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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 01/25/2010SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL 25 JANUARY 2010 The South Burlington City Council held a special meeting on Monday, 25 January 2010, at 5:00 p.m., in the Conference Room, City Hall, 575 Dorset St. Members Present: M. Boucher, Chair; S. Dooley, M. Emery, J. Knapp, F. Murray Also Present: D. Gravelin, Assistant City Manager; S. Stitzel, City Attorney; D. Kinville, City Clerk; P. Taylor, Board of Civil Authority 1. Conduct first of two public hearings on City Charter Amendments (suggest 1 February for next public hearing): Mr. Boucher opened the public hearing. He said the city is proposing two amendments to the City Charter. The first relates to the production of the annual report and requires that the reports of the city and school district be made available twenty days prior to the annual city & school district meeting. It also requires that the warning for the annual meeting be submitted to voters not less than 30 days prior that meeting. These changes address issues which arose when the voting date was changed from May to March. The second amendment to the City Charter would allow for floor votes under very specific circumstances. Mr. Stitzel explained the circumstances under which floor votes were held this past year. The circumstances involved the offer of grant money (stimulus package) which the city proposed to use for storm water projects. The funding for the projects had to be approved by the voters before the grant money could be allocated, and there were issues of timing which could have resulted in the city losing its eligibility for the funds. Ms. Kinville said she does not favor the amendment. She understood the reason for the change but felt that 10-15 years from now a future City Council might abuse the floor vote concept. She was also concerned that there were voters who were unable to get out to vote when the floor vote was held. Mr. Stitzel noted that there are not many communities that have chosen to vote all questions by Australian ballot. A municipality has the right to vote by floor vote to incur indebtedness for not longer than 5 years, and many communities do allow this. Mr. Taylor said he, too, is concerned about the proposed Charter change. He said he would advocate that the City Council be given some clearly defined options for when a floor vote could occur, and that this not be a City Charter change. He suggested getting the City Charter Committee back together again for further discussion. Ms. Emery asked the City Attorney how defensible the floor vote amendment would be in court. Mr. Stitzel said it would be very defensible because the voters would already have approved it. Mr. Knapp said floor votes have been occurring in Vermont for 275 years. He said that while public participation is desired, the public also has the obligation to participate. Mr. Boucher suggested asking the Board of Civil Authority and the City Clerk to work on language that would be more limiting. He asked the City Attorney whether that proposed amendment could be removed from the ballot. Mr. Stitzel said it can. He also noted that the City could hold an Australian ballot vote with the same notice as a floor vote. Ms. Kinville said this would probably have to be a hand-counted vote. It was noted that in the 2 instances where floor votes were held this past year, the first vote was necessitated by a time constraint and the second by concern for the cost of a special Australian ballot vote. Mr. Murray moved to remove the amendment to Section 503 of the City Charter from the ballot and to refer it back to the City Charter Committee. Ms. Emery seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Mr. Murray moved to close the public hearing and to schedule a second public hearing on the amendments to Sections 13-110, 13-1302 and 13-1303 on 1 February 2010. Mr. Knapp seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 2. Consideration of Approval of Annual Warning of 2 March Annual City Meeting: Mr. Murray moved to approve the Warning of 2 March Annual City Meeting with the removal of the amendment to Section 503 of the City Charter. Ms. Emery seconded. Motion passed unanimously. As there was no further business to come before the Council, the meeting was adjourned at 5:50 p.m. _____________________________ Clerk Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.