all right we are on the record convening this week's meeting this week is July 9th 2004 of the endover charter revision commission present are myself Karen Mador jod gross Jeff Maguire Carol Lee what did I miss Patricia Bings thank you Adrien is not present and member of the public we have Town attorney Dennis O'Brien all right so we are called to order the next item on the agenda is public speak the only member of the public is the attorney which I'm sure he's going to have plenty of time to speak in our next item so we'll proceed on to unless anybody on the commission has any public speak items that they wish to bring up okay we'll proceed to approval of let me I I do I do have one thing and it relates to minutes Bob all the minutes are not posted on the town website we have to get that done that's not okay so right now we don't have the 528 minutes posted we don't have the 625 minutes posted and we're going to approve the 72 minutes but you know know we really should get those there and especially the 625 one and Carol I thought I asked for that earlier
this week I'm not sure if I if I got it if I maybe it went to a different email I guess gotta that one I need to look at because that one had a lot of the Motions that were passed so I'm just saying that Bob that's just a housekeeping issue they've got to go up on the town website Carol you're muted I'm sorry I I'm just looking and you're right 25th is not up and we did send those over so I will check tomorrow I know that Kate's been real busy though with tax collection well someone someone we we need to get someone to do that Carol because in my head we're you know this is hard this is hard enough as it is for us imagine the public trying to follow what the heck we're doing so like I said we have nothing posted for the 28 we have the 641 we have the 6111 we have 68 the 6181 we don't have the 625 up and we have to get the six the 72 out to everybody and approved okay I will 72 on my apology 72 yes that that was it now Bob you can go on sorry about that okay no thank you Jeff that's important thank you for bringing it to the attention of the commission and I'm sure Carol will get on Kate to to post that stuff all right so item three then is approval of
last week's minutes which Carol took and circulated as a PDF document do everybody received that everybody have a copy of it okay anybody have any comments additions Corrections just as a the only thing that was passed there Carol was the ordinance issue and right the email that I sent should be included in that at least in my head because the way we did it is we sat there and said oh this motion passed based upon blah blah blah but that should be in the document for the right and I was looking for that I didn't that in my inbox yet okay then I'll send it to you immediately okay thank you yep so you're saying there's an additional item that Carol needs to include in last week when Jeff made his motions at last week's meeting I just asked that he sent over in the body of an email everything that he was saying so the wording was exact and I didn't get that which I did I did send to the town attorney but I had sent to you an advance Bob everybody had seen the the the language and then we made some
modifications at the meeting before we passed the timing and we talked about the notice going to the public and those types of things so let me let me get that out to everybody right now okay and I'll attach that okay thank you I'll make a motion to approve the 72 minutes I'll second any additional discussion on this all those in favor I I any opposed so it carries unanimously and that's the minutes which takes us to agenda item four discussion and possible action upon any Charter revision issue so since last week as Jeff indicated the draft that we had was sent over to the town attorney and we've seen a couple of revisions today there was there was his comments and then in pretty quick succession a an addendum to his comments has everybody seen I also I was a little bit confused by what was going going on and so you know I didn't want to try to tease out everything in in what we had into into separate sections so I
just made an index you know I went through all of the the draft changes that we had and then just created kind of a little road map so if you want to find say you know where we talked about elections and voting it's in 203 ACD in 210 so at least we we have kind of a quick way of finding the the relevant section so we can do a an in intelligent comparison between what we sent to the attorney and and what he what he changed at this point would it be appropriate Dennis for you to go through what you've done I I think so Bob if you would I think that would probably be a good way to save time and get right to the heart of the matter I just want to say to to begin I I you know you you all haven't been meeting for all that long really and you've you've
really done an awful lot of work and that's wonderful and unfortunately for me I had a personal tragedy that occurred on June 9th and I wasn't able for a while to keep up with you I did my very best and anyway I I I I've written this proposal which is a draft report proposal up in the same format that done them in the past the last couple of times we've had Charter revisions the first one the longest too one was when we implemented the Town Administrator position which was a few years ago and then there was the one last year when the feature of the of the package was the was the budget and the way the B possible bifurcation of the budget and that was a little bit complex and you know that that that worked out well so I'm using the same format trying to make it as simple as possible although I must say and for a a commission that had a relatively short lifespan in terms of you know it started late and you know we we don't have an awful lot of time you didn't have an awful lot of time and you also had relatively short meetings meetings for an hour I wish I could do that I'm not good at meetings for an hour usually my any meeting I'm takes longer than that I'll try I'll try to be as brief as I can but I think you got into a lot of issues and sometimes when
you do that in a short period of time it can be difficult but I think you came up with some really great proposals and I tried to introduce them into the language of the charter to some extent because you know to give it some context in in some key places especially so what I've done is is Sim very similar to what I've written in the past in those last two charart revisions which were very successful and this is a this this came out to be eight pages long because I did get an awful lot of input from you all that I didn't expect and and that and and I tried to put it all together and I think in some instances perhaps minor ones I I think I was a little bit I didn't get it all but I think I got most of it and I think I got it in what I consider to be my usual professional style and and and this is the you know it's it's a it's an eight-page document with single spacing you know as it as it points out one of the reasons I'm I'm using the phone is because I don't have a color printer and I really have to refer to it on my my my computer and if you want me
to go through it Page by page I can do that as briefly as possible Bob you're muted yeah I realized that I think that would be instructional just you know brevity is the soul of play on okay I I will try to do it briefly but you know remember we we're on a we're on a a a short deadline you did get the board of Selectmen to give you a little more time for submission of the draft report which is actually due now on the 22nd of this month the if I'm not mistaken the you know and the plan from what I understand from from from car talking to Carol and also talking to Jeff is to get the get this thing finished this week and and published in the the River East on Friday for a public hearing possibly either next Tuesday or W Wednesday because you have to have a public hearing once this thing is finalized to your satisfaction and so without anym more hesitation let me just start with the beginning and and one of the things that comes up in the beginning is the notion that came up early in your deliberations actually before the before I had my personal tragedy happen on June 9 it was clear that there was a lot of agreement on U moving in the direction
of giving the boorder to Selectmen more more Authority in in terms of passing ordinances and and this this whole thing about it starts out with the definition Section 105 which defines minor ordinance minor ordinance has been a bit problematic in the past it's defined but it's who it's very very hard to determine what's minor and what's not we have passed minor ordinances through the board of Selectmen over the years it's worked out pretty well there are a lot of them in place now I don't know how well they're organized in the in the in the you know in the in the documents of the town I'm sure they're in the town clerk's office and and because Carol keeps everything just just so and but I I don't know that they're available on the town website anyway there are some minor Ord es and what all this does is so it basically eliminates the minor ordinance category going forward but it also says that any ordinance that was passed as a minor ordinance in the past shall remain in effect un L and until it is is repealed or amended by the board of select who presumably under this Charter if it passes would have the the ordinance power that's section 105 is the definitions part in a nutshell any questions on that should I just keep going yeah I think if you don't hear anybody scream just keep going well okay okay good I I I'm sure I some Screaming later on or maybe not anyway the next section I I I addressed the section 203 Town officers general election that is where we really make the change that has already been made really by the board of Selectmen sort of
