Minutes

Town Council · from the Town's website · 3 pages · 195 KB
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Rules and Ordinance 9/7/22 
 Call to order 
 Councilor Ruggiero - No opening thoughts or general discussion 
 Councilor Ruggiero last meeting we said we’d come prepared ready to make
motions to move forward 
 Councilor Munson – thinks we should follow the process but would like to have
the legal opinion made public and we should prove it. We should make some
recommendations to bring to the council and move forward 
 Councilor DeMarco – agrees with Councilor Munson’s general sentiment;
believes he’s elected to make tough decisions but when it comes to deciding form
of government, believes that the public should have the vote 
 Councilor Belcher – important to remember that none of these changes that would
take place affect anyone who’s currently elected and this is irrelevant to us 
 Councilor Munson 
o Motion to vote on all of the revisions pending legal opinion being
delivered to the public and the Council on viability on doing a charter
review on the off cycle. 
 Seconded by Councilor DeMarco 
 Discussion 
 Passes unanimously 
 Councilor DeMarco 
o Motion to positively recommend further investigation of the non
charter/non ordinance recommendations from the ORC, which include
recommendations 8, 11, and 12. 
o Seconded by Councilor Munson 
o Passes unanimously 
 Councilor DeMarco 
o Motion to positively approve 1A, 1B, 1C 
o No second 
 Councilor Munson 
o Motion to positively recommend 1C 
o Second by Councilor DeMarco 
o Discussion: 
 Councilor Munson believes that there could be enough people to
learn from; reiterates point made from a prior meeting: what is the
problem? Are we solving it? 
o Vote taken 
 Passes 2-1 (Councilor Munson/Councilor DeMarco – Councilor
Ruggiero) 
 Councilor DeMarco 
o Motion to approve #2 
o Seconded by Councilor Munson 
 Discussion – Attendance is key and if there is an emergency, the
Council can override it 
o Passes unanimously

 Councilor DeMarco 
o Motion to pass #3 
o Seconded by Councilor Munson 
 Discussion: Councilor Munson – verbally agreed this was a wise
thing to choose 
o Passes unanimously 
 Councilor DeMarco 
o Motion to approve #6 with a positive 
o Seconded by Councilor Munson 
o Discussion - none 
 Passes unanimously 
 Councilor DeMarco 
o Motion to approve #7 
o Seconded by Councilor Munson 
 Discussion question housing authority, should this be included 
 Where this is a state mandated process for Housing
Authority, someone will have to look further into it but the
spirit of the recommendation remains 
o Passes unanimously 
 Councilor Munson 
o Motion to pass #9 with 
o Seconded by Councilor DeMarco 
 Discussion – none 
o Passes unanimously 
 Councilor Munson 
o Motion #10 
o Seconded by Councilor DeMarco 
 Discussion - none 
 Passes unanimously 
 Councilor DeMarco 
o Motion #13 
 Seconded by Councilor Munson 
 Discussion – Councilor Ruggiero – a lot of work went into this and
this should be commended and passed 
 Passes unanimously 
 Councilor DeMarco 
o Motion to approve 5A to increase percentage from “4%” to “6%” 
o Second for discussion – Councilor Ruggiero 
 Councilor Munson would disapprove this for one person to get
signatures for any kind of vote and it could be as simple as a tree
vote 
 Cost is a real factor here, it could tie up Town funds to keep
running elections 
 Sometimes it could be helpful but not as recommended 
 Councilor DeMarco

 This ties into length of term as well and the number of
signatures needs to be much higher 
 Councilor Munson – very easy to get 120 people to sign to put you
up to a recall election; burden of running an election 
o Amendment vote: passes unanimously 
 Councilor DeMarco 
o Motion for 5A as amended; no second 
 Motion to accept the use variance recommendation pending further investigation
and opinion by the Town Manager and Legal 
o Second 
 Discussion – Councilor Ruggiero – this is definitely something that
needs further investigation 
 Passes unanimously 
 Karin Chavis, P2 
o Happy to listen to tonight by Zoom because she was celebrating her
grandchild going back to school and a wedding anniversary. 
o Agrees with decreasing council terms from 4 years to 2 years 
o Speaks against recall and doesn’t have a strong opinion on this; is pleased
with the way the meeting was run 
 Motion to adjourn by Councilor DeMarco, Seconded by Councilor Munson,
passes unanimously