The Wethersfield Charter Revision Commission held a meeting on May 18, 2004, in the Town Manager's Conference Room at the Town Hall. The meeting began at 7:12 p.m.
Agenda Item #1: Roll Call
The following individual(s) were present:
| Chairperson | Geraldine Munroe |
|---|---|
| Vice Chair | Christopher Healy |
| Commission Member(s) | Daniel Camilliere, Dorcas McHugh, Gerri Roberts and Leigh Standish |
| Intern | Intern Rick LeBorious (7:20) |
| Recording Secretary | Chantel Teti |
The following individual(s) were absent:
Agenda Item #2: Adoption of the May 4, 2004 Charter Revision Commission Meeting Minutes
Commission Member Standish motioned to adopt the minutes from the May 4, 2004 Charter Revision Commission Meeting. Commission Member McHugh seconded. It should be noted that although the May 4 meeting covered Chapters VII through IX, the minutes were only completed through Chapter VII. The motion to adopt the minutes passed unanimously.
Agenda Item #3: General Comments from the Public
Dr. Kenneth Sokolowski attended the meeting prior to roll call and stated that he would like us to incorporate formal names into the minutes when referring to public speakers. He felt it was offensive, demeaning and disrespectful to use first names for public speakers when Commission Members are not referenced in the same manner within the minutes.
Agenda Item #4: Review of Wethersfield Town Charter
The following includes the original text from the 1994 Charter with any additions/deletions as voted upon by the Commission Members.
Chairperson Munroe thanked the Town Manager for attending the meeting and specifically addressing her concerns/questions regarding Chapter VI.
Chapter VI Administrative Departments
Sec 601 Department of Finance
There shall be a Department of Finance, consisting of the Director of Finance, the Tax Collector, the Assessor and such other employees as the Council may determine. In addition to other duties described below, the Director of Finance shall also have the powers of a Deputy Town Treasurer. It shall be the duty of the Director of Finance to install, maintain and operate for the town a modern municipal accounting system showing the current condition of all funds and appropriations; to file with the Manager and Council, monthly, on or before such day as the Council shall determine, a report of the financial transactions of the fiscal year to date preceding month, showing the amount of each appropriation, the charges against and credits to the same, to the beginning of the preceding month; the charges and credits of the preceding month and the unencumbered balance therein at the end of the fiscal period being reported on such month; to prepare and file, with the Manager and Council, by December 31st after within one hundred twenty (120) days of the conclusion of each fiscal year, a report covering all financial transactions of the town for such fiscal year; to prescribe the form of accounts to be kept by each department, office, board, commission and agency of the town, except the Board of Education, and the times at which and manner in which moneys collected on the town's account, by any such department, officer, board, commission or agency, shall be paid into the town treasury; and to perform such other duties as may be prescribed by the Council, by ordinance, or by the orders of the Manager, consistent therewith (see Section 716). The Assessor and Tax Collector, respectively, shall have all the powers and duties conferred on Assessors and Boards of Assessors and on Tax Collectors by the General Statutes and such other duties as may be assigned them, by ordinance, or the directions of the Director of Finance.
Sec 602 Department of Public Safety
There shall be a Department of Public Safety, which shall consist of the Divisions of Police and Fire. The head of the Department of Public Safety shall be the Director of Public Safety, who, until the Council determines otherwise, shall be the Manager. The Director of Public Safety shall be the traffic authority, as defined in the General Statutes.
Sec 603 Department of Public Works
There shall be a Department of Public Works, consisting of the Director of Public Works, who, until the Council determines otherwise, shall be the Manager; the Town Engineer; the Building Inspector; the Tree Warden; and such other employees as the Council may determine. It shall be the duty of the Department of Public Works to maintain, repair, clean and remove snow from all public streets and ways; maintain and operate storm sewers and other drains; care for and maintain all town buildings, other than those in the jurisdiction of the Board of Education; prepare or supervise the preparation of plans and specifications for the construction or reconstruction of streets, sidewalks, curbs, gutters, storm sewers, drains, public buildings and other structures, but excluding school buildings, and construct or supervise the construction of the same, provided that nothing herein shall preclude the employment of engineers and architects on any such project or the appointment of citizen advisory committees on the construction of public buildings, school buildings and other structures or the use of the Department of Public Works thereon; care for parks, public grounds, including those in the jurisdiction of the Board of Education, by agreement with said Board, and grassed areas in streets, and plant and care for trees within the street line and perform all other duties of the Tree Warden; enforce the provisions of the Building Code, Zoning Ordinance EN and ordinances imposing on owners of property obligations to construct and maintain sidewalks, curbs, gutters, storm sewers and drains; and perform such other duties as may be prescribed by the Council, by ordinance or by the orders of the Manager in accordance with the Manager's powers. The powers and duties relating to the collection and disposal of garbage and refuse shall be exercised by the Council. The supervision of any contract entered into for the above purpose shall be a function of the Director of Public Works. If at any time a satisfactory contract for the collection and disposal of garbage and refuse cannot be made or, having been made, cannot be properly executed, the Council shall have power to provide for the collection and disposal of garbage and refuse by the Department of Public Works without affecting the right of the town to make charges for such collection and disposal.
