VLCT Selectboard Handbook - Link

This is a link to the Vermont League of Cities and Town's Selectboard Handbook. The handbook contains much valuable information regarding charters, ordinances and policies.

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

2015-06-24 Agenda Governance Committee Meeting

Agenda - Colchester Governance Committee Meeting

Wednesday, June 24 9-11am

Kirker Community Room

835 Blakely Rd, Colchester, VT

I. Call to Order

II. Agenda Review

III. Public Input - Members of the public are welcome to attend and provide input.

IV. Business

1. Approval of Prior Meeting Minutes
2. Charter Revisions Discussion

1. Continue Conflict of Interest Considerations
2. Discussion of Stormwater Utility
3. Appointed Clerk Strategy
4. Future committee work

V. Adjourn

June 10th 2015 Minutes - As Approved

MINUTES OF COLCHESTER GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE

COLCHESTER TOWN OFFICES

“The Fish Bowl”
COLCHESTER, VT

June 10^th @ 9:00 a.m.

Present: Curt Taylor, Mickey Palmer, Bud Meyers and David Usher

LCATV was not present. An audio recording was made of the meeting.

1.      Call to Order: Chair David Usher called the meeting to order at 9:03 a.m.

2.      Agenda Changes

a.       Mickey Palmer pointed out an inconsistency regarding fines in the Charter in that fines are said to be no greater than a specific amount and yet there are fines in the ordinances that are greater than that. The charter change to fix this was bundled with another during the November, 2014 Charger Change vote and voted down. Mickey asked that this become an agenda item at a later date. Chair agreed.

b.      Curt asked that approval of previous minutes be on the agenda.

3.      Approval of minutes from July 28^th 2014

MOTION by Bud Meyers

SECONDED by Mickey Palmer

APPROVED by unanimous vote.

4.      Approval of minutes from May 29^th 2015

Bud pointed out that the date is not in the header.

MOTION by Mickey Palmer

SECONDED by Bud Meyers

APPROVED by unanimous vote.

5.      Meeting schedule and Locations

David Usher has scheduled the Kirker room for the next 6 weeks for the Governance Committee from 9:00 am to 11:00 am. Curt will contact LCATV.

After some discussion it was decided that we would continue to use the Governance Committee blog (ColchesterGovernance.blogspot.com) to post agendas and minutes and use the ColchesterCharter@gmail.com Google Drive for documents and supporting information. There has been come confusion as to how material is stored on Google Drive. At the next meeting we will take time to go over the organization of the Drive.

6.      A final version of the changed charter

David Usher had received a final version of the Town Charter from the town manager but several changes had not been made. After reviewing those changes the committee decided to have the Town administration make the changes and return a more accurate version.

7.      Conflict of Interest Policy

David Usher introduced the idea that the Charter should require the Selectboard to develop a Conflict of Interest (COI) Ordinance or Policy. He proposed Charter language to do so. The Town already has a comprehensive COI policy but such a policy or ordinance is not required by the Charter. Bud Meyers expressed an interest in having more citizen involvement in the development or approval of the policy. This might be done by requiring that this policy be an ordinance with associated public hearings. Questions arose as to the enforcement of ordinances vs. policies. There was some concern that the current policy says only that the Selectboard must hear the recommendation of the Ethics Committee. The Selectboard’s decision is final.

After considerable discussion regarding how policies or ordinances are changed the committee decided that the topic would be raised at the next meeting and that committee members should consider the language proposed by David Usher. Mickey Palmer suggested that the Charter might specify what the policy should cover and how it might be changed. The Committee agreed that Chapter 9 of the Charter regarding this issue needs consideration and possible modification.

8.      Appointed Clerk Strategy

The Committee has already made a recommendation to the Selectboard that the Clerk/Treasurer position be appointed rather than elected. That charter change was rejected by a margin of 13 votes. Should the Committee suggest a strategy for resubmitting this issue to the voters? The decision was to leave the issue alone and let the Town administration and Selectboard decide how to handle it.

9.      Storm Water Utility

The Town is considering creating a Storm Water Utility in order to collect fees and manage storm water runoff. State statute enables towns to create such utilities and Bryan Osborne (Colchester’s Director of Public Works) does not think a Charter change is necessary.

The question was then raised as to whether such a Storm Water Utility should be a regional entity. State statute enables Towns to create regional Utilities so this may not be a Charter issue. It is within the charge of the Governance Committee to make recommendations regarding regionalization. David Usher suggested that the first step is to hear from Bryan Osborne. The committee agreed and Bryan Osborne will be contacted. There is also already a Colchester Storm Water Advisory Committee that may be considering the issue.

10.   Future Committee Work

a.       Town Manager Report: The Committee agreed that it would be good to hear suggestions and thoughts from the Dawn Francis. David Usher will schedule her for a future meeting

b.      Plowing of Private Roads: The Committee has recommended that’s the Charter paragraph be removed from the Charter but Mickey Palmer thinks this should be discussed in detail and a concrete recommendation made. David Usher asked Mickey Palmer to write up some of his thoughts on what such a recommendation might be.

c.       Assessor quorum issue: This issue has yet to be addressed.

d.      Board of Civil Authority (BCA): Bud Meyers, who originally raised this issue, felt that after further research it was not really necessary to change the Charter. The relevant information regarding the BCA is in the Vermont League of City and Town’s Selectboard Handbook. The information can also be obtained from the Town Clerk.

e.       Charter Review: This can be done when we have a final version of the current Charter.

