committee makes its report to the Assembly within 10 months. The Assembly takes the report into consideration. In order to facilitate changes recommended by the Charter Review Committee an ordinance, or ordinances, need to be adopted by the Assembly of Delegates. There is a public hearing process required at that time. Charter Review Committees have traveled to meetings of the Boards of Selectmen and Barnstable Town Council seeking input. At the meetings in the towns the committee provided a list of services that the towns receive from the County, and services provided by the County in other towns.
Chair Gaechter said we will want input from people serving in the County, in towns and pubic officials. We will need some type of awareness campaign. He asked if the committee wanted to have meetings in different parts of the Cape.
Sheila agreed and said she discussed this with Senator Rob O’Leary. He said he would be happy to come in and talk about his experience, what is good and what isn’t. We could invite people. It’s a chance to draw people into the regional government.
Charlotte Striebel said if you look at the regional government report, a letter was sent to towns asking for an opportunity to discuss Charter and ask for their input. They met with 11 or 12 of the 15 towns and some towns didn’t respond. The committee gave the Selectmen the opportunity to discuss their feelings about how County government could help them. The last review the committee did move around the County, but that may be the reason many people didn’t attend. Many meetings were held following the Assembly of Delegates meetings. She didn’t go because the travel from one end of the Cape to the other was more than what she wanted to do, not serving on the committee. If we met with the Boards of Selectmen, and it was well advertised that the Charter Review committee were gong to be there, and also most of the Board of Selectmen and Town Council are now broadcasting live, it may be the opportunity to present what we are doing to the Boards and to the public through attendance and through the media.
Ed Larkin suggested that the committee send a letter to each town asking them as a Board to give concerns they may have on regional matters. We could ask what is the biggest problem of a regional nature that you face that this committee could address.
Greg Milne suggested that the committee also send a letter separately to the town managers to get answers. A letter could be sent to the Selectmen and Councilors Association and Diane Cuny could give it to the entire group. Lastly, in Barnstable trying to do outreach to the public, which Mr. Milne said he is in favor of, he thought without proposing something, you are not going to get a response from the people. It is far better to put something with controversy out there deliberately, float it out there, and you then get the dialogue going.
Chair Gaechter said this may be a two-stage process. We let the towns know we exist and would like input and then when we have done some of our work, do what Greg has suggested.
Mike Corgan asked about having a website for the Charter Review Committee so that there is a central point to provide information.
Bill Doherty said he got an email from the Business Roundtable. When reaching out to the public officials, you also need to reach out to others – the business community, Chambers of Commerce, all who comment after the fact. Proactively go after comments as part of the process. There are voter information committees in towns too. Mr. Doherty said there was an insular quality with the previous committee.
Ron Bergstrom agreed with Greg that we need to go out there and that Fred has the right idea about going out 2 ways. We need to have something in hand to discuss.
Sheila Lyons said people deal better with parameters. Once we know where we are going and if there is something big we then can decide what to do.
Ron Bergstrom said if the committee goes to the Boards of Selectmen it should be down with Delegates in the towns as well.
Teresa Martin agreed with the website suggestion. She said having an alternative means for people to comment is a good idea. People can’t always get to meetings. It seems to be the same people doing things at all meetings.
The committee discussed having a link on the County webpage and whether or not it could be interactive.
Sheila Lyons said she would talk to Mark Zielinski. It isn’t impossible but once it is established she can’t guarantee personnel will be able to maintain it.
Clerk Thompson offered to keep the website updated.
Mary Pat Flynn said it is hard to get comments if people haven’t read the Charter. We need to let people know that they need to read the Charter and then submit comments.
Chair Gaechter said the first letter will not ask for input. We can ask them to look at the current Charter and tell them in future will come out and talk to you.
Greg Milne asked if there is someway we could produce a bullet summary of the Charter.
Clerk Thompson said she will help to put a summary together for the committee.
Mike Corgan said the website can key the summary and the Charter can be another link.
Ed Larkin suggested getting input from the Delegates and the County Commissioners first. They are the ones that will be affected by changes. He asked Ron Bergstrom if there are any pressing matters before the Assembly or Commissioners that need change. He suggested they start there before going to the public. Get recommendations and concerns and also look at things that have not been followed through on. That is number 1. Then hopefully go to the public and get support. He noted that the committee only has 10 months or less to complete its work.
Fred asked how the committee could best do that.
Ron Bergstrom said you could solicit comments via email or ask Delegates and the County Commissioners to testify.
Ed Larkin thought that it makes the most sense to send a letter.
Ron Bergstrom said they are going to tell you how things work or don’t work. An example is that the Assembly has a very powerful Finance Committee that ultimately, even with recommendations from others, makes their own recommendations to the Assembly. The way it functions has good points but it may be changes as to how it functions can be looked at.
