Present: D. Arden, J. Bacigalupi, J. Blumengarten, C. Bowmar-Perry, C. Gasior, R. Halpern, E. Larkin, R. Maney, and E. Petti.
Audience: Bea Perkins, League of Women Voters.
Dr. Petti, Chairperson, called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.
Public Comment …None.
Approval of Minutes
Ruth Maney motioned to approve the minutes of August 15 as presented; this motion was seconded by Chuck Gasior, and unanimously carried.
Mission Statement
The approved Mission Statement wording was again reviewed. Ed mentioned that he already gave the Statement to the Newspaper.
7:10 p.m. Cathy joined the meeting and Dr. Petti informed her the minutes were accepted; and Cathy concurred.
Communications
Dean…Advised FinCom will not support $10,000, but will support $5,000.
Elizabeth…She called Boston and called Marilyn Contreas to see if we can get any State money or any grant money. They’ll get back to her. Also, Dr. Petti noted that at Town Meeting we can stand up and amend the Article. We can request whatever amount we want to go for. Therefore she felt the Commission should decide whether or not they want to ask for the $20,000.
Bea Perkins …Offered comment: Don’t you have May to ask for more money then? There followed lengthy discussion on the pros and cons of the amount to be requested, which included such considerations as:
Dr. Petti commented she thinks Commission should have either a budget committee or should sit down together and work up a budget. Also, she asked: What are we going to do in accepting funds?
Curran and Groux Proposals
Dr. Petti asked the Commission whether or not they should discuss the proposals in Executive Session. 8 voted against going into Executive Session; and 1 (Dean) voted in favor stating Executive Session preferable. Since majority voted against Executive Session, a very lengthy, detailed discussion of the proposals ensued. Some of the commentary:
Ed…Impressed with Curran. Feels he has most experience. He is an attorney and if you want to do it right, that’s helpful. He doesn’t feel Groux can compare with Curran’s experience…no substitute for experience.
Dean…Questions he has don’t involve legal. Tom Groux’s experience in town manager capabilities. Dean pointed out reporting requirements Groux put in the Bourne charter. Charter gets reviewed and approved by Attorney General in any event.
Elizabeth…Be careful--don’t be too picayune and don't get involved in micro-managing.
Chuck…went into detail of both Curran’s and Groux’s proposals.
Ruth…Firmly believes we get what we pay for.
Juan…Both take credit for Bourne Charter. In reading Charters, words are the same. We don’t need anyone to do this right now. Thinks it is ridiculous to have someone else write the words that we come up with.
Elizabeth…We should write it and have consultant come in to give guidance.
Chuck…Consultant gives us legitimacy.
Ed…If ever a Committee needed someone to pull things together, it’s this Committee.
Cathy…(1) How would we deal with this if we select someone and we don’t have enough funding to pay? (2) If we’ve already written a great deal of the Charter and we just need to fill in the blanks, would we get reduction in fee? Juan already provided much of the work…would they negotiate and for how much? Ed responded to these 2 points saying it’s negotiable.
At this point in the discussions there were various motions made and seconded, such as:
(1) Send letters to both Curran and Group incorporating proposal suggested by Cathy and hear their advice on how they’d proceed and how much it would cost (Juan/Cathy). Vote: 5 “No”.
(2) We hire Mr. Curran and we negotiate the levels with him when he’s here at another time (Richard/Ruth). Discussion: Juan noted it limits us by deciding on consultant. We should sit down and establish scope of work and have them give proposal on scope of work. We could use Town Counsel; therefore thinks hiring one or other would be detrimental. He would not support. Ed said he absolutely disagrees with that. He doesn’t want anyone coming in suggesting what we should be doing. We should do what citizens and officials of Town of Mashpee want, not some governmental agent saying what we should do. We need sense of direction and Curran will pull us together sooner. Cathy commented that one thing Juan said about having scope of services…you really should have prior to voting and approving contract. Ed then moved to amend the motion. See (3), below.)
(3) Amend motion to We agree to hire Mr. Curran as our consultant subject to mutual, satisfactory negotiations between this Commission and Mr. Curran (Ed/Ruth). Discussion: Juan stated that under MGL, Chapter 30B, all contracts over $1,00 have to go for bid. Ed stated we’re not necessarily subject to these By-Laws. Dr. Petti added that Marilyn Contreas said we’re independent committee and we don’t have to follow every By-Law.
(4) Juan moved to table until we get legal opinion (not seconded). Discussion: Cathy said let’s work with all the ideas. How about if we express a preference for one of the two tonight and have a committee work out scope and then get legal opinion in meantime from town counsel asking if we have power to contract, which Cathy believes Commission does have this power. Further, Cathy noted that actually we did comply with Chapter 30B; we did solicit and we got 3 proposals. Further she said she believes professional services are exempt.
Finally following all this discussion…
Motion: Richard motioned to rescind all motions (1-4, above); this was seconded by Cathy and unanimously carried.
Ruth motioned that we take a vote from this Commission to determine which of these 2 gentlemen we’d like to talk with and work out scope of services; Jerry seconded this motion;. Vote: All voted in favor, except Juan who voted “No”.
Richard motioned that the preference is Mr. Curran; Ed seconded this motion. Vote: All in favor except Dean and Juan…both voted “No”.
Juan motioned we get legal advice from Town Counsel on our being able to contract in violation of the Town By-Laws. Dean seconded this motion.
Vote: Yes – Chuck, Dean, and Juan.
No – Ruth, Ed, Richard, and Elizabeth.
Abstain – Jerry and Cathy.
Schedule of Future Meetings—All at 7 p.m. in Town Hall
September 12, 2002 (Curran)
September 25, 2002 (Board of Assessors and Town Clerk)
October 9, 2002 (Planning Board and Board of Health).
Chuck to contact invitees to attend specified meeting.
Juan motioned to allocate $1,000 to cover secretarial services; this motion was seconded by Jerry; and unanimously carried.
Old Business
Ruth Maney motioned the meeting be adjourned; Cathy Bowmar seconded the motion; and it was unanimously approved. The meeting adjourned at 9:10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Jean Giliberti
Recording Secretary
