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crcmin61107 Charter Revision Commission Meeting – June 11, 2007 CHARTER REVISION COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING Monday, June 11, 2007 Caucus Room A @ 7:00 p.m. Minutes Organizational Meeting 1.CALL TO ORDER Town Clerk Kate Wall called the Special Meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 2.ROLL CALL: Those in attendance were: Dan Dilzer John Dunham John Luddy Ann Mattioli Fred Sorbo Also in attendance: Town Clerk Kate Wall 3.OATH OF OFFICE All commissioners were given the Oath of Office and sworn in by Town Clerk Kate Wall. 4.ELECTION OF CHAIRPERSON AND VICE-CHAIRPERSON John Dunham placed in nomination the name of John Luddy for Chairman of the Charter Revision Commission. There being no further nominations, the nominations were closed. Vote being 4-0-1 (Ann Mattioli abstained) in favor of John Luddy serving as Chairman of the Charter Revision Commission. Fred Sorbo placed in nomination the name of John Dunham for Vice-Chairman of the Charter Revision Commission. There being no further nominations, the nominations were closed. Vote being 5-0 in favor of John Dunham serving as Vice-Chairman of the Charter Revision Commission. 1/5 Charter Revision Commission Meeting – June 11, 2007 5.SCHEDULE PUBLIC HEARINGS It was the consensus of the Charter Revision Commission members to hold the first Public Hearing on June 20, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. in the Town Council Chambers, Berlin Town Hall and to hold a Special Meeting on June 20, 2007 at 7:15 p.m. or immediately following the Public Hearing. It was the consensus of the Charter Revision Commission members to hold the second Public Hearing on July 11, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. in the Town Council Chambers, Berlin Town Hall and to hold a Special Meeting on July 11, 2007 at 7:15 p.m. or immediately following the Public Hearing. 6.REVIEW RECOMMENDATIONS FROM TOWN COUNCIL Sec. 8-15-1 through 8-15-9. Berlin Historic District. Proposed Change: Remove mention of the Berlin Historic District from Charter. Town Clerk Kate Wall stated that the Berlin Historic District has been removed from the Berlin Charter through court action. ? Sec. 8-17-1. Berlin VNA. Establishment. There shall be a Board of Directors which shall consist of twelve (12) electors of the Town for terms of three (3) years, provided, one third (?) of said directors’ term shall expire each year. Proposed Change: Reduce number of electors on Board of Directors to nine Directors. Chairman Luddy explained that a decrease to the number of VNA Board members is needed due to the difficult time the board has had trying to get enough members to attend the meeting and have a quorum. They would like to reduce the amount of members from 12 to 9. ? Sec. 3-2. Organization. The Council shall meet at 7:00 p.m. on the second (2) Tuesday following Election Day, to organize and commence business. Proposed Change: When the newly elected Town Council takes office. Town Clerk Kate Wall stated that the question has always been as to what would be the best time to hold this meeting. ? Sec. 3.8. General Powers and Duties of the Council (g). The Council shall have the power to accept or reject any and all gifts made to the town, in all cases subject to any terms of the gift. Proposed Change: Dollar amount on what has to be accepted by Town Council 2/5 Charter Revision Commission Meeting – June 11, 2007 up to $500.00 accepted by the Town Manager and a listing of the donations given monthly to the Town Council. Town Clerk Kate Wall explained that rather that stating “any and all gifts” it should state a dollar amount and the Town Manager could present a monthly report on the donations made to the Town for the Town Council for approval. Commissioner Dilzer stated that it should be the Town Council or designee that accepts the report and sets the dollar amount by ordinance. ? Sec. 3.8. General Powers and Duties of the Council. (h) The Town cannot purchase nor contract to purchase if such action would involve a single expenditure exceeding ten thousand ($10,000) dollars unless the Council approves the specific purchase or contract. Proposed Changes: ?Increase dollar amount from $10,000 to $25,000 ?Add language that if there is competitive bidding and three responsible sealed bids are received, the Council need not approve the awarding of contract if the bid is to be awarded to the lowest bidder and the amount is under $100,000. Town Clerk Kate Wall explained that the proposed language will allow the Town to go out to bid, receive three responsible bids, and award the bid to the lowest bidder without having to go through the Town Council for approval. Chairman Luddy explained that having to send the