okay we are Missing Bob hamburger our chairperson and Carol Lee our vice chairperson has requested that I run this this individual meeting so I'm going to go about doing it the best I can so the first thing on our agenda I'm going to call to order the endover charter revision commission special meeting for Thursday July 11th 2024 at 6:05 pm. the members that are in attendance are Caren midor Carol Lee Patricia Billings and Jeff Maguire so we have a quorum of the seven members we are going to move to public speak and Shannon Lowden is Our member of the public hi Shannon good evening thanks Jeff real quickly I'm here to listened but the only thing I wanted to say is well I understand that you may not have wanted to publicize it until after Dennis had reviewed it this is the third meeting at which I've asked that whatever has already been voted on by the commission and what you're considering be posted publicly and I think it's getting to the point of being
really critical given that you're having your public hearing next week so I will just put in that request one more time thanks a lot okay Dennis O'Brien you are the only other member of the public and I'm assuming you're going to participate in enough in this meeting do you need to State anything no not at this time okay we're gonna move on to item three approval of minutes we're going to skip that item and we're going to move on to item four discussion and possible action upon any Charter revision issue at our previous meeting we reviewed [Music] the documents prepared by the chairman and the vice chairman related to the items that were approved the whole C whole Charter and then attorney O'Brien had prepared an initial draft and I am going to share my screen so that we [Music] can see both of these items so I just want to make sure which screen am I sharing are you seeing the draft and the charter revision somebody says yes or no yes okay so we're seeing this draft which is the document that we were preparing based upon what we had voted on and gone through and on the right side is the the charter revision commission draft report for July 11th so Dennis has been working in conjunction with car to get this prepared so as we go through it the wording in the beginning of the top of this is Denis so we're down to this section 105 so as Dennis
is going to say wording underlined in blue is proposed to be added to the Charter is revisions wording or any reference section that is stricken in red or proposed to be deleted from the charter so we're going to move down to on the left document which is our document so Bob had done this at the last and I thought it was very helpful for at least me to go through this so the first change that we had voted on was related to the Mario ordinance section so this is deter this is the wording that we gave to Dennis and then Dennis came through and prepared this so This section here that I'm highlighting will reference to this section that is here so I'll read Dennis's section so everybody can be okay with it any ordinance enacted as a minor ordinance prior to the deletion of this General provision on the effective date of the November 5th 2024 Charter revision amendments shall continue to remain in place effective unless until thereafter repealed or amended by the board of selecting so that is just letting everybody know that all the ordinances in effect would stay in effect anybody have any problem with that if you do just check me and say Jeff we need to make an adjustment or we need to change and then Dennis can jump in and tell us what we're doing so is that okay with everybody all right so I'm going to move down the document on the left so we had gotten to section 203 Town officers general election so this is related to the timing of the
election and Dennis's draft report he goes 2023 Town officers and so section A and he's saying beginning on November 2nd 2027 and continuing every four four years thereafter in the banial Municipal elections to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November there shall be elected a board of selectman so in this section it's basically moving our elections to a November timeline Dennis I will ask you a question because you and I have had i' I started to ask these questions like is in the banial municipal election accurate under this section of the general election because it is a four-year term Yeah it's you're still having a banal election but the correct we have it every two years but every four years the board of selectman will go up right it specifies that the select are fouryear term okay no problem so anybody have any problem with that section in that terminology the only thing though Dennis I I think Jeff is right because it's should be 2029 because that's when there oh no you're right it's 2027 never mind get it I'm all right you're skipping two years I hope I'm still around then 2029 wow it's all right so 2027 2027 is in this section and this is just a house geping issue this has nothing to do other than moving it from May to but the charter had originally said to moving it to November so we're just stating November so okay in the the
the board the commission's document we talked about this is another section related to timing in May to November and so section 203b regarding election of the ton clerk is repealed in its entirety and replaced is file presant to the option set forth in general statute section 9-15 as fully set forth in in in Dennis this term should be below I believe we need a b there oh yeah the below all right yeah made a typo in there this afternoon that's great we're gonna find these in the below Char section 702 7020 so Dennis I'm expecting you to change that and it will be reviewed or do you want me to change it and I I I just changed my copy so type in so in the below Charter section 702 beginning with the November 2nd 2026
27 election the town clerk shall no longer be elected right so that goes into our decision to make the town clerk a an appointed position anybody any questions or problems with that section no okay then it goes to C at the bani milal election to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November 2025 and every two years thereafter thou shall be elected members of the following boards commissions and agencies for the tomb terms specified herein and the remainder of that section remains in place so what that's doing is moving from May to November and then all of the people and like the board of finance that will come up for the next election in 2025 will we will have a November election in accordance with the state on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November assuming everybody's good there okay so we're going to go down to D so these are all on the left side these are all of the groups that
are elected all the positions that we have elected so Board of Finance Board of assessment appeals planning zoning zorder of appeals Board of Education Fire Commission we get down to D and this is the terminology that we had provided to Dennis and this is what he's writing in the draft D all terms of office except as otherwise provided in this Charter shall commence on the 3D Tuesday after the first Monday of November elected Town officials shall hold office until their successors have been chosen and qualified so what's that that is saying and Carol just make sure we're right is the first Monday after the fir the first Tuesday after the first Monday so that would be the first Tuesday is the election let's and then you have two more Tuesdays and then the individuals hold their office or start to take their office on that third Tuesday in November is that accurate okay okay that was the suggestion that you you all made at the last meeting to change that to third Tuesday because I had it in terms that were not as clear so you clarified that for me yep so third Tuesday after the first Monday of November okay we're good all right and then on the left side we didn't make any changes until we got to 210 and this goes for early voting in 210 and this was the terminology we provided to Dennis the dates and hours
