Mashpee Charter Commission

Present: E. Larkin, R. Halpern, R. Maney, J. Blumengarten, C. Gasior, D. Arden (arrived 7:10 p.m.), C. Bowmar-Perry (arrived 7:15 p.m.), and J. Bacigalupi (arrived at 7:30 p.m.).

Invited participants: Attorney Mike Curran (Charter Consultant).

Janice Mills, Chairman, Peter Thomas, Ben Caswell, Mollie Reis, and Marge Bevacqua, Secretary (School Committee); and Patricia Parolski, Supt. of Schools.

Audience: Mashpee Enterprise.

A quorum being present, Ed Larkin, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m.

Approval of Minutes

Ruth Maney motioned to accept the minutes of November 14, 2002; this motion was seconded by Richard Halpern and was unanimously approved by all Commissioners present.

Ed opened the discussions by bringing Mike Curran up-to-date on which Boards and Committees were still to be interviewed by the Charter Commission.

Ed suggested that everybody should go through the list of the various Boards and on December 5 report back to the Commission how they can be combined or perhaps contacted independently by member(s) of the Commission. He also commented that if any of the Commissioners have an opportunity to meet with any group in Town independently they should go ahead and do so and explain the importance of the Charter and then report back to the commission. No approvals are needed to do this…just go ahead and do it.

However, Ed noted that Water District, including the Water District Attorney, and the Sewer Commission should be invited to a meeting with the Charter Commission.

Jerry said he’d like to see a flow chart of the Boards and Committees. The Mashpee Annual Report has lists, but Jerry thinks it would be better to have a flow chart.

Charter Commission Vacancy

Ed stated he feels strongly the vacancy should be filled and he personally feels that we make an appointment on December 5. Following detailed discussion and various suggestions, the following were agreed to:

• Don’t place ad in newspaper…expensive.
• Place notice on Town Hall cable site. Already posted on Town Hall bulletin board.
• Chuck will contact all 3 individuals who had run and he’ll inform them of the vacancy.
• Ed would like to see a resume on those interested and their reasons for wanting to run for the Charter Commission.

Charter Meetings on Cable TV

Chuck spoke with Joyce. No problem. Chuck just has to tell Joyce and they’ll arrange to televise.

Communications

Ed was contacted by Upper Cape Cod Newspaper. They’d like to run a series of articles on the Charter. Ed thinks it is positive publicity and a nice idea.

School Committee

School Committee members and Supt. of Schools joined the meeting at 7:31 p.m. Ed thanked them for coming and opened the discussion by asking if they had any pertinent comments on the material sent to them. They all said they only received notice of meeting, except Ben Caswell, who said he did get the list. Ed explained we’re not looking for radical change…just looking to write a plain, simple document.

Janice Mills

• Been on School Committee a long time.
• Current 5 members is adequate number.
• Current 3-year term is adequate.
• Make-up and way we work has improved drastically.
• Budget bigger but services deal with “fragile” group.
• Very supportive senior citizen population in Mashpee.
• Staff mostly dedicated to Mashpee children.
• Good set of checks and balances. She gets nervous when hearing “CFO”.
• Believes school people need to run school finances. Very special issues need to be addressed.
• Thinks we’re too small to go to Representative Town Meeting. Wants Open Town Meeting. Citizens do better job.
• Likes Selectmen arrangement.
• Would like to see health insurance issue looked at. Do something about town health insurance plans.

Peter Thomas

• Born and raised in Barnstable; resident of Mashpee for 16 years. • Nice thing about Mashpee being last town growing on Cape is we can learn from what happened in other towns. • Feels School Committee communicates well and works well with other Town boards, departments, etc. • Likes 5 members. • He feels we have one of the best school systems. • Cautious about where we go. Take “baby steps” and look at long-term effect.

Ed stated we have to clear up a misconception…we’re only changing what people indicate they want changed. Cathy added that the main purpose of the Charter Commission is home rule. We’re calling everyone in to see what, if anything, you want changed. It could be there will be no changes, but Charter gives us home rule.

Ben Caswell

• All in agreement that 5 is right number. • Need more candidates. One of the things that could be done is maybe if we qualify for some benefit that might encourage more candidates. • They’re the Board of Directors for about 44% of the Town’s budget. • Continue to get group that comes from all different sectors. • They have FinCom member and Selectmen representative at their meetings. • Feels people in business of education should run school system. • Very important partnerships we need to have with Town—specifically, police (public safety) and public works.

