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 10/26/2020 Attendees: R&GR Committee Members: Councilor Thomas Peake, Chair Councilor Peg Conniff, Clerk Councilor Dan Rist Other Attendees: Dan Gilbert - RCV Committee Homar Gomez - City Council James Kwiecinski - City Council Paul St. Pierre - Resident and Candidate for City Council Vacancy Meeting called to order at 5:00 pm. The meeting was recorded. 1. NEW BUSINESS • Consideration of amendment to Council Rule 8B (tie votes) • Councilor Peake reviewed the need for this change to the City Council Rule. When there are only 8 votes, there is a real statistical probability of a tie. • 3 Scenarios • 4 people vote for 1 candidate, 4 people vote for another candidate. Round 1 = Tie • 3 candidates each get 1 vote - How do we determine which candidate is eliminated. • In later rounds, (not the first round) 2 candidates resolve down to 4 votes each. • Dan Rist requested a review and clarification of the math on each round. • Councilor Peake reviewed the existing rule and the suggested amendments (at- tached to these minutes)  • If there is a 2-2-2-2 tie in round 1, and there is a candidate who is the second choice of no one, that person is eliminated. • After Round 1, look at how a person did in a previous round. (Round 1 (4-3- 1) The person with 1 vote is eliminated, there vote transfers, we end up with a 4-4 tie in Round 2. The thought was that the winner would be who- ever got the most first place votes. • Councilor Kwiecinski suggests that if you vote your first choice and that person is eliminated….essentially a throw away vote. He suggested that in the case of a tie, re-vote for those 2 candidates - one time. If the vote does not break the tie, the suggestion is to flip a coin to determine a winner. • Dan Gilbert weighed in and suggested that a system that moves to a repeat- ing ballot for a tie breaker. • Councilor Conniff suggested that voice votes may influence others who came before them. Do a ballot that keeps original votes secret (using email to City Clerk) until they are announced to remove any influence. • Dan Gilbert displayed a grid illustrating the explanations from Tom Peake • Councilor Peake suggested we review each committee members preferences. • A scenario where those who have certain people favor 1 over the other but really do not like the other person, whereas, the other candidate may have 4 votes but is also the second candidate for everyone else. Councilor Conniff suggests the person who has the most preferred average of all rankings to break the tie. • Councilor Kwiecinski suggests that when there is a tie between 2 candi- dates, there should be further debate and decision between 2 candidates. • Dan Gilbert suggests using a repeating ballot in the case of a tie doing de- liberation. • Councilor Conniff summarized a repeating ballot concept. That it could go on for any number of rounds possibly with no resolution. • Councilor Rist concurred on the concept of repeating ballots. • Councilor Peake reminded everyone that the Rule that was voted and ap- proved by the City Council a year ago was to move to a Ranked Choice Vote for this process. He suggested that rather than repeating ballots why would we not take a signal from prior rounds and rankings. • Further discussion on what form the vote should take. Concern if we move away from RCV the entire City Council rule would have to be modified completely. • Councilor Peake suggests that we use Councilor Conniff’s suggestion of av- eraging the rankings of the candidates who tie. • It was agreed to make changes to the Rule that incorporates averaging of candidate preferences to break ties for elimination as well as ties. Motion to recommend the amendments to Rule 8B as written by Councilor Peake during this meeting made by Councilor Rist, seconded by Councilor Conniff. Motion passed 3-0 COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC: Paul St. Pierre: Made comments around the fact that this process is unfair and that there is no way to get around potential ties. Councilor Conniff made a point of order that until this committee comes up with a solution, it is inappropriate to take comments from a candidate who is participating in the election. Paul St. Pierre: Believes this process opens up the council to embarrassment. Suggested a mechanism in MGL to allow the Chief Executive nominate a candidate for the council to consid- er. Opens up the council to huge criticism of the public. Councilor Peake states that the City Charter requires that the City Council make the nomination and replacement. JP questioned the fact that the Charter uses the word “vote”. He states it is not explicitly stated that there is no reference to vote. Councilor Conniff, read the Charter aloud and stated that the City Council “elects” the replace- ment to fill the vacancy. By using the term”elects”, implies that the council “votes” 6:20 pm - Motion to adjourn by Councilor Conniff, seconded by Councilor Rist. Motion passed 3-0 Next Meeting: ? at 5:00 pm