of early voting shall be conducted as prescribed by state general statutes section 210 the dates and hours of early voting shall be conducted as P prescribed by the Connecticut General statutes and Dennis included as amended so if the state makes adjustments we just follow the state protocol everybody good with that okay then we go down to chapter three the town meeting 301 so this is where we're starting to talk about the ordinance sections and information and 301 the legislative authority of the Town shall be shared by the board of Selectmen in the town meeting the then we're going through what we left in and we said in section 30 four and it's enumerated there's additional information enumerated I might as well just read all this so everybody hears it out loud and if you have a problem or question please speak up the legisla authority of the Town shall be shared by the by the board of Selectmen in the town meeting the town meeting shall have Authority for final approval of those actions of the town as here in enumerated in section 304 the board of Selectmen shall have legislative Authority for all matters not specifically enumerated herein the Hereafter in section 304 including but not limited to the authority to approve and enact repeal and modify all ordinances after a public hearing and also those Powers enumerated in section 402 and those Powers formally assigned to the town meeting per section 304d of this Charter section 301a elector authority to repeal any ordinance legislatively and acted by the board of Selectmen so this is where we were trying to go through and provide ample opportunity for anyone to question
a decision by the board of Selectmen and repeal an ordinance so any action of the board of Selectmen to an act repeal or modify any ordinance except any emergency ordinance enacted by enacted per section 406 of this Charter shall be subject to being repealed by way of a special re referendum in the following Manner and just so everybody's understanding we did in one during Co we did an emergency ordinance we were required to so just so everybody understands that that did come into play and that was done Co ordinances they can only be in place for 60 days yeah 60 days and we had to renew that I think three times three or four times yep during that timeline okay so the board of Selectmen shall send a written townwide mailer promptly notifying the town elector in detail of any such legislative action by the board the mailer shall be sent to the office of the town clerk where the date of its receipt shall be noted on the public record so what that's that's saying is if the board of selectman wants to to repeal or do anything related an ordinance we need to send out a townwide mailer and the clock does not start ticking until everyone receives that and the town clerk's office receives it
stamps it and that's the the date for petitioning starting so nothing ever happens unless you get a mailer so on so then two to seek repeal of any such legislative action by the board of Selectmen a petition must be filed with the T the office of the town clerk within 20 days after official receipt by the office of the town clerk of the townwide mailer from the board of Selectmen to be valid any such petition must be timely filed by 5% or 50 of the electors of the Town whichever number is less as determined by the latest official registry of the registar voters the petition must also conform with the requirements of Connecticut General statute section 7-9 accept is provided here in and be signed an Inc requesting that such ordinance be submitted to the voters in a special referendum so everybody would have 20 days to sit there and file once the mailer is received by the Tom clerk so this gives
us time between the date that any ordinance would go into effect and when someone would be able to push any given ordinance to special referendum so item three the Tom Clark shall within seven days of receipt of any such petition certify to the board of Selectmen whether the petition included a sufficient number of valid signatures and was legally consistent with the other requirements of this provision if it is not legally sufficient in every way the town clerk shall so inform the selectman who sh shall declare the petition invalid and the ordinance shall take effect on the 45th day following approval of the board of Selectmen so we had requested 45 day delay between the the issue of doing a an ordinance and the application or the that ordinance being put into effect that would give the the petitioners enough time and it would cross two Board of selectman meetings so if the bord of Selman needed to reconsider their ordinance they would have the ability to do that okay if the petition contains sufficient valid signatures for if the petition contains sufficient valid signatures and is otherwise legally sufficient the effective date of the ordinance shall be
set aside and the selectman shall in cooperation with the office of the Secretary of State and State law schedule a special referendum to be conducted simultaneously with the election regularly scheduled be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in in the month of November or with the next regularly scheduled referendum immediately following validation of such petition so that section means that it can either be put on the ballot in November or put on the ballot in May and that would allow us to not waste any time if we needed to do this so the ordinance shall stand approved but in item five the ordinance shall stand approved by the referendum uness majority of the electors voting shall have voted in favor of repealing such ordinance provided however that at least 10% of the registered voters of the Town
shall have voted on the matter any ordinance not so repealed shall take effect on the day following the referendum okay does anybody have any problems with the petitioning process and everything that we had addressed that that I'm pretty sure that it lines up with everything that had been written in the emails that I provided back to everybody on the meeting before and this meeting the changes that were made so anybody have any problem with this section or any changes Carol we good good okay okay so on our other side we come into section 303 annual Town budget meeting so in yellow we were going to delete the annual Town budget meeting for the consideration of the budget shall be held in the second week of April in each year the adoption of the budget shall be pursuant to the provisions of section 803 of the charter so we were doing this to line our dates with the ram budget referendum so that we could have one referendum so this is our attempt to try to get everything to line up so that we were only having one an initial round of budget voting so Carol does that line up with your dates yes okay okay section 304 special town meeting this is the section where we were trying to level out reasons to get to the or the the amounts of money to get to a town meeting so under 304 special town meeting providing that all other procedures and and or prerequisites financial and otherwise as delineated in the charter have been met special town meeting shall be called by the board of Selectmen and shall follow section 302 of this Charter
for consider ation of the following items orry oh I screwed that up there we go a the issuance of bonds and all other forms of financing exceeding $50,000 in value the terms which are in ex ESS of one year so $50,000 we raised that we raised that value I believe it was 2500 before wasn't it where was that Carol in your Charter like where in 304 was that what was that that we replaced or was it zero we might have just said all forms of financing there was no there no okay so there was it was in G the 2500 it's in G okay so so there was the issuance of bonds or any form of financing the town wanted to go to
