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 MINUTES RULES and GOVERNMENT RELATIONS Meeting 10/01/2020 Attendees: R&GR Committee Members: Councilor Thomas Peake, Chair Councilor Peg Conniff, Clerk Councilor Dan Rist Other Attendees: Homar Gomez, City Councilor Barbara LaBombard, City Clerk Absent: Meeting called to order at 5:00 pm. The meeting was recorded. Approval for past minutes. Minutes from 8/27/2020 were approved. MOTION by Councilor Rist; SECOND Councilor Conniff. Passed 3-0. 1. NEW BUSINESS • Discussion about potential change of polling location for Pr. 1,2,5 to EHS • The past primary election at WBMS was a challenge because of the construction. The City Clerk requested to move pr. 1,2 & 5 to EHS. There are plenty of ac- commodations available at the HS. There will be no negative impacts to anyone who is handicapped. • Parking on election day will available as there will be no school that day and all teachers will be working from home. • This change will remain in effect until the Council votes to change it back to WBMS. MOTION by Councilor Rist to recommend to full council to accept the change to the polling location for PR. 1,2 &5; SECOND Councilor Conniff. Passed 3-0.  • Proposal to amend Classification & Pay Plan to add position of Health Director • Mayor was not available to attend this meeting • R&GR committee will move this forward with no recommendation but will plan to discuss in full council on 10/7/2020. MOTION by Councilor Rist to move to full council with no recommendation the Proposal to amend Pay Plan for Health Director; SECOND Councilor Conniff. Passed 3-0. 2. OLD BUSINESS • Ordinance Review Committee discussion • Set public hearing for review on 10/22/2020 in this committee. Topics: Makeup of Committee; Process, etc. • Concern around Zoning. Do we approach Zoning and Ordinances separately? Councilor Peake suggested that some zoning reviews may already happening un- der the direction of City Planner Jeff Bagg. • It was agreed that having the ACLU participate would prove to be highly valuable. • If changes are recommended to Ordinances, likely those changes will need to be reviewed by the Ordinance committee. Minor wording changes may be able to be brought forward by the Rules and GR Committee. • Councilor Peake suggests that this committee may make other changes that make sense even if they do not impact systemic racism issues. • Councilor Rist believes that this Committee (R&GR) should define the makeup, rules and parameters for this committee. Councilor Peake agreed that there are some parameters we can define. • Many of these issues can be more clearly defined after the public hearing sched- uled for 10/22/2020. Suggestion that we be ready to present a plan to full city council on 11/4/2020 • 5:25 pm - Motion to adjourn by Councilor Rist, seconded by Councilor Conniff. Motion passed 3-0 Next Meeting: 10/22/2020 at 6:00 pm