Salisbury Charter Committee

Minutes of Regular Meeting

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Members Present: Bob Carroll (BC), Chairman; Vice Chairman; Robert Straubel (RS), Clerk; Mary Cuddire (MC); Jim Dondero (JD);; Ed Hunt (EH)

Member(s) Absent: Harold Congdon (HC), Mike Gilbert (MG)

Visitors: Ms. Marilyn Contreas, Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development [“DHCD”]

BC Opens Regular Meeting at 7:01 p.m.

1. Old Business
1. Pike School Trust Agreement

i. BC has been unable to locate a copy of the original Pike School Trust Agreement and a member of the historical commission, Bev Gulazian, is out of town. Therefore the Committee’s efforts to combine the historical commission and the Pike School Trustees are still on hold.

2. Approval of June 16, 2009 Meeting Minutes
1. EH moves to approve the minutes as presented – JD seconds – vote in favor 5-0 (unanimous).

3. Discussion with Marilyn Contreas, DHCD

1. BC sent Ms. Contreas a list of questions and she intended to bring some materials to help answer these questions; however, she forgot the materials and so will send copies to BC for distribution to the Committee members at a later time.
2. Approval Process for recommended changes

i. BC explains the committee’s intended method of adding changes which will be to submit a warrant article at the fall town meeting and then put the approved changes on the ballot of the next regularly scheduled town meeting. Changes will also be submitted to the Attorney General as required by Massachusetts General Laws [“MGL”] C. 43B, § 10. Ms. Contreas agrees that this is an appropriate procedure.

3. Emergency Powers provision in Charter

i. Ms. Contreas suggests adding a section to the Charter under the Town Manager article (Article 4) that defines the town manager’s duties and authority in the event of a declared emergency. This may involve a review of the town’s agreement with FEMA.

ii. Some members of the Committee believe that the town’s emergency management director, currently Bob Cook, is in charge of all town personnel during an emergency, as they believe this was the procedure during the last town emergency. However, it’s unclear exactly where the town manager would have been involved in the last emergency because he was on vacation when it occurred.

iii. Ms. Contreas will send suggested wording and suggests checking the NERAC agreement as this may be the controlling document.

4. Town Moderator replacement

i. After discussion with Ms. Contreas regarding how long the deputy moderator would serve if the moderator became incapacitated during his or her term, JD moves to add the following wording to the first paragraph of Salisbury Charter §2-2: “If a permanent vacancy in the position of moderator should occur, the deputy moderator shall serve as moderator until the next scheduled Town Election at which time a moderator shall be elected to serve a full term.”– MC seconds – vote in favor 5-0 unanimous.

5. Periodic review intervals

i. Ms. Contreas notes that in Salisbury Charter §7-7 both the Charter Review described in paragraph (a) and the By-Law Review described in section (b) occur during the same year. Because of the possibility that a change could be made to the Charter that could conflict with a change made to the By-Laws, it would be better to stagger the intervals so that the Charter review took place in years ending in “9” and the By-Law review took place in years ending in “0” and “5”.

6. References to Massachusetts General Laws in Salisbury Charter

i. Ms. Contreas believes it is unwise to put references to the MGL in the body of the Charter because the MGL are often amended and in ten years many of the references could become invalid. She agrees that using footnotes as references is the preferred method because footnotes carry less legal weight than the Charter wording itself.

4. Discussion – Article 5 of the Charter (Administrative Organization)

1. Salisbury Charter § 5-1

i. BC notes typo in (b) the word “alter” should be “after”.

2. Salisbury Charter § 5-2

i. BC suggests that the Committee recommend that a footnote referencing MGL C. 40, § 49 be added to the end of the section.

3. Salisbury Charter § 5-3

i. The Committee has no suggestions.

4. Salisbury Charter § 5-4

i. T he Committee has no suggestions.

5. Salisbury Charter § 5-5

i. T he Committee has no suggestions.

6. Salisbury Charter § 5-6

i. JD suggests that, in order to make the appointment of the Public Works Director consistent with the appointment procedure for other department heads, the Committee recommend that the words “shall become effective on the fifteenth day following the day notice of the appointment is filed with the Board of Selectmen unless the Board of Selectmen shall, within that period, by a majority of all of its members, vote to reject such appointment.” be removed from paragraph (a).

ii. BC suggests that, because the references in the last paragraph to various town officials are outdated, the Committee recommend that the last paragraph in this section be removed in its entirety.

7. Salisbury Charter § 5-7

i. JD suggests that the Committee discuss with the Town Manager the meaning of paragraph (a) and whether or not the Town Clerk reports to the Finance Director.

5. Vote on recommended changes to Article 4 of the Charter (Town Manager)
1. JD moves that, as suggested originally by MG at the previous meeting, the committee recommend adding a footnote referring to MGL Chapter 30, Article IV of the Town By-Laws after the words “Town Manager Screening Committee By-Law” in Salisbury Charter § 4-1 –EH seconds – vote in favor 5-0 (unanimous).
2. JD moves that, as suggested by MG at the last meeting, the Committee recommend removal of the words “except the school department.” found at the end of Salisbury Charter § 4-2 (c) and replace the comma after the word “agency” with a period – EH seconds – vote in favor 5-0 (unanimous).
3. In accordance with a suggestion by MG at the last meeting, RS moves that the Committee recommend that Salisbury Charter § 4-2(e) be changed and the words “as required by Massachusetts General Laws” be inserted after the comma after the word “on”, and a footnote referencing MGL C. 40, §49 be added after the words “Massachusetts General Laws” –JD seconds – vote in favor 5-0 (unanimous).
4. RS moves , per the suggestion of MG at the previous meeting, that the Committee recommend that a footnote be added at the end of Salisbury Charter § 5-2 referencing Chapter 40, § 49 of the Massachusetts General Laws. JD seconds for the purpose of discussion – vote in favor 0-5 (unanimously defeated).
5. JD moves that, as suggested by MG, the Committee recommend that the words “in print and electronically.” be added at the end of Salisbury Charter §4-2 (e) – RS seconds – vote in favor 5-0 (unanimous).
6. JD moves, per MG’s suggestion made at the previous meeting, that the Committee recommend the words “,if any,” be inserted in the second paragraph of Salisbury Charter § 4-2 (i) between the words “property” and “to” – RS seconds – vote in favor 5-0 (unanimous).
7. JD moves, per MG’s suggestion made at the previous meeting, that the Committee recommend that the words “, except employees of the school department,” be removed from Salisbury Charter § 4-2 (j) – MC seconds – vote in favor 5-0 (unanimous).
8. JD moves, per MG’s suggestion made at the previous meeting, that the Committee recommend that the words “,but not including food for schools, schoolbooks and other instructional material, supplies and equipment” and “, except schools” be removed from Salisbury Charter § 4-2(k) – RS seconds – vote in favor 5-0 (unanimous).
6. Visitor Comments
1. No visitors present, Ms. Contreas having left earlier.
7. Adjournment
1. JD moves to adjourn – MC seconds – vote in favor 5-0 (unanimous). Meeting adjourns at 8:35 PM.

Minutes Approved By:_____________________________ Date:___________