I.                   OPEN SESSION

II.                CALL TO ORDER

Mayor Briden welcomes everyone and asks everyone to introduce themselves.  All are present.

III.             NEW BUSINESS

A.    Discussion and Selection of Charter Review Commission Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretary

1.      Chair

A motion is made by John Faria to nominate Jim Russo as the Chair, this motion is seconded by Senator Bill Conley and on a roll call vote it is unanimous. 

2.      Vice-Chair

A motion is made by John Faria to nominate Bill Fazioli as Vice Chair, this motion is seconded by Rick Lawson and on a roll call vote it is unanimous. 

3.      Secretary

A motion is made by Senator Bill Conley to nominate Valerie Perry as Secretary, this motion is seconded by John Faria and on a roll call vote it is unanimous. 

B.     Discussion and Selection of Charter Review Commission Meeting Dates and Times

It is agreed to stay with the 7:00PM time on Thursdays in Room 306. 

C.    Discussion and Selection of Charter Review Commission General Outline and Timeline

Jim Russo notes research he has done with regards to the Charter including viewing the recordings of Council meetings at the time the commission was created stating the body has two charges.  The first is to make the article comply with the what the voters have voted for.  This is the most important task to avoid conflict and accuracy.  This can be done by a technical amendment.  These would not be substantive changes and would only be done to resolve a conflict between the current Charter and what the voters have chosen.  He proposes doing this first and sending this portion to the City Council then later sending them any subsequent changes to the Charter.  If it is one large amendment before the voters it could create a situation where those necessary changes don’t take place. 

Jason Desrosiers asked about looking at those balancing issues such as balancing the boards and commissions with the new form of government. 

Jim Russo notes the majority of the change is merely in removing the term City Manager and replacing it with Mayor.  There would be some unintended consequences to this.  Boards and Commissions for example, where there may be substantive changes would take place in the second phase and would be approved separately by the voters.  He asks for Dylan Conley’s help to create a draft for the next meeting.

Senator Conley endorses this approach.  Noting that for the sake of clarity the voters overwhelmingly voted for a change in our form of government and this is the first charge they have followed by reconciling the rest of the document.  

Bill Fazioli asks if the Council takes action prior to the ballot approval process. 

Jim Russo states yes adding that anything dealing with an election must go to the General Assembly.

Mayor Briden notes that a special election date would need to be determined for the voters to approve and if any of these amendments would require ratification that would need to take place as well.  He requests Dylan Conley to speak directly on this process.

Dylan Conley suggests seting up a Google doc to view these edits in real time.  He notes it would be an Open Meetings violation if board members begin commenting on line.  Secondarily, if board members post on Facebook and members of the commission comment they will create an Open Meetings violation.  Comment and discussion must happen absent of the members of the board. 

Senator Conley further explains that whatever process is used by the Board as members of the commission they do not engage in discussions.  It has to be within the confines of the Open Meetings Act so that it doesn’t lead to a rolling quorum by members of the Board. 

Dylan Conley is asked to explain a rolling quorum and provides this information citing a recent case from New Shoreham. 

The Board decides that they will utilize Google docs for all members to access the changes real time but that this link will not be shared with the public.  The meetings are public as are the Council meetings and public input will be held during the Council’s vetting process. 

Paul Luba notes that he did some research on the internet regarding a publication from the National Civic League addressing many of the issues the Board may be faced with in changing to a strong mayor form of government.  On one website it has the entire publication and he will ask Kim Casci to send all Board members the link. 

Jim Russo thanks Paul Luba for the information and adds that it would be utilized in phase two.  The first phase is to clean up the Charter to match what voters voted for. 

Jason Desrosiers notes that he also has some viewable comments regarding other sections of the Charter for use during phase two. 

Senator Conley notes that he is familiar with the publication and the one thing about model documents for anything is that one size does not fit all.  They are good at guidance and identifying issues.  However, the City has a charter tradition and we don’t want to disregard this tradition which has been defined by courts and accepted politically and socially.  we want to look at our task in light of our culture and traditions.  Our charter exists due to the Home Rule section of the RI Constitution.  There are legislative rules and home rules and all are essentially governed by the laws enabling us to have this Home Rule Charter.  The model is just that a model and is not homogeneous.  This though would need to be done in the second phase.  Right now we need to get the first phase done. 

Rick Lawson asks about the salary. 

Jim Russo notes the question is debatable and whether it should be in a Charter at all is to be discussed in phase two. 

IV.             ADJOURNMENT

A motion to Adjourn is made by John Faria, seconded by Senator Conley and it is unanimous. 

Approved by Charter Review Commission:  March 16, 2017

Attest:  ______________

                  City Clerk