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) 529-1400, ext. 460 Fax #: (413) 529-1417 MINUTES RULES AND GOVERNMENT RELATIONS Meeting 05/02/23 Attendees: R&GR Members: Councilor Dan Rist, Chair Councilor Koni Denham, Clerk President Homar Gomez Remote Attendance: Other Attendees: Councilor Tom Peake Meeting Called to Order at 5:30 pm. The meeting was video recorded. Minutes approved Councilor Denham moved. Chair Rist 2nd - Vote unanimous (2-0) 1. Old Business A. Charter 2-10 a. Chair Rist – Clerk and himself met with the city attorney. Committee decided to keep 45 days for approval. b. President Gomez – 45 days is plenty of time to approval. c. Chair Rist – Our primary duty is to reject within 45 days based on the Charter. If we do nothing, then it is approved. Currently, the City Clerk stamps received at the time it is received. Now this change will start the approval when it goes committee. Forty-five days is working fine. City Attorney wants to change must to shall. d. Chair Rist – Moved to send charter to full council for approval. Councilor Denham 2nd. Vote (2-0) B. Vacancy 3-9 a. Chair Rist – City Clerk provided a draft sheet outlining the changes. Attorney changes/languages are in pink lettering. Explanation to council – avoid additional costs for having multiple elections in year. And appoint the City Council President to Interim Mayor position. Provides flexibility to Council President to not accept appointment if inconvenient. No special election needed if vacancy happens in 2nd and 4th year of Mayoral term. Attorney included language that prohibits “candidate for re-election”. Changed language from will to shall. Interim  Mayor not subjected to Article 3, Section 3-1(a), which allows them to hold two jobs. This will need to go to State Legislature. b. Chair Rist – Move to include new language for Section 3-1. Councilor Denham 2nd. Vote Unanimous (2-0) C. Rule 5F a. Chair Rist – Attended Open Meeting Law training. Have to allow people to speak to Council however they want except in the case of advocating for violence. Would like to include more specific language regarding time limits for 1 and 3 minutes. b. President Gomez – It is important for elected officials to hear the public. The use of the word “may” is helpful. c. Chair Rist – important to have time limits because the community can be redundant. It is hard to d. Councilor Peake – When Rules chair, had to reside over public speak, found myself staying to time limit. There is a point that the Council can stress that the Council has business to get to. e. Chair Rist – Set public speak for 1 hour, can offer the community to email further comments. You can’t gavel people who are making hate speech. Found no definition of hate speech. There’s no law that you have to have public speak. f. President Gomez – If 200 people want to yell at the Council that is democracy. g. Councilor Peake – It’s ok to let people know that you can just say. h. Chair Rist – Disruptive behavior is already addressed by laws. i. Councilor Peake – Having clarity in the rules about what people’s rights are. j. President Gomez – This is about public comment. k. Chair Rist – If someone is disrupting the meeting, the President has the right to gavel a person out of the meeting. l. Chair Rist – President can still state that “All remarks during this period should be made to the Council, not an individual member.” Based on Public Meeting law it is acceptable. If someone is being threatening, then the chair can quiet the person. Slander is allowed. m. Chair Rist – removed section beginning with “Dialogue regarding… It is in the rules that we can respond to comments. n. Chair Rist – Concerned that other councilors will make a comment about hate speech. o. Chair Rist – Moved to accept 5F as amended. Councilor Denham 2nd. Voted (2-0). D. Section 3-1 a. Chair Rist – Committee decided to not make any changes. 6:10 pm - Motion to adjourn – Chair Rist, moved Councilor Denham – 2nd. Vote unanimous (2-0)