Ed Larkin made a motion to contact the 15 Delegates and the 3 County Commissioners and ask them what changes they would recommend. Charlotte seconded the motion. All voted in favor.
Charlotte Striebel said previous committees met with each department manager. It was suggested that department managers could be contacted, but that the County Administrator should be consulted prior to making contact.
The committee discussed sending the following letters:
1) to towns and town administrators – awareness letter first;
2) Letter to Selectmen & Councilors association;
3) County administrator and department managers;
4) Business Roundtable and Chambers of Commerce;
5) LWV – comments on the Charter; and
6) former County Commissioners, former Delegates, Rob O’Leary, John Doane, Vicky Lowell.
Ed Larkin said let’s start at square one with Delegates and the County Commissioners.
Mike Corgan suggested that the committee be referred to as the Fourth Charter Review Committee. He also thought that the chairman should be the contact person for the committee.
Charlotte Striebel suggested that the Charter Review Committee be introduced to the Assembly.
Speaker Bergstrom said he would place it on the Calendar for next Wednesday, October 21, at 4:00 p.m. There won’t be debate; it will be an introduction.
Chair Gaechter said the letter can go out after introduction.
The committee agreed that it will try to meet on Mondays. However, the next meeting will be on Wednesday, October 28th, at 3:30 p.m.
Chair Gaechter said we will ask County Counsel what our role is legally, what can we do or not do, and ask what triggers ordinance or charter changes.
Chair Gaechter said other agenda items will include discussion on the information the committee received, previously discussed. We will hear information about a website and what can be done.
Mike Corgan said the Chair can parcel out certain items to individual members.
Ron Bergstrom suggested that the committee review the Charter, section-by-section, each meeting until completed.
With no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:45 p.m.
Minutes
Barnstable County Charter Review Committee
October 28, 2009
Committee members present: Fred Gaechter, Chair; Charlotte Striebel, Vice Chair; Ronald Bergstrom; Ed Larkin; Leo Cakounes; Mike Corgan; Greg Milne; Teresa Martin; and Sheila Lyons
Others present: County Commissioners William Doherty; County Administrator Mark Zielinski; County Counsel Robert Troy; Nancy Curley, LWV; and Jennie Morey, Assistant to the Clerk of the Assembly of Delegates.
Chair Fred Gaechter opened the meeting at 3:30 p.m.
Chair Gaechter asked for approval of the agenda. The Committee approved the agenda with all members voting in favor. The next order of business was the approval of the minutes of their last meeting on October 14th. The Committee approved the minutes, as written, with all voting in favor.
Chair Gaechter described the items in the packet given to the Committee. The items included the Agenda, a Timeline, a Summary of the Charter, Ordinances 06-16 and 09-01 referring to budget submission, draft website pages, and the power point presentation on the Charter being given by Mr. Zielinski.
Chair Gaechter updated the committee on the letters that were sent out to the Selectmen, the Barnstable Town Council, and Town Administrators and Managers. Those letters informed them of the charge of the Charter Review Committee and their participation in this process.
Chair Gaechter stated that the main item of the meeting is having County Counsel and the County Administrator give aspects of the timeline of the Charter and an overview of the Charter as a whole. He also asked for their input.
Mr. Zielinski began with his power point presentation; Charter 101. He gave an overview of the Charter outlining each of the eleven sections. The presentation is considered a part of these minutes. He asked Attorney Troy to point out certain aspects of the Charter as he went through each section.
Chair Gaetcher asked why Charter Review 2005 changes weren’t put before the voters.
Mr. Zielinski explained that there may have been an issue of getting it onto the ballot because of the timeline. The biggest issue in 2005 was the budget process which has been changed by ordinance and did not require State approval. The budget process now provides for a Resolution Committee. The ordinances pertaining to the changes were given out to the committee at this meeting.
Attorney Troy stated that the Assembly missed the timeline of 150 days which is in the Charter provision for submission of proposed changes and actually the proposed changes were not need for state approval.
Chair Gaechter asked why the Assembly did not pursue changes in 2006.
Attorney Troy explained that the process in which any involvement of the County needs to be geared to current elections taking place.
Mr. Zielinski explained articles of the Charter and pointed out that Article 6 is not really used and may be one area to look at. Article 11 was added in 1999 to 2000. In 2000 the Assembly put forward changes to transfer all Sheriff departments to the State. This was approved by the voters, was sent to the State and just recently passed.
The change of the name of the County did not need to be approved by the legislature. It was approved by the voters therefore, the County is considered to be “The Cape Cod Regional Government known as Barnstable County”.
