HomeMy WebLinkAboutTGSCminutes20060612Town Government Study Committee
Draft Minutes, June 12, 2006
Land Bank Office
Call to Order. Chairman Reinhard called the twentyfifth meeting of the Town
Government Study Committee to order at 4:03 pm. Present were members Reinhard,
Gardner, Lohmann, Miller, Sevrens, Topham, and Willauer, and guest Rick Atherton.
Minutes. The minutes of June 1 were approved as submitted.
Consultant. Reinhard distributed copies of the Agreement for Consulting Services with
Mr. Groux. He will confirm that the $150 travel expense fee will cover travel time, and
the hourly rate will cover actual meeting time for visits, and inquire whether it is most
efficient for us to forward a few questions at a time or accumulate a number to send at
once. Much of the work can be done by teleconference or email. Generally we will let
the consultants know what we want to accomplish and they will advise us how to do so.
However, there are some areas where we will need more information from the
consultants about the implications of a proposal, in order to decide. Willauer moved and
Gardner seconded a motion to approve the agreement with Groux; it was adopted
unanimously.
Audit Committee. Guest Atherton, who had submitted information on various other
town' procedures for audit committees, noted that while the Nantucket Charter provides
for an Audit Committee [AC], one has not met for two or three years; there is an
appointed auditor, but the reports are in arrears. He felt some form of audit committee
should be required. Sevrens agreed it was important. Miller felt it was important for
independent oversight. There was consensus that the Charter should be changed to
require an audit committee. After some discussion about its composition, consensus
seemed to emerge in favor of a committee of five, composed of one representative each
of the Board of Selectmen [BOS], the Finance Committee, and the School Committee,
plus two atlarge members. How to select the atlarge members, and criteria for them,
was left to decide after further consideration of how other towns do it. Staff, such as the
Finance Director or School Superintendent, should provide support and implement the
recommendations of the AC, but not serve on it. There was a question whether the AC
would be required to hold public meetings.
Town Employees and public office. Reinhard again raised the issue of Town Employees
serving on the BOS, noting there are some areas where no town employee may serve;
others consider this disenfranchisement. There was a general feeling that it was
inappropriate for town employees to serve on the BOS while still employed by the town.
There was discussion about what constituted town employment: part time? On payroll?
On contract? grants? Reinhard will ask Groux to discuss how other towns define this. He
recognized this as a sensitive issue, and wanted to fully air the implications.
With regard to town employees serving on other committees and boards, the feeling was
that changing any elected boards, [such as the HDC, Planning, Land Bank, Water], would
be a long and complicated process to be addressed later. As to appointed boards, it was
noted that conflicts of time, for instance, could be addressed administratively. While it is
not in our committee's charge to determine administrative policies, it was suggested we
review the department's policies to perhaps clarify and make suggestions to avoid
conflicts. Willauer and Miller will request the town's and school's policies, respectively,
for review.
Town Meeting. Reinhard raised the issue of open versus representative Town Meeting
[ATM]. In favor of the representative form is the difficulty of a larger population fitting
into the meeting facility; against it is the restriction on open participation of all citizens
and the difficulty of arranging for fair representation of all areas, and requiring a twostep
process. The consensus was that for now open town meeting is still manageable and
working well. Although there is sometimes a problem with a special interest group
"packing" the meeting, there is the opportunity for proposals to be discussed back and
forth and information shared. There are ways to use technology to streamline the process:
remote television participation; media and Internet dialogues beforehand [such as
currently with the Harbor Plan, the Master Plan, and the TGSC study]. It was agreed that
increased prior awareness and information, opportunity for issues to be fully vetted
before TM, has allowed for a smoother town meeting. Willauer noted it was important for
articles to be crystallized early, with early review by the Finance Committee and
Planning Board; review meetings should be televised for maximum public access; this
should be required as a public service. Lohmann also stressed early legal review of the
wording as well, with Town Counsel available to help citizens with their articles.
Willauer showed a chart of the TM timeline.
Appointment Powers. Atherton raised the question of committee appointments,
inquiring about the rationale for the TGSC's proposal to move some appointments from
the BOS to the Town Manager[TM]. He was concerned that the TM might decide to
operate without some advisory boards and there would be no recourse if the public felt
input were needed. It was noted that some boards are spelled out in the Charter or by
laws. Reinhard agreed the concept should be reviewed.
Meeting with Town Counsel DeRensis. Reinhard noted that TA Gibson had approved
the TGSC meeting with DeRensis, stipulating that he be paid by TGSC, not the town.
The meeting time is not yet set, but will probably be in July, hopefully when DeRensis is
on island anyway. Committee members should compile questions for DeRensis. Some
may be duplicative of questions for the consultant, but a second viewpoint may be good.
Future Plans. The next scheduled meeting is for June 26 th ; however, there was a feeling
that we have much to cover and should add more meetings, even if not all can attend.
There was a suggestion to meet for one hour on one topic, listing the topics needing
attention and scheduling the meetings accordingly. Atherton's issue of committee
appointments was one topic; Bruce Miller's suggestions, submitted to Reinhard,
regarding the Sheriff and housing were other topics for consideration.
A new meeting was scheduled for Thursday, June 22, at 8:00 am.
Adjournment. Was at 5:45 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Pamela Lohmann