tacitly or implicitly and actually in effect changing our election cycle for Municipal elections from the May the outlier I'd say may election cycle to November which is what about everybody else does and which I think the state of Connecticut is kind of wants everybody to do okay so this makes it official that that our election municipal election is going to happen every year every every I'm sorry every odd numbered year in the in November first Tuesday after the first Monday which is typical which is which is the way it works so that just that makes that change and then going on to section B that is something that is an issue that you have grappled with and that is led by Carol Of course who is the expert and who who knows much more about this than anybody else the town clerk phys let me say this that the under this under the state statute SE section 9-15 which I cited in here the default for town clerk or placing a person in the town clerk position is to elect the town clerk most towns that I know of do not do that anymore and and I think there's a there was a discussion that I attended where you know the talk was in favor of moving in the direction of
an appointed Town cork one of the advantages of that is the future is is that you can draw from a much larger pool of potential applicant if need be I mean you know the the downside of that is not just it's not just restricted to electing somebody from from town in any event I wrote this up in this way section 9-18 5 has a subsection that says if you want to switch to an appointed town clerk you can do it we have to do it by Charter provision or you can even do it by ordinance which is really not preferable so what I have done based on what I heard and what I think I know is I've changed it so that the you know Carol Lee was elected as you all know in the fall of 2023 serve a four term extending through 2027 so what this does and there's more mention of it later on is to change the system so that once her term expires the border of selectman will be appointing a town clerk and C that
certainly could be Caroline it all depends on what they want to do at that time in 20 in the latter stages of 2027 so this language here is in there to affect that type of result is that was that our intent Andor is that a requirement that it's sort of a fouryear term it's I mean you're you're sort of now almost moving into employee status and you're essentially saying hey you have a job for four years is that right I think as the Town Administrator have something similar no I think I think our intent was for it to mirror the Town Administrator and that once appointed they're hired until they either resign or they're dismissed for cause or something like that the Town Administrator has a two-year contract oh he does really okay so they are con sort of contract based in in a way there's termed base okay well municip let's go this way Municipal Employees especially non-union municiple employes have have have exceptional rights and it's it's a it's not a standard Jody it's not like a business contractor okay got it it's not like a business that's okay as
long as you guys think it's normal our administrator works this way then that's fine with me you brought up a good point which is the term of the contract four years you know is an excessively long term and it should like the board of Selectmen too yeah it is but it's a but it's a complex role right that you need that time to learn and and it kind of would mirror an election with a board of Selectmen so feels about right in my mind town clerk is and just like the Town Administrator I I mean My Hope in my term is we never replace Eric and my hope would be that the next Board of selectman hires you know well Carol will end up being appointed to that spot let's be honest so we're going to be honest with it so if Carol wants it Carol would be appointed to it if Carol does chooses not to take the turn take the position then the issue ends up being who and I would hope that the board of Selectmen that is in in the position at that point in time would hire the right person and a two-year contract or four-year contract or eight-year contract would be you know it wouldn't matter because that person would stay in position to stay continuity is very important in the town clerk's position town the Town Administrator as well I mean I can't
tell you you know Eric came in with no experience and he's gotten better every year he's he's continuing to improve his craft and what he's doing for the town of Andover and we're very lucky so it's a question of two years or four years the Town Administrator currently has a two-year contract and this is for the period 2028 through 2030 we're talking I'm fine with how Dennis has his no it's not the way wrote it the way I wrote it as a four-year term simply because you know you could make it indefinite once you go to appointment you can make it forever no as long as I'm not suggesting that Dennis what I'm suggesting is it's either four years or two and if it's four years it's no big deal and it really should be and I think Carol had written this was it should be the January it really should be January like we should appoint the town clerk we should appointed a town clerk in January because what you should allow is the board of Selectmen that is then elected to have the authority to do it not the let's sit there and say in the next election cycle Dennis or anybody we're gonna that's what I've yeah that's what I've written B of selectman elected in
2027 which in this case would be they would be elected early in the month they would have until January 2nd to appoint the the either Carol or another person serve as Town Clerk and that person would take office on June 2nd I'm I'm sorry January 2nd of 2028 now if I'm if I'm a Carol okay put myself in her shoes and I've been running for town clerk for several cycles for fouryear terms and you're going to cut the term for an appointment to two years I'm going to saywell you know I'm used to the fouryear cycle and the four-year cycle has worked really well and let me say this there are statutes that govern
quite specific statutes quite extensive statutes that govern the role of the town clerk there is a way under State Statute to remove a town clerk from Office who does not do the job that does not happen very often most towns that I've worked with and that I know about have not made hiring mistakes hiring a town clerk obviously a vitally important job you got to have somebody who's really capable doing it and there are such people out there and you know if you do it right you can get the right person but I I I just made it a four-year term simply to to mimic what we've done up to now I don't think anyone's objecting to that does the board of Selectmen when they're elected does it happen in does that switch happen in November or does it happen in January it does happen sort of right day after election there they're app Point okay so they have time to figure
out from sometime in November to January got it okay cool yeah yeah that's the way I saw it I mean I I again you know I've to some extent I've had to fill in the blanks on on some of this cuz did fine if there's no no one else objects or let's keep going yeah I think we're all good with this as it's as it's drafted so let's let's continue Dennis all right I like it okay and the next sub paragraph is sub paragraph C which just simply points out for the most part that it switches the election cycle for everybody else not the bard of you know not including the board of selectman and and and Tom clerk which have already been addressed above to all the other off officers that are elected and and they're elected
every two years okay and that's the way it's been this is not a change it's the only change in in C at the top of page two is the to change the election cycle from May again to November which is what we're doing anyway and bring the charter up to date in that regard and it says the next paragraph d I put in all terms of office except as otherwise provided they'll commence on the second Tuesday of November following the town election I think that's probably what I intended to say is something that I think you had already indicated I think Carol in your in your materials that you wanted to the those people to take office on the second Tuesday after the election right because sure when we went to November elections this year that was how you had me report to the Secretary of State when the newly elected off would be seated so I just felt continuity for that second I I I I like that a lot I think that I think that this language I've written is a little confusing could it could mean the second Tuesday of November rather than the second Tuesday following the town election I I think I can change a word or two and make say just change the second to the third that's what it is yeah the third that's right because it'll always be the third Tuesday okay okay so I can change I can make a quick change on that I I know exactly what you're looking for I I I noticed that when I went over just a few minutes before the meeting that I think I'm very rare for me to do this but my
language is a little unclear all right if I do say so myself okay early voting 220 210 I'm sorry my glasses on that is something that was suggested by you all to put in I don't think it's necessary but it's nice to put it in there because wow is it going to be an important factor in our elections now given the length of the period which I think is too long but it's not up to me legislature has decided and so just simply says the dates are going to be determined by the general statutes as amended okay moving on to the town meeting this is where we this is where we change the allocation of legislative Authority between the board of Selectmen and the town meeting in favor of more Authority for the border of selectman that's all this does essentially in so many words and so many subparagraphs and then down