public meeting for any debt at all so we were putting in not to exceed $50,000 okay B any supplemental appropriation with which exceeds 1% limit set forth in section 805b excluding any bonds or notes issued subject to section 810d so we moved this from 1 half of 1% to 1% and then this is where Adrian wanted to sit there and put some limitations on this any supplemental appropriation which exceeds or is equal to 2 and a half% of the current year budget excluding the amount appropriated for the Region 8 Board of Education and approved by the board of Finance shall go directly to referendum pursuant to section 803 of this Charter so that was
the 2 and a half% was the the limit that it comes somewhere between to two to close to $200,000 if if a board of Selectmen and the board of Finance want to approve something like the mower that we did through a special town meeting this is moving it to a referendum to get approved by all the voters in town so that was the exact wording that we had here okay so D this is the creation consolidation modification or abolition of any permanent board commission Department of Charter and this going to town meeting this has been deleted e assigned to the board of Select [Music] yeah e leases and or lease options in excess of $50,000 so leases and or lease options in excess of $50,000 to which the town including the local board of education is a party which involve a term or obligation in excess of one year incl excluding leases of Personality Dennis can you just explain personality for everybody personalty that'd be personal property as opposed to real estate okay so so so if the school just so we're clear I just want I want
everybody to be clear so if the school wants to rent a copier right it's not included right okay just so we're all clear so if if equipment is to be rented or least and it's an excess of $50,000 we don't need to go to town meeting for that if it's in the budget it's been approved just just want everybody to be clear on what this is this is really I believe the way they were trying to structure this is this is leasing of like what would what would not be what would not be personality personalty just explain that what would not be personalty real estate real estate okay so this whole section is only about real estate okay well that that that that was that language is all in the current Charter no it's in the current I'm just I'm just trying to make sure that we're aware it wasn't add it wasn't change the only change was to put in excess of 50 Grand correct that's all we are changing but I'm now looking at this as a resident under trying to understand the
charter and I'm like going that word always bothered me so now I understand the word so what this this section here means to me is real estate leases because this term here right here excluding leases of Personality sorry okay it's a it's a legal term I know lawyers I love them yeah okay got to love them gota love them F any appropriation from the capital and non-recurring expense fund not including the annual budget which exceeds one qu of 1% .25% of the budget as specified in town in section of 805b there's no change to this so Dennis why this in here Dennis what that section F there is no change in this section here between the current Charter and what we're doing in the draft why is this in here it's just in there for context for
context I I I what I do when I do these things these these draft reports is I try to leave enough it's a judgment call certain items in there that are not changed just for context okay and and that's okay I just wanted everybody to understand we're not we're not yeah no no not not as far as I know not as far as I was we were not changing that I just want to make sure everybody understood we were not changing that all right next one is a big G yeah the so this is mine today and I I just I after reading this and reviewing this this morning under G we talk about these are things that we changed this first three three words all right and this is to go to town meeting it says here in our Charter the application for or participation in any Federal Grant or private grant program in excess of $2500 would need to go to a town meeting I'm I I'm going to ask that we we remove the L the the the the app application for the reason why I did this today when I read it was because what it's doing is it's saying we need to go that the board or the Board of Education maybe not be the board of education but the town would need to go to a town meeting to apply for a grant so let's take the case of the Long Hill brand Grant bridge program if we had done this correctly which we're not I'm just letting
everybody know the way I read this is we should have went and applied or or or asked the town meeting if we could apply for participation in that Grant now and and when I say Long Hill we ended up getting Long Hill totally paid for by Grant but in the beginning phases it was an 8020 Grant so in reality we should have gone to the town meeting before we even applied for that Grant and I I would ask if we could remove that and that would be that's that's new to tonight I'm just ask I'm G to ask if everybody you we can leave it there and I will tell you that the town will not be doing that because Eric will be applying for Grants or anybody will be applying a grant be applying for Grants and not going to a town meeting to get it approved until we receive the Grant and then we have to go and say okay when we receive the grant so it's the next section that I agree with the participation in any Federal grant federal state or private grant program in excess of $2500 excluding local and Regional Board of Education which participation shall require the town and or the local Board of Education to contribute in excess of $25,000 to enter into any such gr grant program and then we would go to a Tom meeting and say are we okay with accepting this grant so that's the same thing that we just did in town meeting for the $2.9 million Grant we
received to do the connectivity between the trail and the town complex so I would make a motion that we remove from section 304g the the wording application for or I'll second okay I'll second all right Carol seconded so any further discussion on those three those three words all right all those in favor of removing those words I okay for nothing so in this in this section g it will now read the participation in any federal state or private grant program in excess of $2,500 excluding the local and Regional Board of Education which participation shall require the town and or the local Board of Education to contribute in excess of $25,000 to enter into any such Grant programs right so that was the wording that was in here with just removing that so that's that H we'd have to go to town meeting for the discontinuance or abandonment of town roads we would have to go to I sorry little housekeeping I such other matters or proposals as a selectman in their discretion shall deem of sufficient importance to sub be be submitted to a special town meeting and we would delete in including recommendation by the selectman for the adoption modification or repeal of any ordinance that was in here one
