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Charter Revision Commission

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CHARTER REVISION COMMISSION  MAY 5, 2008

EAST LYME TOWN HALL

MEETING MINUTES

Members Present:

Leonard Goldberg, Chairman

Ron Rando

Carole H. Green

Steve McCue

Tony Attanasio

Greg Massad

Christopher Sandford

James Anderson

Michael Foley

Members Excused:

Lawrence White

Robert Tobin

Also Present:

Jack Hogan, Ex-Officio

I.                   Call to Order

Chairman Goldberg called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.

II.                Pledge of Allegiance

There was no American Flag in the conference room.

III.             Delegations

There were no delegations.

IV.             New Business

a.   Discussion by Commission Regarding Proposed Changes to Charter    

Chairman Goldberg asked for all of the members to introduce themselves.

James Anderson stated he was relatively new to town as he has only been here 25 years, he was on the Board of Education for a while, and he has 2 children in high school.

Tony Attanasio stated he has been in town for 11 years, he has a son who graduated last year, he has served on the Board of Assessment Appeals, and he is an engineer and is now working in the biomedical field.

Carole Green stated her family has been in town since 1955, she is retired from Verizon in public relations, previously lived in Washington, DC, but is now back home.

Christopher Sandford stated he has only been in town for 2 years, he was on the Board of Selectmen in Voluntown, and was just elected to the Planning Commission.

Steve McCue stated he has lived in town for 36 years, he has been on the Board of Education off and on for the last 10 years, he is retired from AT&T, and is now teaching in Old Saybrook, and he has 3 children, who are all grown.

Chairman Goldberg stated he has lived in town for 9 years, he is an accountant, and he has recently gone into health care.

Greg Massad stated he is an attorney, and he has lived in town full time since 1993, he grew up spending the summers in Saunders Point, he is a Zoning Commission alternate, and he previously was on the City Council in New London for 4 years.

Mike Foley stated he is a native of East Lyme, and he previously ran a property management company in town, and now he is dealing in real estate investments.

Jack Hogan stated he is the ex-officio from the Board of Selectmen.

Chairman Goldberg stated he would like to get the thoughts of the committee on what they would like to take into consideration during their time together.  He would also like to discuss how they want to go about this process, and see what types of charges could be made.

Christopher Sandford stated that people would probably have many different issues.

Ron Rando entered the meeting at 7:10 p.m.

Carole Green stated regarding the packet from Esther Williams, most of her information looks like housekeeping.

Mike Foley stated we should get the information from ourselves and from the public at the public hearing, and then take the lists of topics and sit down with sub-committees.

Chairman Goldberg stated he would like to walk through the charter now.

Christopher Sandford stated that the whole thing does need to be looked at.

James Anderson stated our priorities have been set up for us.  We are required to hold a public hearing, we have to follow the charge that was given to us by the Board of Selectmen, and then we can determine what we have from the input at the public hearing, and what personal ideas we have can be looked at in the time that is left over, but our prime directive is from the Board of Selectmen.

Tony Attanasio stated that list from the Board of Selectmen should be looked at by the whole committee.

James Anderson stated the sub-committees should be informational only, and the Commission as a whole should make the recommendations.

Chairman Goldberg stated we will address those 4 items first as an entire committee, and then we can do the housekeeping that Esther Williams provided to us.

Ron Rando stated he felt the whole committee should look at everything.

James Anderson stated if that were possible it would be a good idea as that is ideal.

Mike Foley stated this job must be done in the time that we have been given.

 Ron Rando stated this could change the way the town is run.

Mike Foley stated we are here to address one issue, which is the budget referendum, and then everything else.

James Anderson stated that nothing should be off the table.

Ron Rando stated he was given some ideas from someone who stopped into his store and he would like to share them.  The individual wanted a mandatory budget referendum, and they wanted to split the Board of Education and the Town budget.

Greg Massad suggested they go through the charter in order and pick out what we want to look at.

Chairman Goldberg stated that would be difficult to do without a public hearing.

James Anderson stated they couldn’t do any substantive work before the public hearing.

Mike Foley asked how they could avoid deciding things now and then revisiting them over and over again.

Steve McCue stated until we have public hearing we couldn’t do anything.

James Anderson stated that Esther Williams’s housekeeping issues were suggested 4 years ago.

Jack Hogan stated they did look at some of them, and they all have their own individual things they would like to see changed.  The sub-committees can make recommendations to the Committee as a whole, and the sub-committees are just mainly there to do research for the Committee.  There are no decisions made by the sub-committees.

Chairman Goldberg suggested they walk through the current charter, and he would like to start with Section 1.