below at the suggestion I believe of Carol who pointed to the U I know I got the word that she had had been looking at the hebin charter and they do have a provision in there where somebody can appeal appeal from a decision of the board of selectman to pass a certain ordinance and bring it to referendum which is something that is relatively common Winden does that too my homeown my hometown It's all under different details but I think the one thing that confused me in this section which I did not include was that this and this requires I think some discussion here some sort of a a a notice from the town to the voters that that the town that the board of selectman has passed an ordinance that is going to make the process very complicated and because normally Carol I think you you know that 20 days is the
the time usually after which the an ordinance is passed after which it becomes effective it's usually during that 20-day window that a petition can be filed but if notice has to go out to all the voters in the interum that makes it pretty complicated and I don't know what you want if you want to stick with that I can I can introduce that in there somehow with Carol's help because the time frame is G why does that make that difficult I mean what we talked about at the meeting was a notice goes out even if it's even if it's 10 days after the board of s meeting and the notice goes out all the voters have time to sit there and and
read what is being proposed and the timeline the 20-day timeline starts when the town clerk's office receives it stamps it in as received and says okay clock gets started if someone wants to petition that's that's the clock yeah there's a public hearing that we talk about on in 301 so people are going to get a notice of that right well they're going to get a notice of the public hearing we're going to talk about it then the board of Selectmen passes it then a notice would go out to the public that an ordinance is is being is going to be passed and the clock for 20 days starts when that notice is received by the Tom clerk's office that will that will delay the process and will delay it will give the
it will give the voters the electors I guess a lot more time to get a petition together it will encourage the filing of petitions good if you wanted if you know it may not it may not I mean I think in a lot in most places where these things exist not a lot of petitions are filed because the the voters will trust elected officials although yeah I mean we wrestled with this I think we actually had some really healthy conversation we wanted to give the public the that up without opportunity to really that check and balance of the t board of Selectmen and I think as Jeff pretty eloquently said is we're they're going to have a pulse on these things and they're not going to do anything crazy right so it was a little bit of that balance so I you know I think we we wanted everyone to know what they're doing in some capacity and giving everyone a good opportunity to petition and have that process all right well I'll work with Carol to introduce that in and we're going to have to change some time frames and that can be done it's just that you know time is of time is of the essence and that's okay Dennis Dennis that the timeline the 20 days starts when the public mailer is received by the town clerk's office that's it so notice bard of selectman goes through public hearing Board of selectman passes the ordinance the notice goes out the notice is received by the town clerk's office and 20 days starts then okay you're saying then that when you talk about a public mailer go you say it goes out goes out from who from the board of Selectmen the board of
Selectmen through the town clerk's office will send out a townwide mailer just like we do for pretty much every election we do right Carol anything we do and it goes out it gets it gets received by the town clerk's office the town clerk is one of the addresses on the mailer once it's received she stamps it and that's when 21 20 days starts what is it going to give them an extra five days to get organized if they're going to want to sit there and petition the ordinance they're gonna do it no matter what so okay we're doing our our best okay to make the community feel comfortable that we're not just is trying to Ram things down their throat well I have to say that of all the times I've ever been involved with and I've been involved with a lot of them you you all bend over backwards to I I hesitate to use the word spoon feed but I can't think of another another thing and that is okay it's it's certainly legal I just find that in my experience processes that become more complex in any way tend to be problematic that government needs to be streamlined people need to understand the the way things work but this is the way as long as Carol understands it the way you do she and I will get together right Carol and we're going to put this back in and make it work
so that it makes sense to everybody including me Dennis I think the reason that went behind the the mailer here was if we are going to remove the the town meeting from the process we want to to go the extra mile to make sure that the public has had sufficient due notice of these things so nobody can say hey we didn't know it was happening I I I I get that Bob I get that I I I understand but but it is it is unusual and and it's you know it it is but it is typical of what you do in Handover because you send notices of all all kinds of things out to the public and and you know that is I'm not a member of the Town staff over at town hall that has to get all this stuff together but anyway I've I've said my piece and I I I okay you are in charge it's okay we can do that so Carol and I will work on that
together but I one of the reasons I didn't include it in I didn't fully understand the timing of it all and who's sending this out and who's getting it and whatnot but now I think I have it more clear and Carol certainly does and so we can do together as we often do thank you all right so just typo in here I've got a few and all right so the annual Town budget meeting wait before we on there Dennis okay there's something else that I see has gotten lost in the translation which is that okay in our section two of 301a which became your paragraph three what we said that we will schedule a special referendum to be conducted simultaneously with the regularly scheduled to be held in November or the next regularly scheduled referendum immediately following validation of such petition and that second Clause there didn't make it to your draft okay so so you're saying that you're saying that the the ref the referendum on an ordinance can also be held independ in in conjunction with another referendum that's already already going to already being scheduled May or November in May or November they can be held in May or no okay okay because you're gonna that's going to make a big difference in terms of turnout but okay I get it I think I recall seeing that somewhere and all the paperwork I've looked at in the past several several days Yeah in our draft section 301a paragraph two the last sentence of paragraph two wait a minute let me write that down
it was in my email that I sent to you and I sent to the the group okay the one you I had sent the email to the group and then during our meeting I changed the text and it's in Black those were the items that we identified in Black that would be changed so townwide townwide regular scheduled in either May or November okay so you know I I I'm taking all these U changes that you want and as long as these are done by as long as you authorize me to work with the town clerk to get these these done before she publishes the notice in the River East that because what she what she will do to correct me if I'm wrong Carol is say that copies of the of the U draft report are are available at the office of the town clerk correct yes yes okay so we we can we can fix this Stu if you trust you better trust Carol no we do but Bob what I would recommend one second Dennis one second so we're reviewing Dennis's document tonight any changes should come back to the members of the commission and we should have a quick meeting on another day to make sure we're all we should get
it read it and then come to a meeting prepared to sit there and say if we have issues with any of the items before it gets to the next step could you do that on Thursday that's up to the board I mean I know but I'm just asking is everybody available Thursday I could I could be available it won't take long okay I mean Dennis when could we get it do we get it on Wednesday evening that's tomorrow yeah sure all right I have no all right so we'll schedule another special meeting for Thursday same time can we can we what Dennis do we have a problem posting that you have to post it UHS post it tomorrow 24 hours right I can post okay yeah okay so do we motion for that or are we all good or should we make a
