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 08/16/23 Attendees: R&GR Members: Councilor Dan Rist, Chair Councilor Koni Denham, Clerk President Homar Gomez Other Attendees: Councilor Tom Peake City Clerk Barb Labombard Meeting was held Remotely due to the HVAC ongoing repair to the municipal building. THE CHAIR APOLOGIZES AS THE MEETING WAS NOT RECORDED. Meeting Called to Order at 6:00 pm. Minutes approved Councilor Denham moved. Chair Rist 2nd - Vote unanimous (2-0) There was no public Speak The mayor was not in attendance. New Business: Non binding question on city ballot this fall re: ranked choice voting for multi-winner city races (School committee and at large city council) Discussion Points.  As presented by Councilor Peake the question hoped to find out the will of the people as to whether Ranked Choice Voting for multi winner races could be added to the charter. He mentioned that the recent use of RCV for the Council and School committee vote to add new School committee members showed its value.  Chair Rist presented a procedural question noting that the last time the city added RCV the charter needed to be amended first and the legislature would then vote to approve it BEFORE it was placed on the ballot. This was confirmed by Barbara who presented the ballot from that vote.   Councilor Peake hoped that this vote might suffice if approved so the legislature could approve the charter change before the next Municipal election in 2025. If not, at least a charter amendment would be pursued ONLY if the city vote on the question was positive.  All members agreed that this was a preferred method of voting multi winner races.  The chair asked President Gomez to seek Legal opinion on the matter of putting the question on the ballot.  Another meeting would be called for Aug 30 to finalize a ballot question after receiving the legal opinion so it could be presented for the city council on Sept 6. Meeting was adjourned by unanimous vote at 6:45 pm Respectfully submitted: Dan Rist