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1. April 13, 2023 - Summary of discussions/decisions

The Charter Commission Chari provided the following update and summary:

The April 13 Meeting was #18 for the Home Rule Commission. And that was the final working meeting. Next week (April 20, 2023) the Commission will meet to do a final review review for typos and grammar issues, vote on the resolution approving the Charter for the ballot, and sign the proposed Charter in preparation for it being put on the November 2023 ballot. 

Then on the following Tuesday (April 25, 2023) the Commission will present the Charter to the Board of Trustees as the final step as the Home Rule Charter Commission. I'd like to thank everyone who put in public comments and attended any meeting, or answered any of our public outreach efforts. The constant feedback from Erie residents helped us immensely during this process.

Here's a summary of the major draft decisions made at yesterday's meeting.

• Set up the transition so that an entirely new Council will be elected in November of 2024, to create a clean break from Statutory Erie and move directly into Home Rule Erie.
• Most of April 13 was spent on final intent and wording clarity.
• Reviewed the resolution we will be voting on next week to ensure it meets the intentions of the Home Rule Commission. Passage of this resolution will be the  official action the Commission are taking to finalize the text of the Charter to be voted on in November 2023.

Again, thank you everyone who has been following along and making this process run more smoothly than we Commissioners alone could have.

2. March 30, 2023 - Summary of discussions/decisions

March 30, 2023 was Meeting #16 for the Home Rule Charter Commission. Next week (April 6) will be the required Public Hearing for the Home Rule Charter Commission. 

A summary from the Charter Commission Chair of the major draft decisions is below. Note that these decisions are still subject to change.  

• Items in the Charter have been rearranged for a more logical flow, and have separated sections to be better grouped for similar topics. 
• The Commission decided to keep redistricting to the 10-year Census timeline to be as legally airtight as possible. Based on population growth projections, this can be planned to stay within the 10% population threshold discussed previously. 
• The group removed the "intent" topic that was added to each section in order to keep the document as cleanly legal as possible. 
• The entire Town Council will be elected in November 2024, to be seated in January 2025. This was done to ensure each of the new districts has an equal say in electing their representatives under the new system. 
  • If we allowed the two Trustees with terms expiring in 2026 to remain, they'd have to be assigned to a district and those districts would not get a say in at least one of their representatives, and potentially both if both Trustees ended up in the same district. 
  • To maintain staggered terms, the Councilor with the most votes in the November 2024 election in each district will be seated for 4 years, and the runner up will be seated for a 2 year term.
•  The Charter will be leaving Councilor pay as it is currently (set by ordinance) and proposing alternative language that will be placed on the ballot along side the vote to approve the Charter. 
  • The alternative language will propose setting pay to $1,200/mo for Mayor (up from $500/mo), and $700/mo for Councilors (up from $300/mo), with a yearly increase tied to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for our area.
  • Remove from the Council the ability to set their own pay by ordinance.
• Reviewed the presentation we will be giving to the Board of Trustees on April 25. The presentation can be found on the agenda for this meeting.

April 6 will be the required Public Hearing, where public comment will be taken on the Charter in its most updated form. Please attend and provide comment if you can.

3. March 23, 2023 - Summary of discussions/decisions

Summary from the Charter Commission Chair is forthcoming.

• DRAFT statements of intention for creation of the Town of Erie Charter

4. March 16, 2023 - Summary of discussions/decisions

A summary from the Charter Commission Chair:

Here's a summary of the major draft decisions made at the meeting. Note that these decisions are still subject to change. 

• Charter will call out the Planning Commission and the Board of Adjustments as two boards/commissions that are required by State law.
• Charter will allow the Town the ability to levy fines higher than that allowed to us as statutory towns. Any fines would still have to be set by ordinance.
• Adding a trigger for redistricting (if any one district becomes 10% larger than the smallest district). The 10% threshold is tentative until we have a chance to look at historical population data for Erie. We don't want to have to redistrict every year, for example.

The Commission is in the final stages of drafting this charter, with the big elements all present. The next few weeks will be for cleaning up language and seeing if there's anything missing. If there's anything you'd like to see included in the draft Charter that we haven't discussed, now is the time to make your voices heard! We hope to hear from as many people as possible.

5. March 9, 2023 - Summary of discussions/decisions

Summary from the Charter Commission Chair:

• The Charter had an extended conversation with the Planning Commission chair and Town staff about the Unified Development Code (UDC) and the Comprehensive Plan, to decide if any aspect other than the existence of the Planning Commission should be in the Charter. After the discussion, it was decided by all parties that leaving the specific powers and rights of the Commission up to ordinance was the best tactic.
• We made a lot of minor wording and intent changes for various things, such as how campaign finance ordinances should be written.
• We allow the Council to have voice votes for non-monetary issues, and any Councillor can call for a roll-call vote for any matter if desired.
• Final presentation (to the Town and to the Board of Trustees) of the completed Charter will tentatively occur on Thursday, April 20, at our Commission's regular meeting, with it being a special meeting of the Board of Trustees as well. This would be the draft version that will be voted on in November.