motion for that let's make a motion anybody want to move so I make a motion that we schedule a special meeting of the charter revision commission for Thursday July 11th at six o'clock second that any further discussion all in favor I I I any opposed carries unanimously all right thank you very much I like that good plan okay so let's move head special Town meetings annual Town budget meeting okay that's going to be it's going to be earlier in the year the second week of April that's in section 303 303 right that's all that's in there as long as you're satisfied with the U everything in the preceding section about appealing from an ordinance except for what you want me want to be changed and I've already stated okay so then special town meeting section 304 that is an important section that is something that I thought you did a marvelous job on because it enables the it enables the it keeps a lot of this these determinations from being made at a town meeting every time they up in other words you've changed the thresholds and I just want to make sure that I I have them right for all of these items the issuance of bonds and whatnot all the way through there I don't know if you want to go through them one by one but I I tried to take that from items that I received from oh there's a double Bel in there well I got them side by side what we submitted and what you what you came back so Bob can you make so let's just go through the numbers is $50,000 issue into bonds and financing the accurate number I believe that
is would you like me to share my screen so we can all look at the same thing at the same time let's do it okay hang on a sec I will do everybody see that okay so this is what we submitted and this is what Dennis came back with so so let's see so 304a it's $50,000 304b half a percent became 1% the paragraph on supplemental Appropriations is here just tell me to slow down if I'm gonna go if I go too quick no you're good okay we go down to e leases in excess of $50,000 term or obligation in excess of one year or 100,000 now where did
that come draft Dennis do we still have you yeah I I'm here but I don't I don't recall exactly where I got that from if it's wrong we'll just take it out well it's not something that we submitted so we submitted nothing I would have created that's this is not something that I would mess around with yeah well well let's remove that because I don't believe that's in the minutes either e we're gonna remove and a cost and a cost of $100,000 or more okay everything else I'm GNA delete that from okay okay and F also doesn't seem to be in our draft but we have going from a quarter of a percent to 2% I think we're gonna have to go back and look at the minutes or something I'm just wondering if I think the minutes say 1% 1% it's either it's either 1% or it was one it was the same one quarter of 1% I mean the minutes were well what I what I on that was on
the June 4th minutes that I was reading yeah what I have on the left here is what Carol sent out on July 3 and that would be exactly what was still in the the original document so then there was no change but I I actually think it goes back to no change because I don't think we changed that one that one we left it was still in the minutes which I thought was odd and it's extremely confusing exceeds one quarter of 1% of the budget number so that would be point it's it's 0.25% that's why I like numbers I like flat numbers like if you're going to do 100,000 it's $100,000 if you're going to say $50,000 it's $50,000 I hate percent I mean I'm an accountant I'm sorry I hate percentages in things like this and it's a finance guy I like percentages yes of course and it it it it's always what works in your favor I like
definitive things that you know but I agree with Jeff that I looked back at those six four minutes and I don't think we modified yeah what I got from Bob's email I think Bob you did the work with the Town Administrator on it I don't think you guys proposed any change to that item I don't think we voted on that so Dennis we'd have to go back to one% F right no change to f y no change to I think that's what we all agree on okay leave it let it be let it be okay all right got that so that's F g g to change yeah right G is is that right no G is $25,000 well [Music] no this language is completely wrong here in G what what where I got I got it from minutes or some something well no I mean I remember us discussing this in detail that the application for participation in any Grant is going to be entirely dependent on what our portion of the grant is it has to be you know if if we don't have to put a penny in then you know then we should be able to to just apply for it and get the money without without having to to go to a a
special meeting yep yeah you have a fixed limit in here the language that we had submitted that's in Carol's July 3rd document is is what we had agreed upon which is that you know the application for participation in any Grant excluding the local and Regional Board of Education in which participation shall require the town Andor the local Board of Ed to contribute in excess of $25,000 in cash or provide any in-kind participation to enter into such grant program so that's we we completely condition this upon how much the town was going to have to kick in not upon the size of the grant so I'll look I have I have Carol yeah 304 G four G yeah can you slow down Bob go to I go to I okay on the right side yeah okay such other matters in their discretion shall Dean okay I got that yeah I mean it makes sense for Dennis to have taken out the ordinance language there yep understood all right and then J we
talked about removing that is entirely removed yeah yeah okay section you keeping up with us Dennis I am okay so section 305 why why don't you why why don't I hand this back to you Dennis keep these up there because it's very all right I got look at 304d what is second 304 D and J are related to or aren't they right so they need to be removed yeah those that's really what's in 305 is just two references that need to be taken out yeah those are those are items that are being shifted from the town meeting to the select he is anyway let me see and okay I'm sorry Bob I'm looking I'm looking at you sliding so fast I'm like did I miss a yellow no okay it's all right good okay yeah just I'm just
strikes D in his document which is appropriate I think he's looking at J okay good 402 all right 402 General powers and duties of the selectman what do we do here yeah to enact or rather than just to recommend ordinances to to enact them this is pretty pretty Straight Ahead gives them the ordinance power subject to appeal of course by a vote by a right I just want to make throw a comment in here since this is you know what we're what we're talking about here I have been contacted by residents of the Town who wish to remain anonymous for the purpose of this meeting who seem to have a lot of heartburn about granting this additional Authority to the board of Selectmen and I agreed at least to to voice this concern at the appropriate point in the meeting since they they reached out and contacted me
I think the feeling was that it's too much Authority in one place and how can we trust the board of Selectmen and that's all I'm gonna say this was on ordinances excuse me on ordinances is that correct yes yes this individual had grave concerns about granting this level of authority to the board of Selectmen and granting this this additional legislative power and taking the and that's that's an opinion and I think what you know I sleep well at night knowing we built the structure and for petition process if there was not one or two or three but if there were 50 residents that really felt like our Board of Selectmen have done something Haywire that they have the opportunity to bring it to the whole town so I'm not saying that I endorse this opinion I just I just agreed to bring it to the floor thank you done let's move on I would I would be surprised if there were not opinions like that you know out in the community this is not something that is is going to be loved by everybody yeah distrust of leadership it's pretty common I guess it it's right it's all about what you know what do you want to go with a represent representative government in
this regard or or not and and those those those issues are difficult and but I think it's a good call I think that especially as as you have pointed out over and over that the citizens have a chance to appeal any ordinance and this would be an ordinance a a certain type of ordinance certain types of ordinances that you know they could appeal to and go to referendum on I just want to point out one thing and I've been involved in a lot of ordinance Creation in the past few years working with the board of Selectmen and town meetings and there really has been a lot of cooperation between the board of selectman and the public in terms of town meetings where ordinances are up for consideration and just about everything that the board has put forward to the town meeting in the past several years has passed which is which is is really good news that you
know you know that that that the board and the public are working together in in harmony pretty much but but there's always going to be people you know have different opinions and they certainly are entitled to them and they're that's not something that is just notable in the town of Andover everywhere any well I take I take personal offense to that I'm extremely trustworthy you you're taking you're taking offense to a compliment that's not a compliment I'm talking about the the the the the the public not come to a meeting to tell me that I am not trustworthy I I have I have a problem with that I think I'm extremely trustworthy well it might not be you as an individual Jeff it might be the actions of the members of the board of Selectmen as Jody as I tried to tell as I try to tell Dennis hold on for a second as I try to tell everybody just simply there is for for members of the board of Selectmen in this board there is zero
personal gain that that is happening that can happen and that is happening I mean we've made the changes to sit there and take the Town Administrator and put that person in a paid position so I just sit there and I look at the town of Andover it's in a very good position as far as I'm concerned and the current situation of trust I I don't I don't we're not National politics we're local politics we do things very simply to for the benefit of Andover and those types of issues I would love Bob for them to come out and at least have the conversation with the board of Selectmen if they feel that we're we're doing things that aren't in the Public's interest and we can't be trusted I sure