Sec 604 Department of Parks and Recreation and Parks
There shall be a Department of Parks and Recreation and Parks, consisting of a Director of Parks and Recreation and Parks, and such other employees as the Council may determine. The Department of Parks and Recreation and Parks shall have charge of all parks, park and recreation properties and of all recreation activities of the town, except such as may be undertaken by the Board of Education, provided that the ordinary care and maintenance of park grounds and buildings shall be furnished by the Department of Public Works, as provided in Section 603. The Director of Parks and Recreation and Parks, with the approval of the Advisory Parks and Recreation and Parks Board (see Section 510), shall make rules for the use of parks, public grounds and recreation facilities consistent with the ordinances of the town and the statutes of the state, which shall have the force of law. It shall be the duty of the Police Division to enforce these rules, and, at the request of the Director of Recreation and Parks, any employee of the Department of Recreation and Parks may be appointed, by the Director of Safety, a special police officer with the same powers as a member of the Police Division but only for the purpose of protecting public property and preserving order within the parks and public grounds under the jurisdiction of the Department of Recreation and Parks.
Sec 605 Department of Health
There shall be a Department of Health, consisting of a Director of Health, possessing the qualifications required by law for directors of health, who shall have all the powers and duties of directors of health, as provided in the General Statutes, and such employees as the Council may determine by ordinance, or the Council may choose to join a regional health district.
Sec 606 Department of Social and Youth Human Services
There shall be a Department of Social and Youth Human Services, consisting of a Director and such other employees as the Council may determine. The administration of all forms of human service activities shall be under the immediate direction of the Director, who shall have all the powers and duties relating to the well-being of all residents or persons conferred or imposed by law.
Sec 607 Other departments, divisions, offices and agencies
There shall be such other departments, divisions, offices and agencies organized in such manner as the Council shall determine by ordinance.
Chapter VIII Personnel
Sec 801 Classification system
All regular, salaried employees of the town, shall be appointed and promoted on the basis of merit, as determined by examination, except the following:
There shall also be excluded from the classification system persons temporarily employed in a professional or scientific capacity to conduct a special inquiry, investigation, examination or installation and temporary or seasonal employees.
Sec 802 Human Resources Manager Personnel Officer
The Manager, or, when the Council shall so determine,a person qualified by education and/or experience a person familiar with personnel administration, appointed by the Manager, shall be the Personnel Officer Human Resources Manager of the town.
Sec 803 Appointments
Whenever a vacancy occurs in any position within the classification system, it shall be the duty of the Human Resources Manager Personnel Officer to conduct or cause to be conducted an open competitive examination, written or oral, or both, including consideration of the education, experience and previous record of each candidate. The Human Resources Manager Personnel Officer shall have authority, if deemed advisable, to appoint a three (3) member board board of not more than three (3) members versed in the duties of the position to be filled, and who need not be residents of the town, to conduct any such examination. Two (2) weeks' notice of each examination shall be given, by publication, daily, for three (3) successive days, in a newspaper of general circulation in The town clerk shall post in a conspicuous public place designated for the posting of public notices the application opening and closing dates for the position. the town and by posting on the town signpost. The results of the examination shall be certified by the Human Resources Manager Personnel Officer to the appointing authority and shall be a public record in the office of the Human Resources Manager Personnel Officer. No person shall be appointed to any position in the classification system who has not attained in the examination a passing grade representing, in the opinion of the examining authority, the minimum qualifications necessary to fill the position. When more than one (1) candidate attains such a passing grade, the names of all such persons shall be placed on an eligible list, in the order of the grades attained, and the appointing authority shall make the appointment from the three (3) highest on such list, if there be that many, and otherwise from the list as a whole.
Sec 804 Personnel Appeals Board
There shall be a Personnel Appeals Board of five (5) members appointed by the Council for three (3) years and not more than three (3) of whom shall be members of the same political party. Vacancies shall be filled by the appointment of a person of the same political affiliation as the member whose place is being taken for the unexpired portion of the term. The members of the Personnel Appeals Board shall serve without compensation.