competitive bids to Council for approval does slow down the process. He stated that raising the dollar amount will also allow the competitive bidding process to move along faster. Sec. 5-1. Appointment. The Council shall appoint an Interim Town Manager, in the event of a vacancy in the Manager’s position to serve at the pleasure of the Council for not more than one hundred eighty (180) days while a search is conducted for a Manager. Proposed Change: Eliminate length of time an Interim Town Manager can serve. Sec. 5-1. Appointment. At the time of appointment, said Manager need not be a resident of the town or of the State of Connecticut but the Manager shall reside in the town during tenure of office. Proposed Change: Town Manager need not be a resident of Berlin. Chairman Luddy explained that requiring the Town Manager to live in town severally inhibits the Town Manager search process. 3/5 Charter Revision Commission Meeting – June 11, 2007 Commissioner Sorbo felt that the restrictions should be limited to allow the town to hire the most qualified person for Town Manager. Sec. 5-5. Purchasing and Payments. (a) The Manager cannot, with the Council approval, purchase or contract to purchase if such action involves an expenditure of ten thousand ($10,000) dollars or more unless otherwise provided under state law or regulation. Proposed Change: The amount would need to be changed if the amount in 3-10(h) is changed. Sec. 6-10-6. Department of Finance. Bond Authorization and Borrowings. All finance or capital leases, whether or not subject to non-appropriation clause, shall be approved in accordance with the provisions of this section. Proposed Change: Change to a dollar figure over $25,000. Town Clerk Kate Wall explained that this section has to do with finance or capital leases. All leases should go through the bond process, require Town Council approval, hold a public hearing, and have the ability to go to referendum. The commissioners requested more background and a clearer definition on capital leases from the Finance Department. Sec. 6-10-6. Department of Finance. Bond Authorization and Borrowing. Proposed Change: Approval of bonding for one project can be changed to another project by Council resolution. Language about the amount and/or similar project. Town Clerk Kate Wall explained that the Town Council currently can approve funds from one bonding project to another project by resolution. The Council feels that there should be language from the Bond Counsel to prohibit that from happening. Sec. 7-5. Annual Town Budget Referendum. Proposed Change: Include language about notice of referendum. The notice of referendum shall be published not more than fifteen (15) nor less than five (5) days previous to holding the election. Town Clerk Kate Wall stated that the Charter is silent on this matter and she has been following the 30 days set by state statute. She is requesting to change this language to the same as the bonding language. 4/5 Charter Revision Commission Meeting – June 11, 2007 Sec. 7-10. Non-budgeted Appropriations and Transfers. Approval of a Town Meeting is required before the Council may vote on a non-budgeted appropriation greater than twenty-five ($25,000) dollars or any non-budgeted appropriation which would cause the total of such non-budgeted appropriation during a given year to exceed two hundred fifty thousand ($250,000) dollars. Proposed Changes: ?Increase amount to go to Special Town Meeting to $50,000 ?Add language which clarifies that Contingency is excluded from the Town Meeting requirement Town Clerk Kate Wall stated that the request to increase the $25,000 to $50,000 came out of the Finance Department. There are numerous Town Meetings which no one attends. Also, clarification on whether this is a cumulative amount or per transfer. The commissioners felt that they should receive the actual wording needed to make the changes in this section from the Finance Department. Town Clerk Kate Wall also stated that transfers from the Contingency Fund are excluded from the Town Meeting process should be added to this section. Commissioner Mattioli stated that she would like the Finance Department to attend one of their meetings to elaborate on some of the proposed changes. Chairman Luddy stated that this concludes the discussions on the proposed Charter changes and that no decisions were made this evening. There was no substantive work done on the Charter this evening. The members thanked Town Clerk Kate Wall for attending the meeting on her vacation. 7.ADJOURNMENT Commissioner Dilzer moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:00 p.m. Seconded by Councilor Sorbo. PASSED UNANIMOUSLY 5-0. (MOTION CARRIED) Submitted, Marsha Busnarda ________________________ Recording Secretary John Luddy, Chairman 5/5