would like to know that and if I'm doing something wrong i' I'd like to fix it I'll come to your next meeting then Jeff thanks Express a few you can express it for me all right let's move on okay yeah some people say I talk too much Jeff all right I apologize no no I I I'm enjoying this a lot okay okay for public hearing on publication of ordinances okay that oh yeah that that just removes the reference to Charter section 1058 which is the minor ordinance portion that we're deleting make it take that out of the mix except for things that have been done in the past terms of office hang on hang on Dennis there was another little bit that didn't make it in from section 44 in our changes we
specified every ordinance unless it shall be specified a later date shall become effective on the strike 21st day and change it to 45th day after such publication okay that's that's right that didn't make it in there because I was a little stunned by that because the norm is the 20 days but I understand now why you did I think I understand why you did that and that's because of this thing about we talked about before about the mailer the so-called mailer that's why you're doing 45 days no that was that was to give the community more of an opportunity to [Music] to understand the ordinance before went in fact to be more transparent and more open so that is in that is in maybe it's in two places but that is in Dennis's document did it 301a paragraph two yeah but it has to be changed there as well in 404 okay got it both places makes sense changed in both places that's right so that's 404 and Dennis needs to change the four the three the sections related to the ordinance because he was going with the 21 days from publication and we had changed it from 21 days for potential or 20 days for potential petition and 45 days to enactment that that that was what we were trying to do to be as trustworthy as we possibly could be transparent okay very good very good I got that all right okay I'm I'm I'm you got my attention on that one thank good okay terms of office comment on the second Tuesday
immediately following the banial municipal election in November okay that is that that is language I think I got from Carol that is it has to be the third Tuesday eah to to clarify it will say that but it's the second Tuesday immediately following the biannual election is actually the third Thursday the third Tuesday correct yeah I the same thing differently but if you want I mean I can I can I can make that change clarify section 605 to well 605 605 if you said the third Tuesday would then line up with the other section that that was in that's what I'm say yeah that's right but that is for the appointed ones Dennis and you told me those did not change and we were keeping them as they are after we had the last election so isn't section 605 in regards to all those appointed boards that are identified in section 606 because last last election it was just decided that all of the appointed boards would remain still could be appointed and their their term of office would be July one so are we change we didn't vote to change that we didn't do anything with that because like I say the appointed boards were just left as they were after we November to app point barl I'm pretty sure that that section 605 you look it up yeah Town Town board members shall be for two years and shall commence on the 1 Monday July all Town board members shall be eligible for reappointment and she'll continue in office sucess yeah they're
appointed leave that alone so take 605 out you want to leave that alone yes leave it the way it is yeah we never voted Charter I mean Carol we we never voted to change that and when we had our first municipal election last November we discussed this and I think it was just decided that the terms of the office and will remain the same for appointed boards and commissions so I guess we could discuss it if everybody want no no no don't do not do that because do not do that okay do not do that that's that's very to reappoint boards is always a
confusing thing and if you try to right around the elections you're gonna end up with problems so just leave it as July and they're appointed boards and we need the volunteers and to confuse it in an election will cause future problems what I'm going to do Carol is just remove the current Charter says in July first Monday of in July of 19 99 I'm just going to take out of 1999 so it'll be just July okay we need do we need to make a motion for that and and and accept that or can we make the motion when we approve this in total every I mean that's up to you Bob I think I think when you approve it in total you do it all yeah I agree that's what I would do let's move on let's move on yes okay so okay ready to move on yeah go ahead okay administrative Services chapter 7 section 701 okay I because we tried to do this you know I I've been annoyed for a long time personally and you can you can not you can reject this but requiring a competitive exam process and interview committee and all this stuff is never been as far as I know it's never been done and I don't I don't see why it should stay in the charter so I I threw that in just for you to consider 701 if you want you can leave it alone what even does competitive examination mean I don't know I mean is it an interview process some towns do testing and that's the competitive examination we've never done that well let's just let it be then I mean I it's it's just something I'm just
compulsive about things that are in the charter that are not imple never implemented and ignored why why keep them in there but but that's okay I mean it's not my I'm one of the things I try to do is I try to make recommendations and this is my recommendation but want to bother we haven't discussed or reviewed this and I think we should try to limit our changes to those things that we have that have gone through the process with us you know this can this can happen in the next the next cycle I I very very good Bob very good okay so I I'll just leave it be section 701 will remain as it is no you have to remove the first sentence right the one that's highlighted in yellow because we're adding 702 delete with the exception of 7020 town clerk which is an elected position oh okay I got it and then leave the rest of the verbiage the
language leave it in there leave it in there for a future commission Bob you're right somebody some commission that has 16 months to work on it not one that has what three three months if you had that much let's keep going okay now these these suggestions 702 that came from you Carol the director of Health here we go right that was that was just something that we're doing any we're doing right now I was just that just no no no wait okay so we're going to remove that sentence we're going to remove that sentence yeah did we vote on that was the materials likewise that was just suggested because we're not following that and any right and I don't have any problem with it Bob this would be like the same thing we'll vote on at the next time I don't have a problem removing that because we employ a consultant or an outside entity
to fill that role agreed I mean and so the question is do we want to make a motion to remove it and all be on the record of saying we voted it down or do it in the next stage of reviewing Dennis's document how about we do it through unanimous consent yeah i''d be fine with a technical clarification here to remove it that's okay you guys are really just trying to clean up this document of the actual practice of town if we hear no objections then so ordered through unanimous consent okay got it that's something that we don't do enough we've only you've only been together now for a very short time you've done a lot wa wait wa yeah Dennis has that in there so e is in there okay yes e is in there too that was something
that Carol also suggested and I hey I went along with it yeah now the question is going to be and I'm just saying we we now have a sanitarian and wetlands enforcement officer this goes into the whole thing Carol and this is more of a global thing will we be hiring an employee and are we required to hire an employee if if the position let's say it becomes part of a shared service and what happens in those situations well the health is that's what we do now with the health district they regionalized that what was it in 2005 or something like that and that's when we went with Eastern thailands so contract now MOG for the animal control that could happen on all of these positions right even like the treasurer the treasurer is technically right now not an employee it's a it's a independent contractor right I I I didn't want to open up let's not let's not get into all of it because if we get into all of it we're gonna we'll be in this section for a lot keep going we're operating yeah we we have a deadline coming up soon so you want to leave that alone yep go just leave it out let it be no no no make that change because that was an easy change I we'll make that okay that's the last one I think that that Carol suggested and then I've I've changed go go goe the only other one was the tax collector with salary because we
haven't been doing that for a long time I didn't I didn't include that one Carol I don't know how must overed it but that's pretty definite it says the said officer shall be compensated on a salary basis only we have not been doing that they are see this this is really te Carol where it's really technical because they're in an hourly basis but an hourly G right so we're saying the tax collector is so many hours and their pay is consistent as if it was a salary but it's really based upon a certain number of hours I agree with Carol let's remove that it's the same you know what sub is that it's an N