James Anderson stated that Connecticut is pretty unusual as it does permit municipal employees to serve on boards.  (He passed around the Statute that says that information.)  That comes from having a part time legislature.

Greg Massad stated after reviewing the Statute that was passed around that it is not exactly as originally stated by Mr. Anderson, certain boards are not included in that Statute.

James Anderson stated there are a number of instances in where the language is not carried throughout the Charter, he thought it was confusing, and he felt the language should be uniform, but that is a housekeeping issue.

Greg Massad stated he saw a lot of inconsistent things, and he suggested that the Definition section might need to be expanded.

Mike Foley stated we have to be practical.  If we make a change on every page it will be a ballot nightmare, we can’t give people 30 things to decide.

Chairman Goldberg stated the next Section 2.1.0 is a suggested amendment from the Board of Selectmen so that it includes an alternate to the Board of Finance.

Ron Rando thought they should have 2 alternates instead of one.

James Anderson stated we would have to see what the law says.

Christopher Sandford stated it is not 2.1.0 but 2.1.7.

Mike Foley asked if there is any practical reason not to do this?

Jack Hogan stated it is something that has come up recently.

Mike Foley asked if there would be any objection to changing this?

Carole Green stated they should consider 2 alternates.

Christopher Sandford stated it would rely upon minority representation.

Jack Hogan stated something took place and it was a bit uncomfortable, it was a political issue.

Carole Green asked if the public would have to vote on every single correction?

Jack Hogan stated yes, any change that is proposed.

Greg Massad stated he would like to see if the housekeeping issues could all be lumped together.

Chairman Goldberg stated that would be a legal question for the town attorney.

Greg Massad stated he would like them to look at Section 2.3, which states someone can live outside of town and run for office as long as they are a resident by Election Day. 

James Anderson stated that doesn’t make sense.

Chairman Goldberg brought the attention to Section 2.7 regarding term of office of the First Selectman.

Ron Rando stated it should be a four-year term for the First Selectman.

Carole Green agreed with Mr. Rando.

Mike Foley stated that was an easy one.

Jack Hogan stated the last Charter Revision Commission proposed that change, but the public voted it down.  The only thing that passed from the last Charter Revision Commission was that the loser from the First Selectman’s race was not automatically on the Board of Selectmen anymore.

Christopher Sandford stated these questions would be on the ballot at the same time as the next First Selectman race.

Ron Rando stated that last Commission did a good job on their questions.

Jack Hogan stated if you look at their votes, everyone on the Commission was unanimous on what to put on the ballot, but then the people at the polls voted most of them down.  He advised they keep this Commission very apolitical.

Chairman Goldberg asked for any comments on Section 3.

Greg Massad stated Section 3.2.3 gave the Board of Selectmen the right to overrule the First Selectman on hiring and discipline issues, and he feels that has the potential to stall the government.  If the First Selectman is one party, but the Board of Selectmen is a majority of another party.

Chairman Goldberg stated it gave the town checks and balances.

Ron Rando stated everything goes through the Board of Selectmen.  Items are brought to them and they vote.  The Town Meeting was good when he was growing up, now the town has over 18,000 people, if they look at the whole charter, they can change the town for the better.

Greg Massad stated Section 3.3.1.5 refers to any acquisition of real estate by the town over $1,000 must be voted on.

Chairman Goldberg stated they could increase that to a more reasonable amount.

Christopher Sandford stated an amount to bid might be a starting point.

Chairman Goldberg stated another issue that was brought to them by the Board of Selectmen was Section 4.4.1, which is to extend the First Selectman’s appointments to 30 days.  The 15 days doesn’t go along with the Board of Selectmen’s meeting schedule.

Ron Rando said he wants that to be 30 days.

Chairman Goldberg stated it has been requested that they delete Section 5.4, as the town is now a member of Ledge Light Health District.

Mike Foley asked what happens if the town decides to no longer be a member.

Chairman Goldberg stated they would like to be consistent.

James Anderson stated the Statutes might have some effect here.

Tony Attanasio stated it could include something if there is a withdrawal from Ledge Light.

Chairman Goldberg stated there really is no reason to have that.

Greg Massad stated they could keep it as it is now, and put in “unless the town is a member of Ledge Light”

Chairman Goldberg stated we should look at the Statute with regard to that.

Carole Green asked about Section 4.2.4, which references the 1^st Monday of January 1966.

James Anderson stated they could add “years divisible by 4.”  If housekeeping issues can be bundled then we can look at that.  We should find out if it can be bundled sooner rather than later.

Chairman Goldberg asked for comments on Section 6.

Carole Green stated Section 6.1.4 was ambiguous, where it says 1 or more Public Hearings.