second that was a removal from Dennis because this if passed we would not need if if the section on the ordinances passes this section would be removed and that was done by attorney O'Brien and that makes sense because if we get the Ord issue moved then this would not be required to be in the charter if it doesn't pass then this goes back in the charter right that accurate Dennis that is accurate okay all right J this section was removed this is about the town ordinances so the reason why that was removed 30 same reason same reason yeah but we knew that one we had identified that in our document to be deleted okay 305 petition P Town meetings this section shall remain intact except that any references to the repealed Charter section 304d and 304j shall be deleted so we put that there all right section four Board of Selectmen 402 General powers and duties a sorry I keep doing this I'm gonna send this back to Dennis so he can have so you can have a spaces between these hey to enact amend or repeal ordinances providing they are not inconsistent with this Charter we're deleting this section and not legally inconsistent with the general statutes of the state of Connecticut so so that is what we're we put here and we put not legally inconsistent with the general statute States conect B to enact ordinances creating consolidating modifying or abolishing agencies commissions boards and authorities not otherwise provided in this
Charter so to enact recommend this was all deleted creating Consolidated so that matches up with what we're doing there and please stop me if I'm going too fast I don't want to over Rush this but I'm just going through Section by section section 404 public hearing on and publication of ordinances this section shall remain intact except that the phrase not covered by Charter section 105h shall be deleted and the final sentence in section 404 shall be amended as follows every ordinance unless it shall specify a later date shall become effective on the 45th day after such publication following its final passage yeah that's to make it with what you did with I think we did this two days ago yeah but what I'm reading as I'm
reading every ordinance unless it specifies the later date I have no problem shall become effective on the 45th day and we're saying after such publication but it's not after the publication it's it's after enactments Ena should be the enact yeah yeah you're right what we what we did just so everybody understands what we did is we we said the the repeal or the petitioning would have a 20-day window with inside that 45 day window so right the thought is the board of Selectmen gets the the document together to to get out to the public to say this is an ordinance that would like we would like to enact the public then has 20 days to petition that's all within this 45 day
window so that terminology is not accurate in my mind that's that publication word is in the current Charter and I that's a good catch by you because what you've done with the you know the appeal process from the enactment of ordinances is unique and I thought at first was a bit convoluted but I think it works but I think in order to make it this consistent with that you're correct that the word publication in this item and second line from the bottom has to be changed to enactment and I'd like to know if Carol agrees okay so your 404 and we're going back to which one 30 I'm trying to go to 30 our terminology and 30 4 of when it when right it's it's right here it's this section right here so Carol if no one puts forth a petition right with valid signatures it's not valid we say the ordinance shall take effect on the 45th day following approval of the board of Selectmen right well there's a publication to Dennis right yeah I know but how does that fit in now with this new system you have I mean my M boggled by that Carol I mean right now it's affective the 21st day after it's the legal notice is published in the newspaper so I we can't overrule that we would still have to publish that legal or can the charter overrule that public I would say that that is something that the charter can overrule if you can do what you're doing with the appeals process for know appealing from enactment by the board of Selectmen I think I don't think the state of Connecticut is going to care whether you whether you have a
different public ation date given the fact that you've you know you've you've altered the 20 you know the norm is 20 days you know that 21st day it takes effect and that may be statutory but that's why I inserted the word up above legally inconsistent there are some things that could be inconsistent with state law and other things that cannot and the the one case that where this came up and is is most notable that everybody points to is the case from nagat Jeff's Hometown where the nagat put in the bation of the budgets school and the Town budget even though there was no provision for that in State Statute but they said it was a matter of local concern only and they allowed the local government of ngat to make that change and a lot of other towns of course have followed suit so this this my opinion off the top of my head right now I believe that your publication could change Carol and you could make it could make the publication probably not until the 45th day I don't know well don't we listen Carol just just so I understand this because I I want to be if we pass an ordinance isn't the publication of that ordinance what we would be sending to the residents in the mailer right so I I was just going to say that we could publish the legal notice that I would publish in the newspaper and then correct we could put except if overruled as provided in section
301a I like that Carol now you're now you're thinking that's a good idea we could put we could publish after 20 days like the statute requires and and just puts notice that specifies what our system is and so it won't be effective until later on just so we comply with the publication deadline right I like that it has to be publicized and then this way if someone does petition we have that little clause in there just to cover it we don't cover we don't cover that in the charter because it's state statute and we don't need we don't really need to so as long as we have that understanding I think we I still think we'd have to change 404 it it couldn't be 45th day after publication because that would stretch it out to 65 days right no because if there were no petition that was brought forward right yeah because we're putting that clause in there so if there's no PO that's brought forth the ordinance becomes effective the 45th day after the publication but if it is petitioned then that 45 days stops ticking and then starts up after you know as it's described and defined in 301k okay so so my question Carol is if if a board of Select Elman approves an
ordinance right when is that published so I usually write when I get the ordinance publish it so if you pass it on a Monday at your meeting and I get the minutes by Tuesday or Wednesday I then publish that ordinance Friday edition of The River East just not the full ordinance but just an abbreviated version of it letting them know that F versions are available on the website in the office okay and and if that's the case I'm okay with that but then Dennis you need to revise the this this information up here so it's ordinance shall take effect on the 45th day following publication not approval by the board of education but by the board of Selectmen you're saying should this section 404 should say no no that section if Carol if Carol is accurate and she say and she's saying that that's accurate it we we have to make 301 3013 and that 40 accurate like they need to Jive so we're we're saying and the ORD shall take a effect on the 45th day following approval of the board of Selectmen you see what I'm saying so
