Home Rule Charter Review Commission

MINUTES OF THE TOWN OF GREENVILLE HOME RULE CHARTER REVIEW COMMISSION AT THE TOWN COUNCIL CHAMBERS Tuesday, February 4, 2025 at 6:30 pm 1. Call to Order: Commission Chair, Tracy Beil 2. Pledge of Allegiance: Benjamin Beck 3. Roll Call: Benjamin Beck Tracy Beil Patrick Eaton Mary Reames Joel Rinella Also Present: Chad Bromley, Lisa Hamill, Paul Hamill, Jean Carr-Fisher, Hal Johnson, and Gary Mueller. Staff: Jasson Urey, Town Manager Rosalynn Reagle, Assistant Town Manager Amy Hollowell, Administrative Assistant Matt Breedlove, Director of Community Development, Code/Zoning Officer Media: Caleb Stright, Record-Argus 4. Public Comments: 3 minute time limit, Agenda Items • Paul Hamill – Commented he is not opposed to eliminating the Mayor’s position. He did remind commissioners that the timing would still have a Mayor position for 4 years. • Gary Mueller – Commented that he is in favor of keeping the Mayor’s position and for it to have veto power. 5. Approval of Minutes: A motion to approve the January 28, 2025 meeting minutes was made by Joel Rinella and seconded by Patrick Eaton. Motion carried 5-0. 6. Unfinished Business: A. Discussion on documents presented to the Commission by Mr. Urey and Mr. Shipley. • Tracy Beil – Shared Councilman Evan Hereford’s opinion on the Mayor’s position that was presented in a letter to the editor in 2019. In the article he stresses that the former role was important because it provided oversight on committees and veto power for 4-3 votes on specific items. Paul Hamill added that there is still a lot of confusion on everyone’s roles and feels some of that is due to lack of training. • Mary Reames – Asked Hal Johnson how they came to make the decision to combine the role of the Mayor and Council President. Hal shared that it was to clarify who was “in charge”. There was a perception that the Mayor was had power, but it was the Council President. Joel Rinella would like a larger conversation about any changes to the Mayor/Council President role. • Tracy Beil – Mentioned that she can see the point of every proposed change that has been provided. The hardest part will be how it is presented to the voter. • Mary Reames – Suggested that changes presented to the voters as segments: Language, Mayor- Council President (what will change how we do business), and Redundancies. She envisions a three column presentation to the voters. Joel Rinella agrees, but doesn’t want to limit us to three categories. Reames added that our objective is to modify and not rewrite the document. Joel Rinella is open to rewriting the document. Tracy shared that the biggest issues to go through are the name of the Town and the role of the Mayor. Reames asked what the items Joel has that he would like to change. He said that he has been compiling notes. • Joel Rinella – Questioned the name change and whether there were issues with following through. Joel stated that if complications from the name change came from admin not following through that he would keep the name as is. Jasson Urey explained there are no further actions that needed to be followed through and that the problem comes from how Greenville is incorporated, and there is no “Town” incorporation in the Commonwealth. There was discussion on what has worked from the Home Rule charter. Joel believes that the only thing that has worked for the borough has been leveraging EIT. Patrick Eaton shared his opinion on how voters are not engaged. • Tracy Beil – There was discussion selecting an attorney. A motion was made by Mary Reames to contact Peter J. Halesey, Esq., Maiello, Brungo & Maiello, LLP, to enter an agreement as solicitor for the commissioners and seconded by Joel Rinella. Motion carried 5-0. • Joel Rinella – Feels item 2.2 presented by council is more of a house keeping item. There was discussion about removing section 3.1. Section 3.5 (b) was discussed and it was questioned on if executive session needed to be added. Removal at Section 3.5 (e ) was discussed. Referencing the PA constitution could be used for Section 3.6 (b). The Vacancy chair addition was discussed for Section 3.6 (c) as well as changing the timing to 30 days. There was discussion on removing Section 3.6 (c) (6). Removal of Section 3.7 was discussed. Changing the name of Town Clerk was discussed. The removal of Section 3.11 was discussed. Addition of reorganizing for Section 3.12 and referencing Sunshine Act was discussed. Joel would like have clarity on what nonprocedural items are for Section 3.12 (c). There was discussion on Section 3.14 (a) and section 9 (b). There was discussion on clarifying Section 3.16. Joel shared his thoughts on Sections 3.17, 4.2, 4.4, and Sections 6, 7, and 10. • Mary Reames – Added that what has been shared by council and administration has provided a solid foundation. 7. New Business: No Discussion. 8. Public Comments: • Hal Johnson – The original commission was told that what was not in the Home Rule Charter would revert to the Borough Code. • Jasson Urey – Cautioned commissioners to refrain from referring to specific laws, because those get amended and suggested to referring to a specific Act. He also mentioned finding another solution rather than an equation based on inflation. 9. Commission Comments: • No comments 10. Adjournment: Having no other business, a motion was made to adjourn by Benjamin Beck and seconded by Mary Reames. The meeting adjourned at 8:06 pm. Respectfully submitted, Benjamin Beck Secretary