HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Board of Civil Authority - 02/21/2018BOARD OF CIVIL AUTHORITY 21 FEBRUARY 2018 The South Burlington Board of Civil Authority held a mee ng on Wednesday, 21 February 2018, at 6:00 p.m.,in the Conference Room, City Hall, 575 Dorset Street.
MEMBERS PRESENT: P. Taylor, Chair; D. Kinville, T. Chi enden, M. Emery, A. Cli , L. Vera, B. Nowak, A. Milot, K.Nugent
1. Instruc ons on exi ng building in case of emergency: Mr. Taylor provided emergency exi ng instruc ons.
2. Agenda Review: Addi ons, dele ons or changes in order of agenda items: No changes were made to the Agenda.
3. Comments & Ques ons from the public not related to Agenda items: No issues were raised.
4. Approve Minutes from 31May 2017: Mr. Chi enden moved to approve the Minutes of 31 May 2017 as wri en. Ms. Vera seconded. Mo on passedunanimously.
5. Update – request for a City no ce to new home purchasers about responsibility for payment ofproperty taxes and for addi on of “Vermont Homestead Declara on” filing informa on indelinquent tax and tax sale no ces:
Mr. Chi enden noted that the City Manager has dra ed a le er which will be forward to the City Council. Ms.Kinville added that Mr. Dorn thought it would be good to have something come from the Clerk’s office – like apostcard/le er of basic informa on, link to the website, etc.
6. Review and Priori ze Year’s Goals and Objec ves: Members reviewed the list of goals and objec ves.
Ms. Vera felt that Goal #3 (assuring that all appellants to the BCA and Board of Abatement understand theprocess) was very important and suggested that the Assessor’s office might be more involved before peoplecome to either of the Boards. Mr. Taylor felt they do a good job
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but suggested that appellants could be made aware of the possibility of working out a payment schedule. With regard to resources for elec ons, members wanted to be sure Ms. Kinville knows she can come to theBoard if she feels she doesn’t have adequate resources.
7. Approve presiding officers and elec on officials for 6 March elec on: Ms. Cli moved to approve the presiding officers and elec on officials as presented. Ms. Emery seconded.
Mo on passed unanimously. 8. Approve list of voters removed from Checklist since last elec on:
Ms. Kinville reviewed the process for removing voters from the Checklist. Following the last elec on, therewere 1100 challenged voters. Many of the cards sent to these voters came back as “undeliverable.”
Mr. Chi enden moved to approve the list of voters removed from the Checklist since the last elec on as
presented. Ms. Vera seconded. Mo on passed unanimously. Ms. Kinville also reviewed the process for handling a situa on in which any of these voters shows up to vote on
6 March. They must present evidence that they are s ll city residents and then fill out the form to be added to
the checklist. People on the “challenge list” can be allowed to vote. 9. Discuss gap day, possible closing of City Clerk’s Office the day before an elec on:
Ms. Kinville said the Legislature has heard the Clerks’ request for a non-vo ng day the day before elec ons, andthey had “good inten ons.” They had a bill to open a polling place the day before elec ons and have only earlyvo ng at the poll that day. There would be no vo ng the day before the elec on in the Clerk’s office. The
problem is that polling place would have to be staffed by the City Clerk or Assistant City Clerk, which did not
solve the problem. That bill was stopped by the Clerk’s Associa on. There are some Clerks’ offices that areclosing the day before the elec on, saying that this is their “normal schedule.”
Mr. Chi enden suggested possibly closing at noon.
BOARD OF CIVIL AUTHORITY
21 FEBRUARY 2018
PAGE 3 Ms. Kinville said she is mee ng with the City Manager tomorrow regarding ge ng help from a person in the
“Welcome Center.”
Mr. Taylor suggested wai ng to see how that mee ng turns out, then having Ms. Kinville come back to the BCAwith any problems. He stressed that it is the BCA’s responsibility to make sure elec ons are run properly.
Ms. Kinville noted that for the Annual mee ng elec on it is not only early vo ng which keeps them busy. Theyalso do taxes, dog/cat registra ons and elec ons on that day before the elec on in addi on to the normalworkload.
Ms. Kinville noted that people say they come to vote early because “of the line” at the polls. She said there isactually a longer wait at the Clerk’s office than at the polls. Mr. Taylor said he would talk with Rep. Townsend again, but he was not sure she was convinced that closing the
office was an op on. 10. Elec on Training:
Ms. Kinville directed a en on to an envelope to be used for absentee ballots delivered to the polls on elec onday. She asked that any absentee ballot returned to the polls by the voter that the envelope be placed into thatenvelope. These early voters must be handled differently than other early voters when entering into the voterchecklist so ware.
If bins get too full, ballots should be put in a cloth bag with a seal. That seal should be recorded in the book. This elec on will have no provisional ballots and no telephone vo ng.
With regard to write-ins, at the end of the night the elec on workers should check the total number of write-ins on the tape and compare to the highest vote ge er for a par cular office, and if that number cannot changethe outcome of the vote, the write-ins do not have to be enumerated.
Mr. Taylor stressed that anyone who wishes to observe the coun ng of votes may do so outside of the tapedarea but inside the gym.BOARD OF CIVIL AUTHORITY21 FEBRUARY 2018
PAGE 4 11. Test Machines:
Tabula ng machines were tested by Board members and the following seals applied. District 7-1 #1229507
District 7-2 #1229572District 7-3 #1229506District 7-4 #1229501
12. Other Business: No other business was brought before the Board.
As there was no further business to come before the Board of Civil Authority, Mr. Chi enden moved toadjourn. Ms. Milot seconded. Mo on passed unanimously, and the mee ng was adjourned at 7:12 p.m.
_________________________________ Clerk