We are in the final stages of drafting this Charter, with the big elements all present. The next few weeks will be for cleaning up language and seeing if there's anything we missed. If there's anything you'd like to see included in the Charter that we haven't discussed or talked, now's the time to make your voices heard. We hope to hear from as many people as possible!

Please remember that decisions are not yet final and will be up for discussion again until the final Draft is submitted in May. Questions or comments can be submitted to the Charter Commission through an online form. Members of the public can also plan to attend in-person engagement meetings the third Thursday of the month.

6. March 2, 2023 - Summary of discussions/decisions

Summary from the Charter Commission Chair:

• Erie will have 3 districts with 2 Councillors each, serving staggered terms. The Mayor will be elected at large.
• We will hold elections in November of even years.
• Current sitting Trustees whose terms will expire in April 2024 will have their terms extended until the new Council is elected in November 2024, at which point the entire Board of Trustees will be dissolved, to be replaced by the Town Council.

There was a lot of discussion and reasoning that went into these decisions. If you'd like to see the discussion that went into it, please consider watching the full meeting.

Please remember that decisions are not yet final and will be up for discussion again until the final Draft is submitted in May. Questions or comments can be submitted to the Charter Commission through an online form. Members of the public can also plan to attend in-person engagement meetings the third Thursday of the month.

7. Feb. 16, 2023 - Summary of discussions/decisions

Summary from the Charter Commission Chair:

• Selling water rights would require a vote of citizens to approve.
• We have finalized the Open Space section in keeping with the values of the Town. Notably, selling or rezoning open space would require a vote of all citizens. Review this section.
• The Commission has been assigned homework to research how the transition period should look as far as the continuity of elected officials.
• We have approved a tentative preamble for the charter. This will be published in next week's agenda packet.

Please remember that decisions are not yet final and will be up for discussion again until the final Draft is submitted in May. Questions or comments can be submitted to the Charter Commission through an online form. Members of the public can also plan to attend in-person engagement meetings the third Thursday of the month. 

8. Feb. 9, 2023 - Summary of discussions/decisions

Summary from the Charter Commission Chair:

• We have codified the independence of the Town's municipal court system from elected officials and from police (our current court reports up to the police department and falls under their budgetary authority).
• We are seeking legal advice on how to protect the Town's water rights from being sold or given away.

Please remember that decisions are not yet final and will be up for discussion again until the final Draft is submitted in May. Questions or comments can be submitted to the Charter Commission through an online form. Members of the public can also plan to attend in-person engagement meetings the third Thursday of the month.

9. Feb. 2, 2023 - Summary of discussions/decisions

Summary from the Charter Commission Chair:

• TABOR's requirement for a general vote for any and all tax increases will continue to apply to our Town even if the state repeals it.
• The Charter will not include any new taxes, so any future taxes will need to come to the residents of Erie separately, per TABOR.
• The budget, expenditure reports, and the yearly audit reports will be required to be conveniently available for residents to read.
• The Town will maintain an open space and trails fund and an open space and trails board.
• We are seeking legal advice on how to codify protections against predatory special districts.

Please remember that decisions are not yet final and will be up for discussion again until the final Draft is submitted in May. Questions or comments can be submitted to the Charter Commission through an online form. Members of the public can also plan to attend in-person engagement meetings the third Thursday of the month.

10. Jan. 26, 2023 - Summary of discussions/decisions

Summary from the Charter Commission Chair:

• Initiatives and referendum petitions will require 5% of registered voters of the town to sign.
• Recall petitions for elected officials will require signatures equal to 25% of the votes cast for that position in the most recent regular election. Second recall petitions (if the first fails) would require 50% of the votes cast.
• Appointing and removing the Town Manager will require a majority vote of the Council in office.

Please remember that decisions are not yet final and will be up for discussion again until the final Draft is submitted in May. Questions or comments can be submitted to the Charter Commission through an online form. Members of the public can also plan to attend in-person engagement meetings the third Thursday of the month.

11. Jan. 19, 2023 - Summary of discussions/decisions

Summary from the Charter Commission Chair:

• We have settled on three districts with two Councilors from each, to ensure a representative sample of Erie is elected to the Council and to simplify elections.
• Any Councilor vacancies shall be filled by automatic appointment of the person with the next highest votes for the office in question if the vacancy occurs less than 180 days after an election. If there is no one who ran who can or wants to fill the position, then a special election is ordered. If the vacancy occurs after 180 days from the election, the seat will remain open until the next regular election.
• If the Mayor position becomes vacant, the Mayor Pro Tem becomes Mayor, and the new Mayor's now-vacant Council position is filled by the above process.
• We will be putting out more surveys to solicit feedback on certain topics, hosted here on the Charter Commission page.