public that's only that's only if the petition isn't declared legal right or if there is a petition don't forget in most situations you're not going to get a petition well let's say let's there the petition overrules everything and and the clock stops and it goes a referendum that's the reality of it but I'm just talking about I'm just talking about the execution of an ordinance that didn't get petitioned I'm just trying to line up this language here this or you're right right you're right so this language should be as as as I think I said before without thinking it TR to the extent we have now this language should be 45th day after an after anent I believe it's it should I think it should be 45 45th day following publication yes what do you what do you mean by publication Jeff okay so down now no no what Carol is saying Carol has to put it into the the paper that an ordinance is going to be enacted in the town forget the mailer the mailer has to deal with the petition the petition right right right but in this section here right in this section what what we're saying is the the shall become effective on the 45th day after such publication following its passage so you have to take this wording here the 45th day after such publication following its final passage and put it up in this section here so you're talking that it could be as many as 65 days no it can't be that long it can only be yes it can yes it can yes it can because she has even though she may publish it the next day
but but but the publication is not required until 20 days no the way the process work I understand what you're saying but if Carol and just correct me if I'm wrong because I the board of Selectmen has a meeting on a Tuesday and it passes a a potential ordinance that that Denis and everybody we'd be involved in we would then give give it to the town clerk and you would put it in the River East and say the town of Andover is potentially passing a new ordinance and the document is available in the town clerk's office right that would go in hopefully the next publication hopefully hopefully doesn't
know happen I mean so what's the worst case scenario I Hound Carol and say Carol you got to get this in the River East it doesn't get there the first week it gets there the second week right I mean well the worst case scenario is in other towns they sometimes don't get it in until 20 days after and I get it and we're gonna have to live with that I mean that's the board of Selectmen needs to work5 so are you saying now to wait 20 days for me to no I want you to publish it immediately no I'm not no I'm not saying that Carol but okay that's that's how much time you have it's got to be published before the before the 20 21st day no but you're missing we we are the convoluted Town we're putting in a better check and bage program we're putting in a better check and balance program so the way this process should work is Board of Select makes an an ordinance issue an ordinance decision the ordinance language is written Carol receives the ordinance language that notice is then put into the paper that's
step one right Carol put into the paper right yes right so so that starts listen listen Den that starts the 45 day clock that starts the 45 day clock then in conjunction with this we put a mailer out to all the residents of the town that starts the petitioning plock right so they right can they be two separate clocks so in other words at the 45 day clock is ticking and the petition is deemed not legal in any way and it's not valid then on the 45th day that ordinance takes a effect but if the petition is legal then the 20 days are going to take effect because that 45th day is going to now stop that clock is going to stop ticking and the 20 days is going to tick and then if it is defeated at referendum then it takes effect the following day takes effect the following
dayb so Dennis Carol's I agree with Carol and I understand what she's saying so good to me it's the Dennis just as you used to have 20 days from publication date we're just saying 45 days from public yes yes right but the norm is that you ordinances take effect 21 days after they're enacted okay so right you have to in the you have to publish in the newspaper either the ordinance for btim which we don't have to do because we have a we have an ordinance that allows us to do a summary okay you have to publish something in the newspaper saying this ordinance has been passed and that is I think you can just do that anyway and and and and CH and keep this change this from publication to or else you're going to have ordinances that don't go into effect until 50 days 55 days for
whatever whatever the countdown is of 45 days from the date of publication right Carol you're going to get no matter what when when the River East publishes it you're going to have to count off 45 days if it's not appealed and and and you're going to delay the ordinance even even more meanwhile if you put the publication in the paper as you suggested Carol and and and make it clear that you know it won't go into effect if if a a petition is filed speaking appeal then you know I I I think I think if you leave this at publication then you could have an ordinance going into effect actuality
if it's any any any number of days you know after 45 and Carol I can I think would incredible m i could I listen I can understand what Dennis is saying because Carol the timing of the publication and the petition will will be able to fit inside that 45 days right right so Dennis all I'm saying now then I'm going to reverse myself this language here and the ordinance shall take effect on the 45th day following approval of the board of selectman needs to be the language in here on 40 yes okay yes or just change publication to enactment enactment is the you know or you could say enactment by the board of selectman approval by the board of selectman then you don't have a problem you you you you do your public apption in the interim but it doesn't mess up this 45 day time limit that you have placed on it through your your appeal scheme does anybody have a problem with that because all of the deadlines will fall in here I'm going to change it right now on mine change publication to approval by the board of change so you're gonna sit there and say 45th day following approval of the board of Selectmen right okay and then those two section of
the charter will will line up and then just so we're all aware we're all good with this the way that this this operationally should work is the bard of selectman passes an ordinance the ordinance language is provided to the to the town clerk's office we then send out a mailer and we publ we put it into the paper at first available opportunity we put it into the paper that there's an ordinance going to go into effect and if you'd like the full text it's available to Tom clerk's office then the mailer goes out and the petition clock starts so the petition CL clock could be the petition clock could start on day 10 and they would have till day 30 to get 50 signatures because that's what it would take and then that would be within the 45 day window that we would get all this okay so Dennis you're gonna change this you're gonna change this I I have better language for this okay I just thought about it because because the language that follows it is following its final passage so if I if we just take out if you you just make them both line up and say the same thing 45 days following approval of the board of Selectmen I think I would be happy because they would be consistent and I think everybody else would suppos be happy they would be consistent I I think we're there I think we're there I'm I'm I'm going to take out after such publication and just leave following its
final passage in that's that's the final passage from the board of Selectmen following its we could change final passage to make it clearer of if it's it's approval by the board of selected yes please that would be better I'm gonna do that okay eah that was a good discussion sorry I'm I'm sorry well great minds end up thinking alike well now that I'm home I can have these things so 605 so this was this was put into effect in 1999 so we were trying to get this except as otherwise specifically provided for in this Charter the terms of all Town board members shall be for two years and shall commence on the