Sec 805 Removals
No employee in the classification system without contractual right of appeal under the statutes or contracts shall be removed or reduced in rank or grade or suspended for more than thirty (30) days unless that employee shall have been served with a statement of the grounds for such action and setting the time and place, not less than five (5) nor more than ten (10) days after the date of such service, at which the employee may be heard by the Personnel Appeals Board, publicly if that employee so desires, and with the privilege of being represented by counsel. If the employee does not appear at the hearing, the action of the removing authority shall be final. If an employee does so appear, the Personnel Appeals Board, after hearing the employee and taking such other evidence as it may deem necessary, shall have authority to affirm, modify or reverse the action appealed from. The action of the Personnel Appeals Board shall be final.
Sec 806 Rules
Rules relating to the advertising and conduct of examinations, the certification of eligibles, the records to be kept by the several departments, offices and agencies of the town of the efficiency and behavior of employees, lines of promotion and generally to carry out the purposes of this chapter shall be made by the Human Resources Manager Personnel Officer and, when approved, by the Council, shall be binding on all persons, employees, departments, offices and agencies concerned.
Sec 807 Pensions
The town shall continue to maintain or to participate in a retirement or pension system. Any change in such system shall require the affirmative vote of not less than seven (7) members of the Council and shall not diminish or eliminate the rights or benefits granted to any individual under the existing retirement or pension system.
Chapter IX Miscellaneous Provisions
Sec 901 Amendment
Amendments to this Charter, consistent with the Constitution and General Statutes, may be adopted by the electors of the town. Each amendment to the Charter shall become effective upon the date of its approval by the electors.
Sec 902 Modification and transfer of functions of Board of Selectmen
From and after the first day of July 1954, the Board of Selectmen shall have only those powers and duties which, under the constitution and laws of the state are provided by the Charter (see Section 511).
Sec 903 Powers and duties of Board of Education
The Board of Education shall perform such duties and have such powers as are or may be imposed or vested by the General Statutes upon boards of education in the several towns, which statutes shall prevail over any provision of this Charter, in event of conflict.
Sec 904 Local ordinances, rules and regulations continued in effect
All bylaws and ordinances of the town and all rules and regulations of the several departments, boards, commissions and agencies thereof legally in force on the 30th day of June 1954, shall continue in force, until amended or repealed by the appropriate authority, under this Charter.
Sec 905 Petitions public records
Whenever, by this Charter, the filing of a petition is required, such petition shall be a public record in the office of the Town Clerk and shall be retained in accordance with the provisions of the Connecticut General Statutes.
Sec 906 Constitutionality
In case any portion of this Charter shall at any time be found to be unconstitutional, such findings shall not affect the remainder thereof, but as to such remainder, this Charter shall remain in full force and effect, until amended or repealed.
Sec 907 Meetings and votes in public
Meetings and votes of all boards, commissions, agencies and committees shall be open to the public, except where otherwise provided by the General Statutes.
Sec 908 Mandatory review of Charter
The Town Council shall appoint a Charter Revision Commission to review this Charter at least once every ten (10) years, in accordance with the provisions of the General Statutes of the State of Connecticut.
Sec 909 Gender
Whenever it occurs in this Charter, the masculine gender shall refer to both feminine and masculine genders.
Chairperson Munroe distributed a copy of Brian O'Connor's prepared memorandum. Mr. O'Connor is the Chief Building and Zoning Official. The proposed changes to the Charter will allow the flexibility to re-designate Divisions as deemed appropriate by the Town Manager.
Commission Member Standish believes it is appropriate for the electorate to have the opportunity to petition for a budget referendum such that the budget, when it has been construed in such a fashion that there is sufficient interest to meet a threshold, that the electorate should be able to follow a procedure, establish a referendum and vote on the budget. The threshold should be sufficiently high that it will take great personal/financial resources to accomplish this.
Vice Chair Healy is an agreement with Commission Member Standish under the stated circumstances. He also feels the window of opportunity to petition should be very finite.
Chairperson Munroe asked Commission Member Standish and Intern Rick LeBorious to work up language for review at the May 27, 2004 meeting.
Agenda Item #5: Miscellaneous
Commission Member Camilliere brought two points to the attention of the Commission:
Significant discussion surrounded both issues. Chairperson Munroe asked Commission Member Camilliere to work up appropriate language surrounding his concerns and the Commission would review at the May 27, 2004 meeting.
Vice Chair Healy is on record stating he is in favor of Commission Member Camilliere's second point, specifically as it relates to the language in Rocky Hill's Charter.
At the May 27 meeting the Commission will review the Intern's comments regarding Chapter VIII and IX and any other comments prior to distribution of the draft to the Town Attorney.
Agenda Item #6: Adjournment
Commission Member Camilliere motioned to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 9:35.
Respectfully submitted,
Dorcas McHugh
Secretary
Approved as submitted May 27, 2004