Home Rule Study Commission

Home Rule Study Commission Borough of Greenville Minutes of the Meeting held May 30, 7:00 PM Greenville Senior Center 1. Call to Order Paul Miller, Commission Chairman 2. Pledge of Allegiance – Martha Johnson 3. Roll Call: Paul Hamill Hal Johnson Martha Johnson Paul Miller Casey Shilling Steve Thompson Steve Williams Also present: Jasson Urey, Tracy Beil, Joyce Ammons, and Lawrence Keller Media: Caleb Stright, Record-Argus 4. Public Comments: Caleb Stright presented a handout he put together on change in tax fees for residents living and working in the Borough of Greenville since 2014. He said he supports property tax reduction being tied in with a raise in EIT. Steve W asked if there is a cap on the school’s ability to raise property tax and there is not a cap. Tracy Beil asked how you tie the two taxes together (EIT and property) without potentially having it come out a “wash” when the borough clearly needs more income. 5. Minutes: Corrections to the May 23rd minutes were: Fourth item from the bottom on page two – Paul H. gave the second. Third item from the bottom on page two – the motion carried 7-0. Steve W. made a motion to accept the minutes as corrected and Paul H. offered a second. Motion carried 7-0. 6. Old Business: Paul M. stated that the three options on the taxation issue are as follows: 1) Leave taxation as it is in borough code. 2) Raise the cap on EIT and allow council to set the rate as they see fit. 3) Allow council to raise EIT with a property mil reduction. Hal added another option which would assign a specific limit on the percentage of tax/fee increase in relation to the increases in the budget. Discussion on the taxation issue ensued. Paul H. made a motion to accept Section 6.14 Alternate III as written in the current draft (Draft #6) and Steve W. offered a second. The secretary called an individual vote, motion carried 5-2 with Hal and Casey opposing.  Paul H. made a motion to amend Section 6.14 which was just adopted to add the phrase “by a super majority vote” at the end of the last sentence. Casey offered a second. The secretary called an individual vote, motion carried 7-0. Hal made a motion to add the following to Section 6.15 “The independent auditor shall present a public review of the audit for the immediately preceding year.” Casey offered a second. Hal withdrew the motion. Hal made a motion to add the following to Section 6.15 “The Independent auditor shall present a public review of the audit for the immediately preceding year.” Casey offered a second. The secretary called an individual vote, motion carried 7-0. Casey made a motion to accept section 6.16 as presented in the current draft. Paul H. offered a second. The secretary called an individual vote, motion carried 7-0. Steve W. made a motion to accept section 2.04 (3.4) as presented in the current draft. Casey offered a second. The secretary called an individual vote, motion carried 7-0. A discussion took place regarding Initiative and Referendum. Paul M presented figures supplied by Jasson regarding numbers of voters in the last two elections. Casey made a motion to accept sections 7.1 and 7.2 as presented in the current draft. Hal offered a second. The secretary called an individual vote, motion carried 7-0. Casey made a motion to accept section 7.3 (a) as presented in the current draft. Martha offered a second. The secretary called an individual vote, motion carried 7-0. 7. New Business: None 8. Public Comments Jasson asked the commission to consider whether or not they trust our current council. He then asked if knowing what we know through the HRSC process if that has increased our understanding of the intentions of leadership in the borough. He suggested that if we can continue to educate the community, they may be able to look past the corruption in our history. 9. Good of the Order: Paul Hamill: Thanked community members for their attendance and commission members for discussion Steve T: Thanked the commission for lively debate and the work to make good decisions Martha: Said Jasson’s words resonated with her and the need to stifle cynicism/ Believes we can show the public that the charter has a great deal to offer the community Hal: Thanked the commission for their work Steve Williams: Referenced giving Greenville a new identity=and mentioned that the only town in PA is Bloomsburg and that there is a “Town of McCandless” Casey: Appreciates the way the commission has debates and not arguments and suggested “The Home Rule Community of Greenville” as a name Paul M. :Thanked Caleb and Jasson for their input 10. Adjournment Paul H. made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Hal offered a second. Motion carried 7-0 and the meeting adjourned at 9:06 PM. Respectfully submitted, Martha C. Johnson Commission Secretary /Treasurer