Mr. Zielinski stated that Section 2 – 8 refers to ordinances and resolutions. He explained details of how ordinances and resolutions differ when it comes to processing them through the Assembly.
He also explained how most County departments are set up by the Barnstable County Administrative Code and are done by Ordinance (Section 4).
Chair Gaechter asked approximately how many employees are in the County.
Mr. Zielinski said about 300 and he would provide information on them and the differences in each department to the Committee.
Mr. Zielinski stated that Article 7 includes certain excluded matters. Section 2 – 9 deals with any other ordinances such as the County budget as a whole and any debt service ordinances. Article 9 specifies general Charter amendments.
Mr. Milne asked why would you have Section 9 – 8 for discipline when you have an administrative code.
Mr. Zielinski stated that before the establishment of the County we were governed by the State personnel board. When the Charter was put into place the County referred back to the State and now it has been put back to the County who draws from the Charter.
Attorney Troy stated that there was a transitional process and the County was not sure how it was going to adopt policies. The County personnel procedures are much more elaborate than the Charter.
Mr. Milne asked that going forward would it be necessary to still have personnel policies in the Charter.
Attorney Troy said they might want to omit this but there may be a question on which one prevails. This could be approved by the voters and it would become effective as an administrative change.
Mr. Zielinski confirmed that administrative amendments just need to be approved by the voters.
The Committee discussed the means of voting for the Assembly.
Attorney Troy will respond in writing what options the Charter provides other than the weighted vote and what subjects would be required to be a weighted vote. There may be a different structure that could be used by the body of the Assembly of Delegates and County Commissioners.
Mr. Milne asked if the Committee recommends elimination of the Assembly of Delegates can it be done.
Attorney Troy stated that the Home Rule Amendment says you could create any legislature.
Mr. Zileinski said that the Assembly is unique and does not exist in any other County. It is traditional to have the Advisory Board of County Expenditures not the Assembly of Delegates. The Assembly found the ABCE to be ineffective.
Mr. Cakounes asked if you change the structure could it be proportional instead of weighted.
Mr. Bergstrom asked how to investigate County departments.
Mr. Zielinski said there is a way to set up a workable mechanism and a formal way to control that procedure.
The Committee also discussed legal counsel.
Ms. Striebel hopes that the Committee reviews the last Charter Review Committees information because they did extensive studies and spent a lot of time on legal counsel in 2005. The Committee may find it very helpful to answer many of their questions.
Attorney Troy pointed out Section 9.- 4 of the Charter which explains legal counsel.
Mr. Milne asked Attorney Troy for his view on what areas of the Charter that has clear ambiguity. Attorney Troy stated that he is listing Committee questions from this meeting that he will respond to.
The Committee concluded their meeting by reviewing the timeline and specific items they were given.
The Committee also discussed how to move forward and the process in which to do so. Many suggestions were made such as working section by section, doing the housekeeping first and then working on the bigger issues, organizing the Charter, identifying big issues by Chapter first, making a specific timeline for discussion of each issue, and getting input from outside people.
The Committee discussed the structure of the County and feels that the Charter needs more organization. The specific executive power of the legislature and administration interaction is not clear. There may be a need for an organizational chart.
Mr. Cakounes suggest that the Committee appoint a member to work on written documents and emails.
Commissioner Lyons noted that Mass. General Law, Chapter 43B has specifics that each member should have.
Mr. Corgan suggested that there be a detailed index of the Charter.
Mr. Milne asked if there are some things in the Charter that could be handled by the Administrative Code.
Commissioner Doherty is meeting with the Business Roundtable and will ask them to appoint a liason for the Charter Review Committee.
The Committee agreed to discuss the Charter on a meeting by meeting basis alternating Mondays and Wednesdays every two weeks.
The agenda will include a discussion on Website strategy and provide specifics of what they want to use it for.
The next meeting of the Charter Review Committee is schedule for Monday, November 9, 2009 at 4:00 p.m..
With no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:25 p.m.
At the Committee meeting of November 9, 2009 these minutes were approved with all in favor.
Minutes
Barnstable County Charter Review Committee
November 9, 2009
Committee members present: Fred Gaechter, Chair; Ed Larkin; Leo Cakounes; Mike Corgan; Greg Milne; Teresa Martin; and Sheila Lyons
Others present: County Commissioner William Doherty; and Jennie Morey, Assistant to the Clerk of the Assembly of Delegates.
Chair Fred Gaechter opened the meeting at 4:15 p.m.
The first order of business was the approval of the agenda. The Committee approved the agenda with all members voting in favor. The next order of business was the approval of the minutes of their last meeting on October 28th. The Committee approved the minutes, as written, with all voting in favor.
Chair Gaechter began the meeting by asking the Committee how it would like to proceed with the review of the Charter.