of this section of 702 and it just says compensated on a salary basis only so yeah this is really a hard one too I'm just telling everybody is a group because the tax collector the tax collector's role you know Town employee I mean that it's very difficult when these these sections in these positions are positioned as a town employee in certain in certain competitive examinations and all the rest of the stuff because it would be you're tying the hands technically if someone wanted to sue us you're tying the hands of what we can and can't do within those positions so that's for the next group keep moving but take that out he Carol we tried to deal with this last year and it it it it it got shot down we tried to fix it fision and we did get yeah triy to fix it in a big way and and it just didn't make it so we'll we'll we'll leave it for if you know if everybody's okay with it we'll leave this tax collector issue which I really shy away shy away from and I don't shy away from too much that I didn't want to
deal with that Carol so we just leave that alone so are we are we including in in the changes or are we leaving it not changing it not changing it is my impression no no no no no no I think what we said is that what Carol had suggested in yellow in end the said officer shall be compensated on a salary basis only was a really I guess a technical correction that Carol suggested that I think Jeff said yeah that really makes sense there was a bigger issue in in about examinations and all that that we're were just gonna let let live so I think that one minor change in end is what we wanted to make Carol Jeff you guys both nodding yes okay and Karen and Patricia too okay got it okay once again unanimous consent no objections okay okay I have that from Carol's matal so I'll just plug it in so we had the language regarding the town clerk which is pretty much the same or similar language that you saw earlier in the document about about the town clerk no longer being elected as of November of 2027 and the board of Selectmen appointing a clerk for a term of four years by a minimum of three votes which isn't you know a major well it's a super majority because you you need three votes even of four people only four people or three people showed up for a meeting but to appoint a person a qualified person to be the town clerk that would be the change that would be made if you're going to a an appointed town clerk in beginning in January of 2028 so that language is very similar to
what was in the first part foreshadowing this there seems to be more language in what we submitted than what you've included here much more I agree I've discussed this with Carol earlier today I think what was submitted I I I I don't like it legally I don't like it in any way shape or form to tie the hands of a future board of Selectmen and require the appointment of a certain person for another term as a as a person who has actually run for election many many times foure terms to then appoint that person indiv that individual name to not name the individual but everybody knows who it would be I think that that is over the top and I think it may not be legal can can you you want I I'd be glad to research the hell out of that if you want it it'll take time and it'll Slow Me Down from doing other stuff but I I do not think that that is a a good way to go and I think that you know the likelihood if Carol wants to stay on after her current term which has another three years to go more than three years and wants to stay on in an appointed position the chances are not certain but great that she'll be reappointed and and I but I think to make it try to make it certain in a charter I I I can't see doing that when you've got a statute that allows you well it allows you to choose between
an elected Town Clerk or a an appointed one and for all these years we've chosen to be a town that has an elected Town Clerk and for switching over to an appointed one it would if you if you make it mandatory that the person that filled the position in the last time person was elected for the position is going to stay on without having to run for it again I think that is that's like that's like making an eight-year term starting in 20 23 I I don't think that that's constitutional my gut that's can I ask a question can I ask question on the on the language that's on the left on the the one that was provided Carol that that was filled in by you correct because we you know we didn't have all that when we voted correct on the left is what Adrian that in red is what Adrien proposed and at the bottom it Bob Scrolls to the bottom it shows the meeting that it was voted on he had sent us over a document to via email so I copy and pasted all of that information and that's what's in red okay but that wasn't attached to the minutes again it was just like what happened with mine on the Ordinance one oh yes okay all right let me let me speak up on this so it it seems that if we are operating on the presumption that the town clerk is a hired position and that person then holds the position in perpetuity then what Adrien proposed here is consistent and rational with that position if on the other hand as we understand it better how Dennis has laid it out that it is a position that has a four-year contract that is up for
Renewal or reappointment every four years then Dennis is absolutely correct that this language of the incumbent automatically taking over and and continuing in that position is inconsistent so I think what Dennis has done here makes sense I mean I may not I mean this is a question of and this would be a question of when the town clerk would be appointed so the town clerk would be appointed by the next Board of Selectmen that would be elected correct you would appoint Carol Lee if she wanted the job if Carol Lee does not want the job then the community should be out looking for a town clerk before that election date because you wouldn't want it to get to jul January so you you would be really concern I would be really concerned so I I will be on that board of I'd be on the board in in that
timeline I'd be asking Carol in July if Carol plans on staying if Carol planned on staying we'd draft a contract and have it ready to go if Carol would not stay then the community needs to start looking for someone to fill that role I I'm just telling you logistically what would happen and it's really the same as what would happen if if it was an elected position because she would start considering her campaign some number of months before the election so there'd be activity there's really strong parallels here so I I just know you you I mean I don't have a problem with Dennis's Dennis's language I but I'm trying to read what would not be in there and what would we want to have in there I mean the only thing that Dennis changed that is different is the removal of the town clerk he he did change that and that the question I would ask Carol what is what is the
removal of the Town town I can find that in here no it would be further it would be the other way you think so no here it is 701e yeah okay then it should be the same thing as the Town Administrator emoval so that is the language for all of the appointed officers of the Town yep right because didn't I read that three votes yeah no you want to make it the same thing four fifths super majority yeah so the only thing that I want to point out is the town assessor the building official so this office shall have permanent status that's the only thing that I'm thinking maybe to to put in there rather than every 4year appointment then I just want to point that out if you read the assessor 702a it says this office shall have permanent status that's fine I think by Statute by State Statute we probably as a town couldn't abolish the town clerk's office right but that's fine and then the treasurer shall have permanent status that's fine
put that in there Dennis so I I'm just pointing that out I'm not find a way in one way or the other I just wanted to point that out because I'm abstaining from everything but I did just want to point that and even our Public Works maintenance team leader they have permanent status so let's be consistent so wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute please the the language in in in in the building official Town assessor all of those things says this office shall have permanent status doesn't say the person filling the office show no
the office I mean you can do that right what's that just say the office be consistent between all of the different thing it's not the office it's not it's not the individual has permanent status it's the office so what Carol is saying and what the charter would say is the a rogue Board of Selectmen couldn't just abolish the office yeah but isn't the office of town clerk required by state law it is yeah then we don't need to in the charter I agree I I can't see putting it in the charter but the one thing that we could do you know I have assumed because the terms have always been four years that we would continue with a four-year term so that the you know there would be an opportunity at the end of the four years for the board of a future board of Selectmen and I certainly won't be around and maybe maybe not everybody on this on this B would be around but at least not operating as town of Handover officials will be you know making the decision way way down the line you know you could you could have an indefinite make an indefinite term or or you could we're not asking I don't think Carol was asking for the term I don't think we should change the term four years is