first Monday in July of 2025 and banally thereafter all Tom board members shall be eligible for reappointment and shall continue in office until a successor has been appointed and has qualified so this was Carol this was about appointed boards such as the rec commission or some of the boards that are non-elected it's a two-year term and they just re reup every two years so and we got rid of July of 1999 so oops I'm sorry everybody didn't put that on mute I will put that on mute okay we're going down to chapter seven we don't have anything else on our documents here here this is removal of the elected position so administrative Services 701 TR at the beginning of this section 701 deleted with the exception of 7020 town clerk which is an elected position but the rest of section 701 will remain in place okay [Music] 702 702 administrative positions at the very beginning let's
see 72 director of Health sorry director of Health this is where we're trying to deal with we don't always have these individuals as employees we have them as subcontracted vendors so the director of Health the board of Selectmen shall appoint a director of Health as mandated by the state of Connecticut the rest of this will be deleted and then in the same way e an animal control officer the board of Selectmen shall appoint an animal control officer or contract with animal control services Dennis on the director of Health I'm just going to ask a question and I'm sorry I'm doing this but we use Eastern Health High Eastern Health Eastern Highland Health District right is that a director of Health Carol or a contracted service just a question oh it's it's the contracted service for these is and so the Eastern Health High District in Essence becomes our director of Health the organization becomes our director of Health okay and Dennis is that okay is that okay because we're doing it as mandated by the state of Connecticut yeah that's the way I see it okay good I'm okay with that done that's it's about every place now okay smaller smaller places okay so now we were doing oh this is the town
clerk section 7010 and Dennis is this okay this is oh a town clerk the office of the town clerk shall have permanent status pursuant to option set forth in general statute section 9-15 beginning with the November 2nd 2027 election the town clerk shall no longer be elected rather on or after November 16th 2027 and every four years thereafter the board of Selectmen most recently elected in the November municipal election shall on or after two weeks following the date of their election by a minimum of three votes appoint a qualified person to be the Tom clerk to work in that capacity beginning on January 2nd of the new year for a term of four years subject to the requirements of chapter 92 of the general statutes as amended regarding Town clerks Dennis the you know the language is fine there might be a period after as amended you might want to either make that a comma or as amended I think you're right GNA change it right now okay got it anybody have any issues with that section the only change in that section from last meeting is the I added the first sentence the oppos of the town clerk shall have permanent status that was the request that was made last meeting good with that 703 Carol is that is that a typo in the current Charter this yes I'm just I just pointed it out so I fix it when okay
understood finance and Taxation 202 so this SE these sections are all to align our voting into get to one referendum budget where we vote on both the town and the ram budget all at once so section 802 duties on the budget a all new no later than October 15th the board of Finance shall confer with the board of Selectmen and the Board of Education to discuss the goals and objectives for the upcoming budget the board of Finance may suggest a Target increase for expenditures for both the general government and Board of Education budgets however the target increases shall not be binding with respect to budget submittals Carol and and the team can we remove increases can we just say budget argets because I'm just saying I know it's in the charter and it really won't mean anything but a future board of Finance could say we need to go down right we we could do that anybody else have a problem if we just say targets so it would be the board of Finance shall confer with the board of selectman and the Board of Education to to discuss the goals and objectives for the upcoming budget the board of Finance may suggest suggest a target for expenditures for both the general government and Board of Education budgets however the targets shall not be binding with respect to budget submittal anybody have a problem with that I think Bob's term was unanimous consent is that okay did we remove those yes that's okay Dennis can you remove increase on both those sentences y did it so suggest a Target
and in the second one it's however the targets or no the target the target it is Target the Target shall shall not the target shall not be binding with respect to budget submittals okay increases out in both places yes please already done thank you B agency department head section 802 in the current Charter we're removing 120 days and we're saying at least 150 days before the end of the fiscal year the head of each department office and or agency of the town supported wholly or in part by Town funds except the regional board of education and the local Board of Education shall file with the Town Administrator a detailed estimate of expenditures to be made by that department office or agency and the revenues other than property taxes to be collected thereby in the ensuing fiscal year such estimates shall be accompanied by a statement setting forth the services activities and work accomplished during the current year and plann for accomplishments for the ensuing fiscal year the local Board of Education must must oh the the local board of education budget must be submitted to the board of Finance by February 15 and that is the what we put in here I don't think there's any problems with that C all new duties of the Town Administrator the Town Administrator shall review the budget estimates upon completion of the review and not later than 120 days prior to the end of the fiscal year the Town Administrator shall present to the board of selectman and board of finance a proposed budget in preparing the proposed budget the Town Administrator may come May comment and
make recommendations on the budget requests made by various departments offices and agencies so that was this section here D there shall be budget review meetings in March which shall be joint meetings of the board of selectman and the board of finance a quorum of at least one of the two boards is required to conduct business okay duties of the board of Finance formally SEL section 802b and we're saying the board of financial review of the budget estimates with the heads of all Town supported Department offices and agencies as needed there's still additional text that's in there and then it comes the board of Finance shall include the estimated budget request of the Regional School District number eight Board of Education in their recommended budget E1 upon completion of the review and not later than 85 days prior to the end of the fiscal year the board of Finance shall hold a public hearing on their recommendations on their recommended budget excuse me and that is all to align with what we're trying to get to with one referendum 803 the annual Town budget meeting and referendum the annual Town budget meeting shall be held in the second week of April and then we're going to the town meeting May make amendments to the proposed budget provided however that the town meeting shall only have the power to reduce or modify but not increase the budget or any portion thereof the town meeting may not alter any specified items contained in the budget proposed by the local Board of Education the town meeting shall adjourn to referendum shall adjourn to a
