Board of Selectmen
SPECIAL MEETING
January 24, 2008

Present: John Anderson, Susan Bransfield, Carl Chudzik, Mark Finkelstein (arrived at 6:25 p.m.), Brian Flood, Sharon Gibala, and Kathy Richards

The Special Meeting of January 23, 2008 reconvened at 5:42 PM.

Attorney Steven Mednick began a review of the revisions to the Charter that had been proposed the previous evening. He stated that he added Chapter 17 of the existing Charter into the proposed revised Charter.

Mrs. Bransfield voice concern about accepting or rejecting portions of the Charter that were not in the document when it was submitted to the Board of Selectmen. Attorney Mednick explained that the Charter Revision Commission repealed language in the current Charter and the Board of Selectmen had acted to reject those repeals and thereby the current Charter language was resurrected. Mrs. Bransfield commented that the protocol in the past has been to accept or reject what has been put into the Charter. She noted that in this case, the Board of Selectmen has proposed adding language that did not come from the Charter Revision Commission.

Mrs. Bransfield voice concern about putting forth a document to the voters that is very different that the document that the Charter Revision Commission submitted to the Board of Selectmen.

(Carl Fitzgibbons, Sharon Scaramella and Richard Murphy of the Charter Revision Commission arrive at 6:15 p.m.)

(Mark Finkelstein arrived at 6:25 p.m.)

Mrs. Bransfield stated that she did not agree with many of the pieces in the final product and was uncomfortable with the amount of changes that were made last evening.

Mrs. Richards commented that she did not feel that the document that was prepared the previous evening was ready to go to the voters.

Mr. Anderson commented that he was not comfortable with the revisions to the document that were made last evening.

Mr. Finkelstein requested a caucus of the Democratic members of the Board of Selectmen.

The meeting recessed at 6:50 p.m. and reconvened at 7:15 p.m.

Mrs. Bransfield asked if there was a motion to accept the January 11, 2008 final report of the Charter Revision Commission. There was no motion.

Mrs. Bransfield asked if there was a motion to reject the January 11, 2008 final report of the Charter Revision Commission.

Motion was made by Kathleen Richards and seconded by John Anderson to reject the January 11, 2008 final report of the Charter Revision Commission.

Mr. Finkelstein felt that it is wrong to throw away two years worth of work. He stated that everyone acknowledged that the reformatting of the Charter was much easier to understand. He stated that he was opposed to the motion.

Mr. Flood stated that the proposed document is essentially a re-codification of the existing Charter.

Mrs. Bransfield state that she disagreed with many areas of the revised Charter and she stated that she would vote in favor of rejecting the proposed Charter. She commented that she did not feel that she had the authority to redo all of the work that the Charter Revision Commission has done.

Mrs. Gibala spoke in favor of the re-codification.

Mr. Chudzik commended the Charter Revision Commission for their time and effort. He stated that their intent was good but he did not feel that the product was a workable document.

A roll call vote was taken:

Mark Finkelstein Nay
Sharon Gibala Nay
Kathleen Richards Aye
Brian Flood Nay
Susan Bransfield Aye
Carl Chudzik Aye
John Anderson Aye

Motion carried.

Motion was made by John Anderson and seconded by Sharon Gibala to adjourn the meeting at 7:20 pm. Motion passed unanimously.

Respectfully submitted,

Virginia Darna, Recording Clerk