sufficient it's it's fine what Carol was saying was all of the other offices say it's a permanent office put it in the Tom Clerk's new new verbiage just let's put it in everything else sure if everybody else is comfortable with it I'm fine I mean I'd be fine with it and it's not you're 100% right it's statuto required but we're just putting into our our our Charter to be consistent with all the other offices or we go into all the other offices and remove that that verbage which I'm not in favor of just put it in it's a permanent office okay I disagree your wishes I I disagree I these other positions are a are not required by by State Statute but we're just saying we're putting them into the into the charter to protect them but the accessor is guaranteed a is it State statutorily yes probably I don't I don't know for sure but probably so building official is too it has to be a building official I don't I don't know about all the others Animal Control the only one that's not statuto required Bob is the director of Public Works I bet you I bet you everything else is statutorily required and the
town attorney is not but I bet it's not in there yeah Town engineer is not no that's right so clerk definitely is yeah def so is the what I'll put it let's let's move on no Bob doesn't want to we now we're g to vote we're gonna I don't want to sit there and have a problem I just let's there and just decide what we're gonna do we don't need to put it in I'm just saying that we don't need to put it in Carol is pointing it out so for the benefit of the the town clerk's office I would sit there and say it's a doesn't mean anything it it's statutorily required we're just putting in a charter that no one no Board of Selectmen could
try to you know eradicate the office of the town clerk okay Jeff make a motion I make a motion that we put in that can you go to the language in the other groups Bob so I can see it right there assessor there you go I make a motion that okay I make a motion that we include the verbage in the town clerk section section is that 702 right that the office shall have permanent status so I'm making a motion that we include in section 7020 the town clerks that the town clerk's office shall have permanent status does someone want to second that or no I'll second it Trisha Bill thank
you any further discussion on the subject all those in favor right one two three Carol how are you voting on that four Jody yes or no you're muted sorry I'm trying to record the motion here with typing I am a a no a negative okay so we have four positives and I'm voting no two negatives so it carries okay all right I'll do it all right let's move okay I think I don't know if I saw a vote on this but I don't know where it came from but I did eliminate subject to the approval of the town meeting that the board of Selectmen may add May appoint additional officers as the needs of the Town require subject to budgetary Appropriations so I I I lined out subject to the approval of the town meeting I don't see why he would he would need town meeting approval for that especially in view of the new system we're doing here where the board of selectman has more ordinance Authority among other things but that can go whatever you want to do what additional officers would we appoint or could be appointed let's just go that way anybody don't only limited by your imagination by your and your experience so so no matter what the board of Selectmen or a board of Selectmen tried to do if they wanted to add an additional employee that employee would have to go through the budgetary process and then it would have to be approved by the voters
anyway yes so did so did we do that with the community director yes we did but we we put it through the budgetary process and gave a budgetary item for that and so but I don't necessarily consider that an officer like what I'm really conf cons confused about is the term officer like what does additional officers mean and Jody I'm sitting there going the any employee or any new position the board of Selectmen can recommend a new position to be just like we did with Public Works we put a new Public Works person in we put the person in for the community center but those appointments that we were attempting to make had to have a budgetary dollar with them to get approved so I just don't understand what additional officers means Dennis I agree I agree I I don't I don't know what it means either it mean you know it's it's not this it's not defined in the charter but we don't know for sure and maybe it should be instead say employees or whatever or employees or public I don't know I mean that one if that's what it is so Carol on the left we have we have our Charter and in 703 says additional officers and employees the board of Selectmen subject to approval of the town meeting May appoint such additional officers as needed as the needs of the
Town require subject to budgetary Appropriations that's how the charter is written right now exactly I I mean I guess what the what is currently happening the what is currently done logistically is the board of selectman recommends a new position the new position moves to the board of Finance with a dollar amount attached to it the board of Finance like in the case of the current Community Center Director they lowered the budgetary amount and that got passed so those are the restrictions that were under so we recommended one number the board of Finance came with a little bit lower number and that's the number that we're out there trying to obtain an employee that's done in a roundabout way like you just said that's process you put it in the budget it's proposed at the annual Town budget meeting passes doz so around about way the town's follow so the town you know we could remove that because I don't know like we don't approve even employees the town of meeting does not require to improve an employee I I don't know what an officer would be I don't understand who we would ever appoint who a board of
Select would appoint as an officer so I don't even like the whole section to be really honest but any like to suggest that we sh the whole thing can can I can I just say this we appointed a blight officer a blight hearing office you have appointed officers they're not paid positions but you have appointed officers so you may want to leave that in but we didn't get it approved by the town meeting right you violated you did did because no wonder why people don't think I'm trustor they J you did got BL you got the blight ordinance passed and in the body of that blight ordinance was a provision for the people who were given a blight notice to appeal it so you have a pointed Carol Carol's got your back Jeff she she says you're you're good I'm good okay but that's a great example Carol you know there might be things that the
I don't know there might be a a an appointed officer of the town at the park where the dogs are being left off leash that has the authority to notify the town to subject that individual to a fine I know I'm a marine patrol officer for the town of Colombia and I have that sort of ability that direction to issue a warning goes to the selectman and they can issue fine so maybe that would be something they wanted flexibility for our board to have officers for different things Le let let's clarify that because I I want to I I do want to understand that the blight enforcement officer that we had was the zoning enforcement officer correct yes right but we have a blight hearing officer no we have a hearing officer not a blight hearing officer we have a a hearing officer we right we have a hearing officer correct Dennis what's ter what's his term I what's his what's his title I'm just asking oh god was in the body of that last you did hearing hearings officer that hearing officer could hear any pretty generic first one we've ever had did a great job on his first hearing he's fantastic oh okay and he's not paid he's the volunteer volunteer and and in fact that I don't know that Jim how salary was increased when he got the additional responsibilities as blight enforcement officer which which in addition to
his role as zoning enforcement officer for which I'm sure he's paid I think thatti section we have Carol I understand what Carol is saying it is in the document of the the the ordinance that was approved but it's a that's a mess right right there because I don't think that the town follows it I don't think the board of Selectmen follows that appropriately I don't think it's drafted correctly I don't think it's we don't go to town meeting to approve employees we don't go we didn't go to town to approve the appointment of the blight officer it might have been in the document Carol that says we were going to have to do it but we never went and said here's the appointment no I just think that's a well that's one reason I lined that part out yeah okay I'm just trying to be helpful you know yeah always leave it leave it leave it go I mean it has to be that whole thing should be worked on in the next group so are we gonna I think take out that line subject to the approval of the town meeting I think we leave it untouched and it becomes the subject of the next review commission that one's one's kind that one's touchy eah if we touch it we own it all right I think we leave it alone all right sorry hope I didn't hope I didn't waste too much time interesting discussion though okay 705 leave
it I'm gonna just take it right out of the documents yep all right now we're getting to finance and Taxation now all of this stuff that I put that I added in I got from Carol's document hopefully I got it right Carol these are changes that were made I wasn't familiar with these very much these are changes that you you're you're trying to make to streamline the budget process it seems is a good a noble Venture but I just th I just added it in pretty much what Carol much now would be all the way down section yeah yeah of that
