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.

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1. April 13, 2023 - Summary of discussions/decisions
2. March 30, 2023 - Summary of discussions/decisions
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