Charter Revision Commission

MINUTES OF THE CHARTER REVISION COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING Thursday, May 8, 2014, 6:30PM Norwich City Hall Room 335 Meeting called to order at 6:32pm, by Les King, Chairman. Members present: Kent Baker, Linda Becker, Michael Gualtieri, Les King, Leland Loose, and Janice Sawicki. Debra Dickey arrived at 6:35PM. Les King confirmed that all the communications had been received by the members. The “Tallman Report”, and the Charter Revision Reports from 1991 and 1994 were given as background information. Review of Minutes of April 10, 2014 Charter Revision Commission Regular Meeting. Upon motion by Kent Baker, seconded by Michael Gualtieri it was unanimously voted to approve the minutes. Les King reviewed the objectives of the meeting. A determination would be made to retain or omit issues brought forward from the public hearing, and other communications to the commission. Les King distributed a list of issues assigned to the Commission by the City Council, brought up at the public hearing, and received through other communications After a general discussion the following issues will be either reviewed or omitted. It was noted other issues may be added at future dates. Request to disband the Parking Commission will be reviewed. Review of the U.S. Tax Code requested by David Crabb at the public hearing was omitted. Issue to combine Parks and Recreation Departments will be reviewed. Issue to review Zoning authority in the City will be reviewed. Issue of Norwich Public Utility contributing more than 10% will be reviewed. Issue of Board of Education to extend terms from two years to four,[ will be reviewed] Issue to extend Registrar of voter terms from two years to four years will be reviewed. Issue of the Mayors duties and responsibilities (Chapter V, Section 2) will be reviewed. Issue of the council stipend to be moved to $2500 per person as brought up at through the cities website will be reviewed. Preliminary schedule of issues to be reviewed are as follows: 12 June 2014 – Length of terms from 2 to 4 years for Registrar of Voters, Board of Education and City Council. 10 July 2014 – City Council Stipend will be reviewed The Secretary will write letters to the City Council, Board of Education, and Registrar of Voters to send a representative to present the pros and cons of the length of terms, presentation should be no longer than 15 minutes with a Q&A afterwards. Commission members will prepare preliminary questions for the issues to be reviewed and sent to the Secretary to consolidate for future use. Procedurally the Commission decided to have a presentation at one meeting, and if comfortable, vote on that issues at the next meeting Additional comments made by the Commissioners. Debra Dickey reviewed the “Tallman Report” and made observation of how many topics that are brought up in the report are being discussed now. Next regular meeting of the Charter Revision Commission, Thursday, June 12, 2014, Room 335, City Hall. Upon motion of Leeland Loose, seconded by Janice Sawicki, it was unanimously voted to adjourn at 7:20PM. Bianca Muscarella, Recording Secretary