section of section 802 right but then it goes on to 803 as well right yeah this is all just verbatim from what we submitted well as long as I didn't make any typographical mistakes which I'll surely correct if I can the the the only other thing I want to bring up about this is that I think from De I I heard that you wanted to line up the budget vote the initial budget vote on the town budget with the budget vote by the Regional School District yes and I didn't I didn't know how that goes into this because this is pretty specific about you do the budget vote and when it's done and I was wondering if having a budget vote well the regional B budget vote has nothing to do with your local budget right I mean in terms of your of your voting on it right okay you could have them s right we were trying to just do that Hein did does that then so this language from he's Charter okay so I didn't all right go ahead the language in section 803 is what lines up our budget with the regional budget okay without saying without saying so specifically right I see I I was looking for it I couldn't I was
wondering where it would fit in no that's the n same thing from my I I took this from Carol's okay so we have some sections that are stricken in their entirety and some with some major I think this could that stuff was pretty well beaten to death in our prior meetings discussed we don't need to revisit 805 supplemental appropri don't know if I got that right Finance change things from a half percent to 1% in paragraph B we added the new paragraph about two and a half percent or $200,000 that was all Adrian's language verything here seems to be reflecting what we submitted everybody good with that okay so now we go all the way up to 103 I skipped something here the Cosmetic change yeah I just conflicts of interest except any reference okay yeah just a a reference reference then Carol suggested the change to section 1010 taking out the fact that as she knows very well as town clerk that resignation you don't need to have resentation accepted by the board of selectman simply because we have a 13th Amendment to the Constitution and you can't make people stay on when they don't want to resign unless they're in yeah yeah but that's but we're not do we're not dealing with that here are we I don't think so I don't can you go back yeah we missed something here right there Dennis you missed something in section 108 review and amendment of Charter we had submitted proposed language if on rep review I I took that out I I I I I took it out because I think it is there are times when something will come up U on an almost
emergency basis and when you have a charter the the one disadvantage and there are very few disadvantages of having a charter as opposed to you know being governed by ordinance it's easier to pass an ordinance real fast if you have an emergency that needs to be addressed by some sort of action legislative action so I I I think making I I I understand why you feel this way because you've been you've taken on an awful lot of work in a very short amount of time and that was that was your choice though I mean there were issues that were brought up Dennis Dennis you could keep going on on this but you have to put that in the draft I'm just tell I'm just saying voted on it was voted on it may not may not make it all the way through the process but you've got to put it in all right I'll put it in real simple I talk to Carol about it this morning I told her what I thought about it but you know I didn't put it in put
it in yeah I guess unless Dennis there something legally that would prohibit us from doing that then it is we voted I think we had a 42 vote on that that's a that's that is a good question that is a legal question but I think probably the answer to that question is that the general rule on charters on dealing with a charter is you it is home rule and you can do whatever you want to do within certain really broad boundaries okay as long as it's not anue as long as it's not an issue that would be of concern to the state and probably even though the state passed this law for a particular purpose this home rule act you limiting the the application of the home rule act in Andover to you know it's got to be at least six months six months for what six months you mean for submission of the minimum term it was a minimum term just it has to go in it has to go in it was
voted on I voted against it people voted for it we're on a committee it's how it works put it in I know how it works I'm just let's go don't waste our time we've got to go I I got I got I got to eat dinner everybody wants to eat dinner I want to check out Karen shoes I like there's got to be something better going on let's go all right I'll put it in than you Jeff you got it Jeff thank you you got it Jeff I hope I'm G I I I hope I find somewhere that it's not legal but I'm not gonna look at it I'm not going to look it up it's not I don't care I don't care I'm just trying to be helpful we appreciate appreciate your advice let's keep going thank you I'm sorry you're hungry Jeff that's too bad okay he's not just hungry he's hangry I'm angry yeah well I know how we I don't get angry work with anyway all right the effective date I I generally make the charter effective the end of the fiscal year the current fiscal year the charter has passed in but there are certain items that especially the budget item you want to get that effective right away but usually the charter is not the charter Provisions that are newly passed do not become effective the next day after the charter passes but we can do that with the way I've written it with the exception of any revisions enacted
to but enacted regarding finance and Taxation which may be implemented immediately so that that means you would be able to implement your changes is if they pass through the finance and budgetary part immediately for the budget to be developed in the early part of of 2025 okay hold on hold on so that's section that section I I I'm okay with that section I was I was down to 1012 1012 yeah I don't think there's any need for that section at all anymore because that that's all of that stuff is in the earlier sections where you know you've been electing a board of I'm sorry all these Boards of Finance Boards of Education you're on you're on a A system that that I think is self-explanatory it's in the it's in the early part of the charter I don't think you need all that stuff in the transition okay so so back to that
section just just so so 1012 was the transition in the 1999 Charter revision okay so we don't need so we don't need it we can get rid of that but we should vote on that yeah I'm trying to get rid of it or unanimous consent which I really like Bob yeah well 1010 1012 and 1013 are all historical at this point it seems I I I agree Bob 1013 could be done away with too yeah we I don't want pi too much yeah I think we can keep 104 do do you want to keep those for historical record sure progress of town or any I guess I just don't understand if there's any need High Charters are kept historical Jody prior Charters are all kept we sort of have what it was permanent permanent any office so every rendition of Charter has a version with the town clerk yes got it and to draw a comparison if you look at the Connecticut General statutes when they make a change they make a change and then there are Historical Notes that are separate from the statutes for what it's worth but they don't keep the old laws in with the new laws what unclutters it yeah okay then you know through unanimous consent if no one has any objections we will delete in their entirety sections 1012 and 1013 because they are Superfluous outdated
historical hearing no objections so gavel for routine administrative actions you don't you don't the motion and second and vote especially you know if you have 435 congressmen kind of thing 438 whatever the number is 535 so that that's where unanimous consent comes from where voting becomes an onerous process commission is six people seven people is not so bad okay so do we wait do we need section 1014 except as otherwise provided Ser specific ter Contin serve unless the office abolished the C fire or vacated we have kind of a sentence fragment there is that something that we did Carol or that is part of our Charter right now and all I did was put in added that changed it to 2020 Dennis do we need that section I don't think so as Carol pointed out and I knew Carol I knew you were going to do that you have copies of all the old Charters and you know you don't need you don't need this kind of historic stuff okay so we'll remove that we'll include that you just the date of 2024 but Superfluous yeah we'll remove that we will all agree
again through unanimous consent unless I hear any objections so rdered that brings us to the end of Dennis's revision document so we obviously have revisions to the revisions which we need to get as quickly as you can process them Dennis yeah I'm gonna work with Carol on right Carol yes Dennis we'll work on it tomorrow morning okay as you know I have covid so I I won't be showing up in the office yeah okay we can do this every over the phone yeah okay Carol you will notice the newly scheduled meeting for Thursday I will post that tomorrow and try to get the notes up as Jeff has requested the minute the minutes sorry all right that brings us to next item on the
agenda which is public speak does anyone have any items that they wish let me just unshare here how do I how do I do this that's a good question how do I unshare ex usually a button at the bottom share screen button at the bottom you can stop yeah well that that screen is gone and all I have is a thumbnail of everybody's faces that's interesting well Bob if there's no public speak I'd like to make make a motion to adjourn seconded all in favor by by see you all on Thursday all right thank you by everyone night thank you good night good night thanks Dennis thank