James Anderson stated this makes them hold at least one.

Chairman Goldberg stated if the Referendum becomes automatic the Public Hearing will only be informative.

Ron Rando stated Esther Williams brought Section 6.2.1 to their attention; it is now the Board of Assessment Appeals instead of the Board of Tax Review.

Chairman Goldberg stated Section 7.3 was requested by the Board of Selectmen for them to review, so that it would read the Annual Town Meeting was to discuss the budget, and would be subject to automatic referendum.

James Anderson stated the Annual Town Meeting consisted of electors of the town, however there is nothing that makes someone prove their eligibility to participate.

Chairman Goldberg stated at the last town meeting the moderator stated the requirements of participants.

James Anderson stated the Charter doesn’t require them to enforce that though.

Chairman Goldberg stated the moderator states at the opening of the meeting that anyone in violation could be subject to fines.

James Anderson stated he thinks people should have to give proof to even talk.

Mike Foley stated that becomes very cumbersome.

Chairman Goldberg stated the Town Meeting would only be informative.

Jack Hogan stated if there were an automatic referendum the budget presented would only be informative.

Christopher Sandford stated they should schedule the Public Hearing in June before school gets out.

James Anderson thought May 19^th would be ideal, it would be after the Town Meeting and they could have the Moderator make an announcement at the Town Meeting on the 12^th.

Chairman Goldberg asked if the 19^th would be good for everyone.

Mike Foley suggested Chairman Goldberg put a letter to the editor in The Day about the Public Hearing.

James Anderson suggested a press release.

Chairman Goldberg stated he may be able to get something in the Lyme Tymes as well, and could contact Kevin Hogan.

James Anderson suggested they have 2 or 3 letters a week sent to The Day, and they should have the moderator make an announcement, he also suggested having questionnaires at the Town Meeting.

Christopher Sandford suggested they develop some unbiased questions and make them very generic.

Jack Hogan stated they should ask specific questions because most people don’t know specifics about the Charter.

V.                Old Business

Chairman Goldberg asked what everyone’s opinion was on adopting Robert’s Rules of Order.

Motion (1)

James Anderson moved to adopt Robert’s Rules of Order and to appoint a Parliamentarian.

Seconded by Carole Green

Chairman Goldberg stated he would like to ensure whatever business they attend to is in a manner that everyone is pleased with.

Greg Massad stated we might be opening ourselves up to a challenge.

James Anderson stated with a Parliamentarian the public is less likely to want to challenge them as long as everything is transparent.

Ron Rando stated he would like the public’s input.

Chairman Goldberg stated it makes sense to do what other boards do.

Greg Massad asked if we really want to be so technical.

James Anderson stated when he was on the Board of Education it was pretty simple, they are just trying to get business done.

Mike Foley stated he can see both sides of the discussion, but if they want to use Robert’s Rules as a tool, that is fine with him.

Motion Approved 8-1

(Nay – Gregg Massad)

Mike Foley asked if they wanted to meet before the Public Hearing.

Chairman Goldberg stated he thought they should.

Mike Foley stated we should just meet to pick a format for the Public Hearing.

Chairman Goldberg stated they could meet on Wednesday, May 14^th at 7:00.

Carole Green stated she would not be able to attend, as she will be in Florida.

Chairman Goldberg stated they would be preparing the agenda for the Public Hearing and would like any input on things that have been discussed.

Mike Foley asked if they would go back and forth at the public hearing or if they would only be listening.

James Anderson stated they should have an opening statement by the Chairman and ask for the public’s input, and ask that it not be longer than 5 minutes each.

VI.             Public Discussion

Mike Schulz, Lovers Lane asked if this Board’s intention was to go over ordinances as well? 

Chairman Goldberg stated that this Commission’s charge is for the Charter, the Board of Selectmen changes the ordinances.

Mr. Schulz stated he would like them to change where it allows persons employed by the Town of East Lyme to serve on any board, he feels that is a conflict of interest.  He also wants them to change Section 2 regarding the alternates to the Board of Finance and that they can serve 4 year terms.  State Statute allows up to 3 alternates.  He also feels the 5 Selectmen should be compensated.  He feels that the challenges and responsibilities are greater than should be expected of our First Selectman, and there should be a change to the Charter made that allows for an Assistant to the First Selectman, and they could have it filled by one elected member of the Board of Selectmen.

MOTION (2)

Christopher Sandford moved to adjourn the May 5, 2008 meeting of the Charter Revision Commission.

Seconded by Mike Foley.

Motion Approved (9-0).

Respectfully Submitted,

Karen Miller Galbo

Recording Secretary