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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Charter Committee - 07/26/2022CITY CHARTER COMMITTEE 26 JULY 2022 The South Burlington City Charter Committee held a meeting on 26 July 2022, at 4:30 p.m., in the 3rd floor conference room and by remote participation at 180 Market Street. MEMBERS PRESENT: P. Taylor, Chair; P. Engels, D. Kinville, C. Higgins, C. Hafter, A. Lalonde, ALSO PRESENT: J. Baker, City Manager; C. McNeil, City Attorney 1. Welcome and Introductions: Ms. Baker welcomed new and continuing members who then introduced themselves. 2. Agenda Review and Approval: The agenda was approved as presented. 3. Public comment on items not on the agenda: No public comment was received. 4. Review of relevant City Policies: a. Bylaws for Committees Established by the South Burlington City Council b. Conflict of Interest Policy for Elected and Appointed Officials Ms. Baker noted there will be a general committee orientation on Thursday, 4 August, at which time committee members will review the bylaws and conflict of interest policy. She also noted that the City Charter Committee is a policy advising committee of the City Council. One new addition to the committee structure is the role of staff/City Council liaisons. Ms. Emery will be the City Council liaison to the City Charter Committee. The Conflict of Interest Policy relates to all committee members with regard to financial benefits that might come to a Council or committee member. Mr. Taylor said that in keeping with City Hall policy, the wearing of masks is encouraged but optional. Mr. Taylor also suggested that Charter Committee meetings be no more than 2 hours long. Members agreed. CITY CHARTER COMMITTEE 26 JULY 2022 PAGE 2 5. Elect a Chair, Vice Chair and Clerk: Ms. Baker presided over the election of a Chair. She opened the floor for nominations. Mr. Hafter nominated Mr. Taylor. There were no further nominations, and Mr. Taylor was elected by a unanimous vote of all present. Mr. Taylor then presided over the meeting. He opened the floor for nominations for Vice Chair. Ms. Kinville nominated Mr. Hafter. There were no further nominations, and Mr. Hafter was elected by a unanimous vote of all present. Mr. Hafter then nominated Ms. Kinville for Clerk. There were no further nominations, and Ms. Kinville was elected by a unanimous vote of all present. 6. Approve Minutes of 31 May 2022: Ms. Kinville moved to approve the Minutes of 31 May 2022 as written (with a noted spelling correction on page 3). Mr. Engels seconded. Motion passed by a unanimous vote of all present. 7. Review the Charge from the City Council and the Charter Change Process: a. Council Resolution Convening a Charter Committee b. Current South Burlington Municipal Charter c. Vermont State Statute Title 24: Municipal and County Government: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/title/24 d. VLCT Quick Guide to Charter Procedure Ms. Baker noted that Mr. Higgins had gone through the Charter noting places where gender changes should occur. Mr. Taylor said they should check with the State Legislature which may be automatically updating charter to gender neutral language. Ms. Baker then explained that under Title 24, Vermont is a Dillon Rule State which mean that municipalities can do only those things which they State has given them authority to do (Home Rule States can do all things that the State has not specifically denied them the right to do). Title 24 contains an outline of all the things that municipalities can do. The South Burlington City Charter includes some additional powers that have been granted to the City. CITY CHARTER COMMITTEE 26 JULY 2022 PAGE 3 Ms. Baker directed attention to the VLCT Guide to Charter procedures. She stressed that the Committee will have to set a date for completion of the committee’s work and a date for a public vote on any proposed Charter change. The State Legislature will also have to approve the change(s), and that can be a lengthy process. Ms. Baker noted there had been a movement to allow a community to approve a Charter change if that same change had been approved for another community’s charter, but the State Legislature voted that down. VLCT also tried to secure an amendment to allow communities without a charter to do what is allowed in the charters of other communities. That was also voted down by the State Legislature. The Legislature did allow the expansion of Planning Commission members to occur without specific Legislature approval. Mr. McNeil noted that a community can suspend its charter for up to 3 years in order to take advantage of an updated state law. 8. Discuss timeline and project plans: Ms. Baker drew attention to the list of things for the committee to think about: a. What do you want to resolve? b. Do you want to go “issue by issue”? c. Do you want to go section by section? d. How will you engage the community? e. What other people do you want to hear from? f. What is the timeline? Mr. Taylor suggested hearing from someone in Burlington regarding the “strong mayor” form of government and also from other large communities as to how they are structured. Ms. Kinville asked what brought this up and is there something to “cure.” Mr. Taylor said Sen. Chittenden raised the question of whether the city should be voting by district. Ms. Baker added that 4 of the 5 City Councilors live within a square miles of each other. There is also the issue of expense incurred by having to campaign city-wide. There is also the question of whether 5 is the right number of City Councilors to have. Ms. Baker noted that the City Council did not take any position on a “strong/weak” mayor option. CITY CHARTER COMMITTEE 26 JULY 2022 PAGE 4 Mr. Taylor noted that with 5 voting districts, there is now a better opportunity to take advantage of that, but first they should discuss whether 5 is the “right number.” He felt the Committee should come to some conclusions early on so they don’t spend time on something they don’t think is valuable. The question of School Board participation was raised, and Mr. Higgins said the School Board has expressed interest in participating. Ms. Baker said that was the intent of the City Council so the structures could remain the same, but it is not necessary. Mr. Hafter said he would be interested in hearing about Brattleboro’s system. Mr. Taylor noted that South Burlington is one of the least dense communities with a large geographic area. That makes it hard to reach out to people when one is running for office. Ms. Kinville asked whether political parties make a difference. She noted that in South Burlington candidates do not declare a political party when running for local offices. Ms. Baker said she had never seen a “strong mayor” system without a political party system. Regarding a timeline, Mr. Taylor said the Presidential Primary will be in March, 2024, but there would be a bigger turnout at the November presidential election. Mr. Engels said he preferred November to get more people involved. Ms. Kinville said March is usually considered the “Town Meeting,” that is when Charter changes have traditionally been voted on. Mr. Hafter suggested a Charter change amendment could get lost in a major election. Ms. Baker said the Council would like feedback on the March/November question and asked that the Committee get back to them by September 2023. Mr. Taylor asked Ms. Kinville to provide turnout numbers from recent elections. 8. Set regular meeting times: Member agreed to meet on the second Wednesday of the month, from 4-6 p.m. They agreed to hold their next meeting on 14 September, 4-6 p.m. Mr. Taylor and Ms. Baker agreed to get together to work out a time-line, speakers, etc. CITY CHARTER COMMITTEE 26 JULY 2022 PAGE 5 10. Other Business: No other business was presented. As there was no further business to come before the Committee, Mr. Hafter moved to adjourn. Mr. Engels seconded. Motion passed with all present approving. The meeting was adjourned at 5:21 P.M.