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Mashpee Charter Commission

Mashpee Charter Commission
Minutes of Meeting Held Thursday, May 15, 2003
Mashpee Town Hall Meeting Room 1

Present: E. Larkin, J. Bacigalupi, C. Bowmar-Perry, W. Freeman, R. Maney, C. Gasior, D. Arden, and J. Blumengarten.

Absent: R. Halpern.

Invited participants: Attorney Mike Curran, Consultant.

Audience: Bea Perkins, League of Women Voters, and Wayne Taylor, Selectman.

A quorum being present, Ed Larkin, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 7 p.m.

Public Comments

Bea Perkins addressed the meeting stating she was pleased to see the minutes on the web site, but would have liked to see more detail in the minutes. Ed Larkin responded that in the future when the Commission begins to formalize decisions then the minutes would be more detailed.

Approval of Minutes

Juan Bacigalupi motioned to accept the minutes of April 24, 2003 as presented; this motion was seconded by Ruth Maney and was unanimously approved, except Cathy Bowmar-Perry and Warren Freeman abstained.

Discussion

Chuck Gasior stated that perhaps to start finalizing the process the Commissioners look at the Chatham and Bourne charters because they appear to have items that have good wording and good concepts. The Commission discussed this proposal in detail, along with Attorney Mike Curran’s draft of Article 2 – Legislative Branch wording.

Concluded: Changes were made to the following sections of the draft presented by Mike Curran. In addition Mr. Curran to check time schedule under Time of Meeting. Specifically, should it be left at March, April or May as proposed or may it be changed to April, May or June? MGL may prevent June as possibility. Mike will check this.

Section 2-2: Presiding Officer.
Section 2-4: Time of Meeting.
Section 2-5: Special Meetings.
Section 2-7: Initiation of Warrant Articles. This was reviewed in-depth and consideration given to perhaps using Chatham’s wording as alternative to work draft presented.

There was in-depth discussion regarding Open Town Meeting vs. Representative Town Meeting. Ed suggested that perhaps we could include a cover page asking the voters for their feedback. Thus far, the feedback that has been received seems to strongly favor Open Town Meeting. Ed asked the Commissioners to think about this for voting at a future meeting.

Old Business

Ed informed the Commissioners that we got a lower figure for cost of publication of the Preliminary Report. He noted we need new contract from Mike for the additional work, which will amount to $4,000.

Mike forwarded a new schedule of meetings and topics to be covered at each. He reminded the Commissioners that the next meeting will cover elected officers. Mike will send material on Administrators to the Commissioners beforehand so they can review for next meeting.

Following brief discussion of elected vs. appointed officers, the suggestion was offered that a preamble to the Charter could be provided covering this topic for future consideration.

Next Meeting

Thursday, May 29, 2003 at 7 p.m. at Town Hall. Topic: Elected Officers; and Administrator.

ADJOURNMENT

Ruth motioned to adjourn the meeting; Jerry seconded the motion; and it was unanimously approved. The meeting adjourned at 8:55 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Jean Giliberti, Recording Secretary