Home Rule Study Commission

Home Rule Study Commission Borough of Greenville Minutes of the Meeting held August 23, 2018 at 7:00PM Greenville Senior Center 1. Call to Order Paul Miller, Commission Chairman 2. Pledge of Allegiance: Flag Salute led by Martha Johnson 3. Roll Call: Paul Hamill - Absent Hal Johnson Martha Johnson Paul Miller Casey Shilling Steve Thompson Steve Williams Also present: Jasson Urey, Tracy Beil, Evan Hereford, Ben Beck, Steve Harakal, Gary Hinkson, Mike Ceci Media: Caleb Stright, Record-Argus 4. Public Comments: Tracy Beil thanked the commission for their continued work. 5. Minutes: Hal made a motion to approve the minutes and Steve Williams offered a second. Motion passed 6-0. 6. Old Business: Jasson confirmed meeting dates for submission to the newspaper. Commission members discussed choosing topics of the October meetings after the DCED hearing. 7. New Business: City Managers Mike Ceci (Farrell) and Gary Hinkson (Hermitage) offered input and fielded questions about their experience working in municipalities with Home Rule Charters. They discussed the structure of their individual local governments, how their charters approach taxes, how each charter is set up to provide accountability and to define duties, and what was built in to keep hiring and operations from becoming political. Farrell conducted a review of their charter in 2016 which was something that according to their charter must happen every ten years. They hired Lawrence Keller, a professor of CSU teaching the City Manager master’s program, to guide the process. Farrell’s charter created a Redevelopment Authority while Hermitage has a Community and Economic Development Committee. Both speakers encouraged the commission to look at this as an opportunity to customize local government to best fit our needs, to take our time, and to get public input as well as professional opinion. 8. Public Comments: Tracy Beil asked Mike and Gary how they get public participation. Gary suggested flexible meeting hours, different venues and Mike suggested using Thiel’s marketing and political science departments. 12. Good of the Order: The commission members each expressed thanks to Mike and Gary for sharing their time and information. 13. Adjournment Steve Thompson made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Casey offered a second. Motion passed 6-0 at 8:09 PM. Respectfully submitted, Martha C. Johnson Commission Secretary /Treasurer