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Charter
Revision Commission Meeting
REGULAR MEETING
June 26, 2007
Present: Joseph
Amend, Dorothy DiPiro, Carl Fitzgibbons, Sue Malecky, Richard Murphy
(chair), Sharon Scaramella
Absent: Brian Gouin
1. Call Meeting
to Order
Chairman Murphy
called the meeting to order at 6:30pm at the Senior Center.
2. Accept Agenda
There was a
motion by Chairman Murphy, seconded by Joseph Amend, to accept the
agenda. Vote unanimous, motion carried.
3. Accept Minutes
There was a
motion by Richard Murphy, seconded by Joseph Amend to accept the
minutes of the June 19, 2007 meeting. Vote unanimous, motion carried.
4. Public Comment:
None
5. Other Business:
None
6. Discussion/Review
Charter (On-going)
Discussion with
Attorney Steven Mednick.
Attorney Mednick
and commission members reviewed document handed out by Attorney
Mednick with answers to the questions previously submitted to him.
Question 1:
What is the percentage required for Special Referenda?
Attorney Mednick
answered 10% or two hundred, whichever is lower. Regarding the question
on the meaning of "special" referendum vs. "general"
referendum, a "special" referendum would be a referendum
not held on a designated election date. Majority rules for general
/special referendum. Committee members agreed to take out the word
"special" when referring to a referendum.
Question 2:
What is the state definition of "ballot"?
Attorney Mednick
recommended and commission accepted the wording, "all referendum
shall be by voting machine or other official ballot as defined by
C.G.S. and approved by the secretary of the state".
Question 3:
May the reference to the C.G.S. in the first paragraph of Charter
Section 2-2 be deleted?
Attorney Mednick
concluded that it cannot be deleted, and recommended modification,
all were in favor and Sharon Scaramella made the changes.
Question 4:
With respect to Charter 3-4.1, what does the C.G.S. say about the
powers of planning and zoning? Can we change this provision to approved
or disapproved proposals?
Attorney Mednick
will review question further, noting question is if a referendum
of a local town can be overruled.
Questions 5:
What qualifies as a special referendum? What are the percentages
to pass (what percent of vote/what percent affirmative).
Answered as
part of Question 1.
Question 6:
With respect to Charter 3-6 can autonomous decisions made by planning
and zoning be subject to petition for overrule?
Attorney Mednick
answered no, but will do more research and get back to the committee
members.
Question 7:
With respect to Charter 3-6.1d. what is required by state statutes?
Full text? On every page? On cover page only?
Attorney Mednick answered that text can be on cover page only.
Question 8.
With respect to Charter 3-6 last sentence. What can we supersede
by a referendum?
Attorney Mednick
needed more information to answer this question. Attorney Mednick
saw little difference in current charter vs. proposed charter regarding
power to overrule but will look at it more carefully and will get
back to committee members.
Committee members
agreed to discuss reference 4 at next meeting. Next meeting is scheduled
for July 10, 2007.
7. Adjourn
Chairman Murphy
made a motion, seconded by Carl Fitzgibbons to adjourn the meeting.
Vote unanimous, motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 7:55pm.
Respectfully
submitted,
Becki Graves, Board Clerk
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