11.  Adjournment

MOTION to adjourn by Curt Taylor

SECOND by Mickey Palmer

APPROVED unanimously at 11:00 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Curt Taylor, Secretary

June 12^th 2015

2015-06-17 Governance Committee Agenda

Agenda - Colchester Governance Committee Meeting

Wednesday, June 17 at 10am

Kirker Community Room

835 Blakely Rd, Colchester, VT

I. Call to Order

II. Agenda Review

III. Public Input - Members of the public are welcome to attend and provide input.

IV. Business

1. Approval of Prior Meeting Minutes
2. Hands-on Review of Google ColchesterCharter Account
3. Charter Revisions Discussion

1. Stormwater-  Bryan Osborne
2. Appointed Clerk Strategy
3. Public Roads Approach
4. Future committee work

V. Adjourn

This link provides access to a document prepared by Curt Taylor, Secretary, summarizing the work of the Governance Committee and the various Town votes and Legislative actions approving Colchester's charter changes since 2013.

May 29th 2015 Minutes - As Approved

MINUTES OF COLCHESTER GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE

COLCHESTER POLICE STATION

KIRKER ROOM
COLCHESTER, VT

May 29^th 2015 @ 10:00 a.m.

Present: Curt Taylor, Mickey Palmer, Bud Meyers and David Usher

LCATV was not present. An audio recording was made of the meeting.

1.      Vice-Chair David Usher called the meeting to order at 10:03 a.m.

2.      There was some discussion about finding the most recent version of the charter and collecting important information as to where we were when last we worked on the Charter. David Usher said he would contact Jacob Hemmerick to locate the copy of the Charter that shows changes we had suggested.

3.      Dawn Francis (Colchester Town Manager) joined the meeting at 10:06 and left at 10:30.

4.      Future Meetings: All members voiced a readiness to begin work immediately and regularly. Members decided to meet weekly at 9:00 am on Wednesdays. Curt Taylor said he could not make Wednesday, June 3^rd so the next meeting will be June 10^th.

5.      New Chair: Because Jacob Hemmerick has resigned from the committee the committee needs a new chair.

                        MOTION by Bud Meyers for David Usher to be the committee’s chair

                        SECONDED by Mickey Palmer

                        APPROVED by unanimous vote.

6.      Potential Issues: David Usher asked what issues we have left to take up. Dawn pointed out that there were issues mentioned by department heads early on that might need revisiting. That information will be located.

a.       Town Clerk: There was interest in trying again to get the Town Clerk/Treasurer as an appointed rather than elected positon. Dawn Francis confirmed that the Selectboard is also interested in the issue being brought up after a couple years.

b.      Community Engagement Process: This includes the use of Front Porch Forum to announce committee agendas and solicit input from the community.

c.       Storm Water Utility: The Town has expressed an interest in creating a Storm Water Utility. Regionalizing such a utility should also be investigated. There are other regionalization initiatives that need attention.

d.      Conflict of Interest: David Usher suggested that the Charter should contain a requirement that the Town have a written conflict of interest policy. This was added as an item to be discussed at future meetings.

e.       Town Manager and the Charter: David Usher suggested we hear from Dawn Francis regarding the Town Manager’s position; what might be changed or not. The Committee agreed.

f.       Snow Plowing of Private Roads: This issue may well be revisited.

g.      Assessor: David Usher raised the issue of the whether or not the assessor can be called upon to fill the quorum of the Lister’s meetings.

h.      Board of Civil Authority: Bud Meyers presented the idea that the Charter should have a clear description of how Property Taxes are appealed. The Charter contains no reference to Board of Civil Authority.

7.      Next Meeting’s Agenda: The Committee decided to deal with the following during the next meeting:

a.       Town Manager’s Roles and Responsibilities

b.      Conflict of Interest in the Charter

8.      MOTION to adjourn by Curt Taylor

SECOND by Mickey Palmer

APPROVED unanimously at 11:15 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Curt Taylor Secretary,

May 29^th 2015 (Draft), June 12^th (Final)

Spring 2015 - Colchester Governance Committee Resumes Meetings

In the recently adjourned session, the Legislature enacted the various charter changes that were approved by Colchester voters in March, specifically implementation of a local option sales tax.

The Governance Committee has resumed its review of those portions of the charter that we had not addressed. We met on May 29, and will meet again on June 10 at 10:00 am in the Champlain Room at the Town Offices.

The agenda for that meeting is here. The public is welcome to attend.

Agenda - Colchester Governance Committee Meeting

Wednesday, June 10 at 10am

Colchester Town Offices, Champlain Room

781 Blakely Rd, Colchester, VT

I. Call to Order

II. Agenda Review

III. Public Input - Members of the public are welcome to attend and provide input.

IV. Business

1. Meeting Schedule and Locations
2. Charter Revisions Discussion

1. Conflict of Interest
2. Appointed Clerk Strategy
3. Report on discussion with Bryan Osborne
4. Future committee work

V. Adjourn