June 24th 2015 Minutes - As Approved

MINUTES OF COLCHESTER GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE

COLCHESTER TOWN OFFICES

KIRKER RM
COLCHESTER, VT

June 24^th @ 9:00 a.m.

Present: Curt Taylor, Bud Meyers and David Usher

Absent: Mickey Palmer

LCATV was present. An audio recording was also made of the meeting.

1.      Call to Order: Chair David Usher called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m.

2.      Agenda Changes

No Changes

3.      No public input

None

4.      Selectboard Handbook

Bud Meyers has been reading the Vermont League of Cities and Town’s (VLCT) Handbook for Selectboards and suggested all committee members review it as it describes how town charters can be changed. He made the Committee aware of the fact that Vermont Statue allows for charter changes to be initiated by a petition from 5% of the town’s voters. The Selectboard is required to have a public hearing and the suggested change would have to be on the next Town election ballot. Detail are in the Handbook and in State Statute.

            Handbook: http://www.vlct.org/assets/Resource/Handbooks/VLCT_Selectboard_Handbook.pdf

                State Statute:

Title 17, Chapter 55, Subchapter 2, Section 2645

Title 17, Chapter 55, Subchapter 2, Section 2643

The Handbook has been placed on the Committee’s shared drive and will be available through the Committee’s blog.

5.      Approval of minutes from June 17^th 2015

MOTION by David Usher

SECONDED by Bud Meyers

APPROVED by unanimous vote.

6.      Conflict of Interest Considerations

The Committee has been discussing whether the Charter should require a Policy or an Ordinance dealing with Conflict of Interest and Ethics. The Committee agreed that there should be some language in the Charter requiring one or the other. The difference between the two has to do with the degree of public input through public hearings and methods of enforcement. Curt Taylor suggested that the Charter could specify that there be a policy with public hearings.

After discussion the Committee decided that David Usher will write a short white paper dealing with the issue and any recommendations. The Committee will review the paper and pass it on to the Selectboard at a later date.

7.      Storm Water Utility

Should the Committee take any action regarding the creation of a storm water utility for Colchester? After considering Bryan Osborne’s comments of June 10^th, the committee decided to wait until all members are present before voting on how to proceed. The Committee is considering two issues: should anything be in the Charter and should the Committee make a recommendation regarding regionalization of the utility. The current consensus is that no further action is required, but the issue will be raised again when Mickey Palmer is also present. Bud Meyer will write up a short description of our discussions.

8.      Appointed vs. Elected Town Clerk

Should the Committee take any action on this issue? The Committee had previously recommended to the Selectboard that the Town Clerk/Treasurer be an appointed rather than an elected position. The resulting town vote left the position as elected but by a very small margin. Bud Meyers suggested a short white paper be put together for the Selectboard regarding the issue. Curt Taylor volunteered to write same.

9.      Future Plans

Dawn Francis (Town Manager) will be presenting recommendations to the Committee at the July 8th meeting. The Committee then plans to meet again after that meeting and finalize a report to the Selectboard. Curt Taylor expressed concerns that the Committee has not finished with its review of the Charter. The consensus was that not that much is left to be done with the Charter. When a final version of the current Charter is available the committee members can review it and determine if there are further issues. David Usher will contact Linda Kingston at the town offices to obtain a copy of the most recent version of the Charter.

Proposed Calendar:

            July 1^st: Discussion of white papers and charter changes

            July 8^th: Dawn Francis’s recommendations and discussion

            July 15^th: Approval of white papers and Selectboard report

10.  Joan Boehm’s recommendations

The previous town manager (Joan Boehm) had made two Charter change recommendations regarding the town’s budget. One change had to do with what flexibility the Selectboard had regarding the use of the fund balance. The other concerned the ability for town department heads to exceed their budgets. After some discussion the Committee decided to receive input from both Aaron Frank (assistant town manager and CFO) and Dawn Francis, (current town manager).

11.  Adjournment

MOTION to adjourn by Curt Taylor

SECOND by Bud Meyers

APPROVED unanimously at 10:37 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Curt Taylor, Secretary

June 25^th 2015 (Draft), July 2^nd (Final)