City Council - Rules & Government Relations Committee

CITY OF EASTHAMPTON OFFICE OF THE CITY COUNCIL Easthampton Municipal Building 50 Payson Ave., Ste. 100 Easthampton, Massachusetts 01027-2260 Telephone #: (413) 529-1460 7/09/20 MINUTES RULES and GOVERNMENT RELATIONS Meeting 7/09/2020 Attendees: R&GR Committee Members: Councilor Thomas Peake, Chair Councilor Peg Conniff, Clerk Councilor Dan Rist Other Attendees: Nicole LaChapelle, Mayor Homar Gomez, City Councilor, Precinct 2 Sara Amoroso, resident, member of City Charter Review Committee Meeting called to order at 5:00pm. The meeting was held remotely and was videotaped. 1. Approval of past minutes. None to approve. 2. Review of City Charter changes suggested by the Charter Review Committee • Councilor Peake summarized the process for changing a City Charter - including the need for the State Legislature to sign off on the changes. • There were changes that required a vote by the residents of Easthampton. Two of those changes passed in the 2019 municipal election: A. Ranked Choice Voting for Mayor and At-Large Councilors and B. 4-year term for Mayor • The changes to be reviewed tonight were more housekeeping in nature and some include suggestions from the city attorney. 3. Review by Section of the City Charter Review: • Mayor had questions around the process of this committee and the path forward for the City Charter. Tom Peake would like to respect the work of the Charter Review Commit- tee and get this document to a place to submit a legislative petition to the state. • Article 1 -Minor wording changes, re-wording for clarification and definition changes. Including changes made by City Attorney on “electronic” wording. • Article 2 - • Section 2-1: Changed “district” to “precinct” • Section 2-3: Changed the way City Council members can be compensated for ad- ditional jobs provided to the city as long as the position is temporary and the Ethics Division of the AG office does not object. (i.e. school coach, animal con- trol) • Section 2-4: Changes to how a City Councilor could be reimbursed for necessary expenses…added the stipulation that it would be approved by council president. • Section 2-6; 2-7; 2-8: Wording changes. • Section 2-9: Multiple changes to the process for City Council to pass a measure in one meeting including notifying the City Clerk for placement of that intent on the agenda for public awareness. Other wording changes for clarification. • Section 2-10: changed timing for approval to 45 days. Changes to department head appointment timing to take action for next scheduled council meeting. • Section 2-11: Ranked Choice Voting will need to be added. Add the provision to fill vacancies in City Council via special meeting of city council within 60 days of vacancy. • Article 3 - • Section 3-1; 3-2; 3-3 no significant changes • Section 3-4: Remove the language around city council disapprove of a the May- or’s ability to remove someone from a position. In other areas the Charter states that City Council will only have the authority to express satisfaction or dissatisfac- tion. There was ambiguity and this change was made to remove ambiguity. • Section 3-5 to 3-8 minor wording changes or no change to some sections • Article 4 - • Section 4-1 - Changes to School Committee “Powers and Duties” section primari- ly clarifying areas of ambiguity in the language • Section 4-2 - Change “president” of School Committee to “Chairperson”. • Article 5 - • Section 5-1 - No change • Section 5-2 - Added “electronic publication” regarding school budget • Section 5-3 - No change • Section 5-4 - No change • Section 5-5 - Removed a subsection around estimating free cash and surplus at the end of current fiscal year as this will not be known until many months after the start of the next fiscal year. • Section 5-6 - various wording changes for clarity. Discussion around when City Council should approve a budget. 60/90 days after receipt or by June 30 prior to the start of the fiscal year. No decision was made on whether this needs to be an amendment. • Section 5-7 - Clarifying language. Also we need to recheck whether MGL allows majority or 2/3 of council vote for interdepartmental transfers. Mayor has re-  quested a change the timing of when Capital Improvement Program is delivered. 150 days is current. Mayor requested 90 days. • No further changes Next meeting will start reviewing the Charter with Article 6. 7:00 pm - Meeting was adjourned Next Meeting: July 23, 2020