CHARTER REVISION COMMISSION
REGULAR MEETING
January 10, 2012
I. CALL TO ORDER
Chairman Robert Heagney called the regular meeting of the Charter Revision Commission to order at 7:00 P. M. in the North Conference Room of Eno Memorial Hall, 754 Hopmeadow Street. The following members were also present: Darren Cunningham, James Fleming, Brad Mead, Dan Munroe, Peter Pabich, and John O’Neill. Also present were members of the Aging and Disability Commission, Board of Ethics, Building Code Board of Appeals, and Open Space Committee; Attorney Robert DeCrescenzo; Lisa Gray, Commission Clerk; and other interested parties.
II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
All present recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
III. PUBLIC AUDIENCE
None
IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
A motion was made by Commissioner O’Neill to approve the minutes of the December 13, 2011 meeting, as presented. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Mead, and passed unanimously.
V. INVITED GUESTS
Richard Order, Chair of the Board of Ethics, stated that he does not believe any charter revision is necessary to address ethical concerns, but he will ask for input from his board members and report back to the commission, if necessary.
Aging and Disability Commission (ADC) member, Peggy Shanks, advised the commission on the ADC’s purpose and activities. Another ADC member, Victor Bible, noted that he was willing to serve as a non-partisan commission member but, because of the political composition of the commission, he had to wait quite some time for an opening. Commissioner Fleming replied that the ADC’s political composition should be reviewed.
Emil Dahlquist, Chair of the Building Code Board of Appeals, stated that the current composition of his board as defined in the Charter, i.e. five permanent members and two alternates, is the preferred composition and his board would like to see that remain. There was a question as to whether this is in accordance with state statutes, which will have to be verified.
Charter Revision Commission
Regular Meeting
Minutes
January 10, 2012
Page 2
Mike Paine, Chair of the Open Space Committee, talked about his committee’s purpose, and Attorney Decrescenzo distributed a memo from another member of the committee, Mary Glassman, stating her opinion that the Open Space Committee is an important asset to the town and its current composition works well.
VI. DISCUSSION OF SECTIONS FOR POSSIBLE CHANGE
Attorney Decrescenzo distributed and reviewed a “Draft Charter Revision Required to Eliminate the Town Meeting and the Town Meeting Moderator” which he had created.
Commissioner Cunningham asked if there was any way the town could reduce its number of polling places from four to one. Attorney Decrescenzo replied that there doesn’t appear to be anything that would prevent that happening.
VII. ADJOURNMENT
A motion was made by Commissioner O’Neill to adjourn the meeting at 8:20 PM.
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Brad Mead, Secretary
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