Commissioner Lyons suggested that the Committee first clean up the language in the Charter and then go through the big issues in the Charter. It may be better to tackle main issues and not to spend a lot of time on the small issues within the Charter.
Chair Gaechter suggested that Committee members could list the main issues and then the Committee could decide to go chapter by chapter to review those issues.
Mr. Corgan stated that instead of going through the Charter language issue by issue, maybe the Committee should appoint a subcommittee of style to go through the Charter. The wording style in the Charter is atrocious. The language is not consistent and the Charter is hard to read. Style is important but more important is the organization of language and the structure.
Mr. Corgan said that he could head up a subcommittee on style, language, and structure of the Charter.
Commissioner Lyons said she would join the sub-committee with Mr. Corgan.
Commissioner Doherty suggested that the Committee could also reach out to other people that are not on the Committee.
Mr. Cakounes suggested that the Committee go through the Charter Article by Article. There are procedural questions within the Charter such as the way the terms of the Assembly Delegates are voted on and why isn’t the vote staggered. The way the voting is now you could feasibly change the Assembly as a whole in one years election.
Chair Gaechter started on the next item on the agenda, the review of Section 1, Preamble, and Article 1 of the Charter.
Chair Gaechter asked what the paragraph before the Preamble is and what is its intent. It seems to be out of date.
Mr. Larkin stated that the language is similar to most Charters you find in cities.
Ms. Martin said it is inappropriate wording in the Charter.
The first paragraph of Section 1 should be given to the subcommittee for review and changes.
Commissioner Lyons stated that the preamble states that a group of people have a role to address existing boundaries, what is the responsibility of County government, and how do we go forward to address regional issues. The County is faced with huge infrastructure issues. What is the County governments role to help towns do what they cannot do?
Commissioner Doherty stated that the County is supposed to represent a regional interest.
Ms. Martin stated that Section 1-4 explains the role of the County.
Commissioner Lyons stated that within government structure there should be certain powers. The County has to be given the power to help different towns to come together.
Mr. Larkin said that people do not realize the extent of County services such as health care, dredging, the Fire Academy, etc. Items that the County does to aid towns. Give the County the authority to tell the towns what they should get is the better for all. The towns are frightened to give the County that kind of power.
Commissioner Lyons stated that if it can be done and clearly stated before the document is exercised it may not have to be done because the towns realize that they need to come together.
Mr. Cakounes has a problem with this. The County already has the State and the Federal government to answer to.
Chair Gaechter stated that the Charter needs to find a common term for the Cape Cod Regional Government (CCRG) or governmental unit. Sometimes in the Charter they call towns communities.
In Section 1-4, the second sentence is repetitive and needs to be reviewed.
Mr. Larkin said the Committee should talk to department heads and see how the Committee can improve their lot. This is what the Charter is all about, organizing government.
The Committee questioned how many departments there are in the County.
Commissioner Doherty estimated about 10 department heads.
Chair Gaechter supported Mr. Larkin as to seeing department heads. He asked if the Committee wants to be influenced by others or come out with their own issues first.
Commissioner Lyons stated that departments may have issues with procedures.
Mr. Larkin stated that the Committee could assign certain departments to each member of the Committee who could talk to them. The level of granularity is not appropriate. What level does this Charter look at? How do we keep ourselves at the structural level?
Chair Gaechter stated that the Committee should put off department heads and look through the Charter first to keep minds clear.
Mr. Cakounes stated that in Section 1-5, paragraph two is against the law. Why do we need it if it is illegal? Do we need this paragraph in there?
Chair Gaechter stated that paragraph two in Section 1-5 is integrated with paragraph three and means you could not go outside to another government without them knowing it.
Chair Gaechter stated that in Section 1-6 (d) “eminent domain” is not defined. The County should have some sort of policy as to what the eminent domain is and how to exercise it. The Committee needs to ask the Attorney. Eminent domain should be outlined in the Charter but it is not listed anywhere else.
Chair Gaechter asked the Committee members to come the next meeting with a list of the main topics in the Charter they feel should be reviewed.
Mr. Corgan said there should be an absolute ban on the word “forthwith” in the Charter.
Ms. Martin said that the Charter is about roles not individual people.
Commissioner Lyons stated that for clarity the Assembly and Commissioners have all of these different powers except for when you’re dealing with an entity which is governed by a different act. This should be stated in the with powers section of the Charter.
The Committee asked for a copy of the Administrative Code and the Annual Report to be given out at their next meeting.
The next meeting of the Charter Review Committee is schedule for Monday, November 23, 2009 at 4:00 p.m..
With no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:05 p.m.
At the Committee meeting of November 23, 2009 these minutes were approved with all in favor.
Comments
Leave a comment