referendum to be held on the Tuesday following the 1 Monday in May so what that does is that aligns the budget referendums with the ram referendum voting by absentee ballot at the referendum is allowed just as a side question Carol do we allow we don't oh well we don't allow we don't allow absentee ballots do we allow absentee ballots in our current referendum the referendums yes Town meetings no that mean so okay all right so that's a so B I'm sorry that was B so that was what we said here the time meeting other during to referendum be held Tuesday following right voting by absentee ballot referendum is allowed C is deleted D is deleted to this point if the budget is defeated at a first referendum the budget will be bifurcated into separate votes this is what was done last budget or last Charter revision cycle on the town budget and the local board of education budget individually and the process shall Begin
Again with the board of Finance as set forth in 802e above and continue until each B forged budget is passed the board of Finance shall review any rejected budget and present the same or revised budgets to why was that removed I'm sorry to the next referendum which will be held exactly to okay so we have to get rid of and then okay and yeah to the next ref which will be held exactly two weeks later if only one of the two bifurcated budget is passed at referendum it is final and may be implemented for the new fiscal year but this process must continue for any failed budget until it is passed so [Music] 02 after the final adoption of the budget referendum with consideration of the external budgeting factors including State Appropriations and or the Region 8
Board of Education the board of Finance shall meet as soon as possible to set the mill rate for the upcoming fiscal year Appropriations duties of the board of finance and there's actually the board of Finance shall be empowered to make supplemental Appropriations up to an including amount that that cumul is equal to 1% 1% approved by the board of Finance those which exceed the cumulative one % of the current year budget excluding the the amount appropriated for the Regional School direct should shall be submitted to a special town meeting pursuant to the provisions of section 304b of this Charter and if approval be sent to referendum pursuant to section 803 of this Charter okay what's 1% of current year budget approximately I'm curious [Music] $80,000 okay I [Music] mean that's not much am I wrong Karen because it doesn't include Ram I I just I always split the town into three different buckets they're all about $4 million it's $4 million time with all the capital spending so it's two and a half regular spending one and a half capital spending then the the Board of Education the AES Board of but 4 million plus a little bit more and and RAM is 4 million plus a little bit more and to do this we would take the ram portion out and it's $8 million right so so this is a supplemental appropriation so what did we do because now Carol I want to I I want
to sit there and think about this like we just went on a supplemental appropriation to a to meeting right we we passed that we did not go to referendum did we [Laughter] no so that was we voted on that back in June that was Adrian's proposal that we put the cap on that that forced us to go directly to referent no no no I I totally get that but what I'm after is this section here this section supplemental Appropriations as currently written said that we should have gone to a town meeting and then to refer that is correct you are oh oh my God I I mean my whole goal in all of this honestly if like this whole Charter revision it was an attempt to be more efficient and have less specials in anything whether it's a special Tom medium or special referendum so we actually have that language in here that is even worse than what Adrian is proposing which is this next section but we didn't take any of that language out either that says it will be sent referendum we left that in in B so that supplemental appropriation going directly to referendum we're just bypassing the special town meeting and forcing anything that is that large of an amount to go straight to a referendum so rather than understood and I think everybody everybody including myself ignored this sense the last sentence of that yeah yeah yeah yeah because I was not aware of that I I always thought the town meeting ruled everything honestly from this standpoint and I never I didn't know that was that sentence was in
there that's a problem I mean listen it's not as if it's a but that that's a problem that's something that this Charter commission should we should remove that if we're going to do this I'm I'm I'm just saying so what it should be is if there is if there is a a a supplemental appropriation greater than 1% It should go to the town meeting and be approved or denied by the town meeting and moved on if if it is greater than 2 and a half% or $200,000 so what we were attempting to do here is say hey there's a threshold that the entire town should vote on it right this is what I thought what we
were attempting to do was was make it so that if it's significant in enough that the town would gone and if it was low enough that the the town meeting would sit there and approve it so yeah this a problem and does anybody have a bra I a motion to to strike that language you're talking about the language that the language that takes the under B that takes it to referendum and then just leave it to the town meeting right I'm I'm going to sit there and make a motion that we strike from section 805 supplemental Appropriations language and if approved will be sent to referendum pursuant to section 803 of this that I okay all right but 805b so you're moving to strike that last sentence and if approved will be sent
because from that point on corre just that just that part yeah sorry I'm trying to take notes that's okay okay so Jeff Mo Karen you seconded right yes okay so any further discussion on that or anybody have a problem like with the thought process on that no okay all those in favor I okay Patty you are good okay excellent all right so now this is where we get to referendum now so we're going to go on the we're adding to section 805b and we're saying any supplemental appropriation which exceeds or is equal to 2.5% or $200,000 whichever is greater of the year's current budget excluding the amount appropriated for the Region 8 Board of Education approved by the board
of Finance shall go directly to referendum pursuant to section 803 of this Charter so this is the language where we we said there's there's a threshold that should go to [Music] referendum okay let's go down here 806 accounting agency no changes in anything here we're now down to transfers of power this okay so this was a a housekeeping issue related to 105k and 105j so this was this section should remain intact except that any references to section 105k and 105j will be removed we did not put that in here but that is a legal housekeeping issue that that identified yeah it's a cosmetic change eventually yeah section 108 review an amendment to the Charter if upon a review amendments to the Chan Charter are deemed necessary the board of sele appointed charart revision commission giving the commission a minimum of six months to change to complete so this was actually added section 108 review and Amendment to the Charter add a second
