Home Rule Study Commission

Home Rule Study Commission Borough of Greenville Minutes of the Meeting held June 27, 7:00 PM Greenville Senior Center 1. Call to Order Paul Miller, Commission Chairman 2. Pledge of Allegiance – Paul Miller 3. Roll Call: Paul Hamill Hal Johnson Martha Johnson Paul Miller Casey Shilling Steve Thompson Steve Williams Also present: Jasson Urey, Joyce Ammons, Lawrence Keller, Tracy Beil, Linda Zuschlag, Jessica Grinnell, Media: Caleb Stright, Record-Argus 4. Public Comments: None 5. Minutes: Paul H. made a motion to accept the June 20 minutes as presented and Casey offered a second. Motion carried 7-0. 6. Old Business: A motion was made by Steve W.3.2 (b & c) of Draft # 9 as presented with the exception of the last sentence of (b) to be changed to read: “Council members filling an unexpired term will hold the seat until the next general municipal election.” Steve T. offered a second. The secretary called an individual vote, motion carried 6-1 with Paul H. opposed. A motion was made by Steve W. to accept 3.3 of the current draft as presented. Casey offered a second. The secretary called an individual vote, motion carried 6-1 with Paul H. opposed. A motion was made by Paul H. to accept 3.8 of the current draft as presented. Steve W. offered a second. The secretary called an individual vote, motion carried 7-0. A motion was made by Paul H. to accept 3.11 (d) of the current draft as presented. Steve W. offered a second. The secretary called an individual vote, motion carried 7-0. A motion was made by Paul H. to amend the last sentence in 5.3 (a) of the current draft to read “The town solicitor shall be a person learned in law and with at least five (5) years’ experience in active legal practice in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania with a minimum of three (3) of the five (5) years being in municipal law.” Casey offered a second. The secretary called an individual vote, motion carried 7-0. A motion was made by Casey to amend 7.1 of the current draft as 7.1 (a) and to accept the following as 7.1 (b): “Signatories to contracts of the town shall be two of the following: mayor,  deputy mayor when acting as mayor, the town manager and an administrative appointee of the town manager.” Paul H. offered a second. The secretary called an individual vote, motion carried 7-0. A motion was made by Paul H. to amend 7.4 of the current draft to become 7.4 (a) with the elimination of 7.4 (6 & 7) and the following becoming 7.4 (a 6): A request for proposal (RPF) process shall be used to procure professional, personal or unique services and contracts for insurance and surety company bonds.” 7.4 (8) will become 7.4 (a 7) and 7.4 (9) will become 7.4 (a 8). Section 7.4 (b) shall be added to read: “Written substantiation for procurement from sole, only one source vendors shall be presented to council prior to authorization of a purchase. In all cases where town council enters into a contract greater than the dollar threshold amounts established by town council without competitive bidding, the ordinance authorizing the contract shall contain a statement specifying the factual basis for invoking one of the exceptions set forth in this section.” Steve W. offered a second. The secretary called an individual vote, motion carried 7-0. A motion was made by Casey to accept the amendment inserted in 10.1 of the current draft as presented. Paul H. offered a second. The secretary called an individual vote, motion carried 7-0. A motion was made by Steve W. to accept 11.1 (a) of the current draft as presented. Steve T. offered a second. The secretary called an individual vote, motion carried 7-0. A motion was made by Paul H. to accept 11.4 of the current draft as presented. Hal offered a second. The secretary called an individual vote, motion carried 7-0. 7. New Business: A motion was made by Steve W. to amend 6.14 of the current draft to become 6.14 (a) and to add the following which will become 6.14 (b): “When setting Earned Income Tax (EIT) rates, town council shall not exceed an annual increase of more than .5% and shall not exceed an EIT rate of more than 2.5%. Paul H. offered a second. The secretary called an individual vote, motion carried 7-0. A motion was made by Hal to add 6.14 (c) to read: “When setting general property tax rates, town council shall not exceed 30 mils.” Casey offered a second. The secretary called an individual vote, motion carried 7.0. Some discussion took place on the possibility of reducing council to five members. The committee agreed to bring it up during the public informational meetings and revisit after that. 8. Public Comments Joyce Ammons thanked the committee for the work that has been put in to date. She also thanked Jasson and Caleb for their parts. Tracy Beil said she wishes the public could observe our meetings and that she appreciates the thoughtful deliberation the committee brings to each point. Linda Zuschlag spoke to the point of the number of council members. She sits on the water authority board of five members and feels that when someone is absent from a meeting, it  makes it difficult to operate. She is comfortable with 7 on council. Jessica Grinnell hopes people will come to public meetings with a willingness to understand. Jasson thinks educating people will be key to the charter’s passage. He asked when our next public meeting will be held for advertising purposes. The group decided to reconvene on July 25, 7:00 PM. 9. Good of the Order: Steve T: Thanked all present and noted that we have 15 months down with 2 to go Martha: Said she appreciates the commissioner’s willingness to “agree to disagree” and the thoughtful discussions that have taken place Steve Williams: Feels strongly that we are proceeding positively Casey: Noted that the river is at normal height Paul H.: Thanked community members for attendance Paul M.: Thanked Larry for the way in which he has carried out his role and noted that the committee has had 30 meetings in 54 weeks not counting the days we doubled meetings for the public in November and December 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 9:02 PM. Respectfully submitted, Martha C. Johnson, Commission Secretary /Treasurer