Ed responded that we probably can’t put benefits issues in the Charter, but feels this case has to be made at Town Meeting.

Jerry thanked the School Committee for all their hard work. He said one of the goals is to let people know what we’re doing.

Mollie Reis

• Goes along with everything said. • Only concern is that as a group they work well and would be concerned any changes that would affect them in doing their job. • What things could Charter Commission do for us to make our job better and easier?

Ed responded that the Charter is a document that only lists board’s make-up etc. Anything else probably has to come from officials and Town Meeting. Day-to-day operation is up to the Boards and Committees

. Ed gave a lengthy explanation of what a Charter is all about and ended by saying that people will know their government and be able to look up by-laws in an easy manner.

Peter Thomas responded to Ed’s comments and concluded by saying that he feels people who come here have a pretty clear understanding on how a town operates and know what’s going on.

Jerry said basically we want to give clear understanding and showed how simply a school committee could be described in a charter.

Juan explained that basically we’re consolidating all changes into a simple format; basically Charter gives us home rule authority; and we’ll have in more streamlined format.

Dean added that by-laws and special acts will still exist.

Patricia Parolski

• Been a landowner in Mashpee 27 years.
• While she always looks for change, thinks it’s an interesting concept.
• Inter-departmental and Inter-Board cooperation has been excellent.
• Can never hurt to simplify and clarify.

Janice Mills

• Enjoys the budget process. She thinks it is a very healthy process because all drawing from same pot and all doing for good of Mashpee.
• Have to make each other aware of what their special needs are.
• All have a share in the process—it’s a grass roots effort.
• Budget process is a fair process.

Dean mentioned that for the last 4 years he noticed the school budget has only deviated from 45% of Town budget by small fractions. Janice Mills responded that planning is like bargaining in good faith.

Chuck asked what about a standing committee having on-going discussions all year? Janice Mills said it does exist right now. Patricia Parolski added that this year the Town Administrator initiated such a notion. Beginning December 4, Patricia said she’ll be meeting with the Town Administrator, the Police Chief, the Fire Chief, and DPW to see how they can collaborate.

Jerry mentioned that last Spring he spoke with the former Supt. of Schools and invited students to be involved in the Charter process. He showed the web site and questions he has on there for students.

Ben Caswell

• There should be more cooperative process in budgeting.
• His number one goal is to get what they need to serve 2300 customers 5 days a week.
• We have to get money to run.
• If you don’t move ahead, then you’re going backwards.

Juan said he’s strong advocate for School. He said maybe other groups could work with you and help out? Maybe we can find a better way. Janice noted one way to start is adding this piece to school curriculum.

The School Committee exited from the meeting and the Charter Commission returned to their agenda.

Schedule for Future Meetings

12/5 – 7:15 p.m. – Charter Meeting with Curran.

7:30 p.m. – Board of Appeals; Police Chief; and Fire Chief to join Charter Meeting.

12/12 – 7:15 p.m. – Charter Meeting with Curran.

7:30 p.m. – Board of Health, DPW, and Town Planner to join Charter Meeting.

Planning Board???When???.

Mike Curran

• Disappointed didn’t talk about what school/town could do jointly.
• Operation of maintenance and repair of town buildings and grounds is something more and more towns are doing.
• Some charters referring to school committee powers say “it shall have general charge and maintenance of school buildings and grounds unless town votes otherwise”.
• Combining department of human resources then similar positions compensated similarly.
• Joint Purchasing. State Law says all procurements made by the procurement officer. So you can have joint purchasing, etc.
• Financial administration. Some towns have one financial person and money saved could benefit school.
• A number of charters have said elected officers will not be entitled to benefits under Chapter 32B. This can save substantial amount of money.

Approval of Invoice

Cathy motioned to accept and pass Mike Curran’s invoice to payment; Ruth seconded this motion and it was unanimously approved.

ADJOURNMENT

Ruth motioned to adjourn the meeting; Cathy seconded the motion; and it was unanimously approved. The meeting adjourned at 9 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Jean Giliberti
Recording Secretary