Please remember that decisions are not yet final and will be up for discussion again until the final Draft is submitted in May. Questions or comments can be submitted to the Charter Commission through an online form. Members of the public can also plan to attend in-person engagement meetings the third Thursday of the month beginning in January.

12. Jan. 12, 2023 - Summary of discussions/decisions

A summary from the Charter Commission Chair:

1. An emergency ordinance will require a 2/3 vote of the Council (and no less than 5 votes) to pass.
2. The Town Council will be able to change how current ordinances and notices are published, as long as the publishing method is easily accessible for all residents (i.e. website). Current statutes require that ordinances be published in a physical newspaper. This change will save the town time, overhead, and money.

Please remember that decisions are not yet final and will be up for discussion again until the final Draft is submitted in May. Questions or comments can be submitted to the Charter Commission through an online form. Members of the public can also plan to attend in-person engagement meetings the third Thursday of the month beginning in January. 

View the recording of the Jan. 12 meeting.

13. Jan. 5, 2023 - Summary of discussions/decisions

Below is a summary from the Charter Commission Chair:

1. We are writing two subsections on what defines a vacancy on the Council and how to fill them, to be presented at a future meeting. The intent is to have a hard-defined process to avoid uncertainty and bias.
2. We have defined a line of succession, going from Mayor to Mayor Pro Tem, through the Council by seniority, and then to the Town appointed officials (Town Administrator, Town Attorney, Municipal Judge, Town Prosecutor)
3. The Town Prosecutor is being added to the Charter
4. The above appointed officials will be required to report to the Council periodically
5. The Town Clerk will be required to have a supply of all petitions required for conducting a regular candidate election to make it easier for candidates to file their signatures and financial disclosures.
6. We will be adding definitions for "emergency", "administrative personnel", "consultants", and "town officers" to the definitions section. 

Please remember that decisions are not yet final and will be up for discussion again until the final Draft is submitted in May. Questions or comments can be submitted to the Charter Commission through an online form. Members of the public can also plan to attend in-person engagement meetings the third Thursday of the month beginning in January. 

View the recording of the Jan. 5 meeting.

14. Dec. 15, 2022 - Summary of discussion/decisions

Below is a summary from the Charter Commission Chair:

1. We will have 6 councilors and a mayor. The mayor will be elected at-large (entire town), and we will have some number of districts for the councilors. Specifics are still being discussed, but current proposals are 3 districts with 2 councilors each, or 4 districts with one councilor each and 2 councilors elected at-large.
2. Districts will be roughly equal population, contiguous, and compact (no gerrymandering). Redistricting will occur on a set schedule (5 or 10 years), and can be triggered if one district grows too much larger than the others.
3. 25 signatures will be required to appear on the ballot for any position in a district, and 50 for any of the at-large positions.
4. All positions will be elected to 4 year terms, staggering them so some are elected every 2 years.
5. We have proposed an increase in pay for elected officials in the interest of expanding our candidate pool. Councillors will be paid $1000/mo (up from $300/mo), and the mayor $1500/mo (up from $500/mo), with yearly increases tied to the same CPI metric the town uses for contractor pay. This will also remove from the Council the power to set or change their own pay.
6. We will be writing a more clearly defined section on vacancies on the Council, and how those vacancies will be filled.
7. We will be writing an Ethics and Transparency section into the charter.

Please remember that decisions are not yet final and will be up for discussion again until the final Draft is submitted in May. Questions or comments can be submitted to the Charter Commission through an online form. Members of the public can also plan to attend in-person engagement meetings the third Thursday of the month beginning in January. 

View the recording of the Dec. 15 meeting.

15. Dec. 8, 2022 - Summary of discussions/decisions

Below is a summary from the Charter Commission Chair:

1. We will remain the Town of Erie.
2. We will remain a council/manager form of government, and the elected officials will be known as the Town Councilrather than the Board of Trustees. 
   • Note: the size of the Council has not yet been decided.
3. We will move our elections to November with the option to coordinate with county or state elections (meaning a single ballot for all rather than separate town ballots). This will save the Town a lot of money (per the Town Clerk). We are still discussing whether the elections will be in odd-numbered years or even-numbered years.
4. Council members will be seated in the new year after election certification, rather than the first regular meeting after certification, since those meetings are typically canceled anyways due to the holidays.

Please remember that decisions are not yet final and will be up for discussion again until the final Draft is submitted in May. Questions or comments can be submitted to the Charter Commission through an online form. Members of the public can also plan to attend in-person engagement meetings the third Thursday of the month beginning in January. 

View the recording of the Dec. 8 meeting.