paragraph to section 108 as follows if any such review if if after any such review the board of Selectmen does vote to appoint a charter revision commission the board shall give any such commission a minimum of six months to submit the draft report to the board so we voted on that moved forward I modified it slightly simply because the Lang the previous language was too vague in terms of saying when the six Monon rule you know how far went because your your charge it said you used your charge you had to complete your charg by the end of six months and the thing that you're really charged to do is to submit a draft report which is this document we're working on now and if the draft report is approved by the board of Selectmen the committee is pretty much done so that's that's the first point at which
your work could be possibly done so so so I changed it to that it it works because Carol just so I mean this was this was on your end the request was if if a board of selectman is going to appoint a charter commission the minimum that the charter commission should have is six months yes so this is basically this it is the same thing minimum of six months to submit their yes okay resignations this is just a a a resignation is effective when someone writes the resignation so this is just a housekeeping issue to remove said resignation shall become effective upon the acceptance of the by a vote of the board of selectman so it was removal of that sentence right right effective date the Tarter shall become effective upon the approval of a majority of the electors voting at an an election on November 5th 2024 and in accordance with the provisions of chapter 99 of the general
statutes as amended provided however that no new provisions of this Charter shall be implemented until July 1st 2025 with the exception of any revisions enacted by the electors on November 5th 2024 in chapter 8 finance and Taxation and Charter section 203c which may be implemented immediately there after Charter section 203c applies to the banial election since you're going to have a banial election in 2025 people can start getting ready for that earlier in the year with all there's all kinds of things that go on in election years and we didn't want to restrict anybody from not from partaking of any electoral activities early in the next year because they may want to to get ready for the banial election in November of
2025 so we can have those things go to effect the the other part finance and Taxation part you want that effective right away so that you can apply it to your next budget which is coming up you be putting together your budget does right after the first of the year actually October I think the first date was that we had well that's right so have it would have to go into effect those sections will have to go into effect in 2024 which is fine right right okay so and then these last sections Dennis in the the section 102 transition these are all transitional sections from previous drafts of the charter so what we're saying section 1012 1013 and 1014 transactional these three sections were all transactional at previous times but are no longer relevant and necessary and therefore deleted in their entirety they are preserved in the Vault of the town clerk as all former versions of the Town Charter are carefully kept and preserved and may be reviewed there okay yep if you want to find out the history you go to the town clerk Okay so so that is that are all of the changes that we have a board voted on and done is there anything anybody's wants to go back or review or has any questions as to what we did or what we should
o all right Dennis the the minor changes that we asked so Carol just so I know she might be away for a second but when she gets back so Carol we had two motions today right yes okay can you just can you just read those so we're all aware before we V so you voted you move 304g as in golf to remove application the application application for or and just do the participation okay yes so you moved I seconded that was unanimous and then we moved in section 802 to remove the word increase in two areas and then if was just a unanimous consent for the 805 just to fix that to strike that one the other one was unanimous consent that this one this one we voted on Karen okay this was I'm sorry I had my I have a I have a line so
it was unanimous consent to remove the word increase from two areas and then you moved and Karen seconded 80 5 b for the supplemental appropriation to [Music] will be sent to special Town meetings pursuant to the provisions of section Bill 4 B of this Charter and stop there so remove and if approv will be sent to referend so those are the ones that we did today so Dennis more there the one that we spent a lot of time discussing about the 45 days it's it's I believe section wait a minute [Music] 4043 was where it started because that was if the petition was not legal and then yes that's four you're right it's 404 and and it's and it's It's 301 3013 3013 and and four what was that number again Carol I'm sorry there it is 404 so Dennis you're going to get this language here this this language to be consistent between those two sections I got it all already all right okay you need a motion to pass whole thing yes we need a motion to pass the whole thing but I want everybody to understand and and and be on board that these were changes that we did today I mean they're not they're not crazy
changes but I just want everybody to be aware that these are things that we did today before we pass this because what you're going to do is you've made those changes Dennis and you're going to get those to Carol and to at least to myself so we can review these one last time before Carol you're gonna publish this on the wall of the well you're not going to publish this on a wall we're going to take this to our meeting next week for the public right but I'm gonna on everybody goes through it I'm also going to send it for the to the website too okay go explain to us once it's proved it it goes into Carol's office also for review by anybody who comes in and wants to see it starting Monday so that so that by the time the public hearing comes around people will haven't had an opportunity to read it in in the town clerk's office or maybe she can give copy out I don't know but in the notice that we sent to the
the newspaper that's going to be published tomorrow yeah tomorrow is Friday yep and going to say that this is going to be available in the town office of the town clerk starting Monday okay and and Carol we'll get this to Eric and to his assistant to get put up on the website yeah okay so Dennis you'll have this to us tomorrow morning with those adjustments or tonight I have it to 10 minutes five minutes after this meeting is over okay I'm on top of it okay so I'll I'll sit there I'll I'll make a motion that we move the Andover Charter revision commission revised draft report of July 11th 2024 forward for publication to the town residents I'll second that okay who's got that Patty Patty got that one all right P got that one right all right any discussion on this okay all those in favor I okay okay is there anything else that any of the members want to discuss related to this before we move on to item five okay I will stop sharing and let's move on to item five public speak Shannon you are a public member thank you for all your work nothing for my public comment I'll look forward to getting a copy on Monday thanks okay it will be available on the website tomorrow if you need it right okay Karen why don't you make this motion I will make the motion to adjourn Patty you gonna second that yes Patty got I know she wants it I know she wants it I do thank you all right all
those in favor I thank you very much Dennis thank you all right we'll see you guys thank you all you did a wonderful job on this it was not easy but a really nice result thank you thank you pleasure to work all right good night guys well good night enjoy I have to stop