Mashpee Charter Commission

Present: E. Larkin, J. Bacigalupi, J. Blumengarten, R. Halpern, C. Gasior, R. Maney, C. Bowmar-Perry, and W. Freeman.

Absent: D. Arden.

Invited participant: Attorney Mike Curran, Consultant.

Audience: Bea Perkins-League of Women Voters; Beverly Kane and Dennis Balzarini (Planning Board Members); and Tom Fudala (Town Planner).

A quorum being present, Ed Larkin, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 7 p.m.

Public Comments …None.

Approval of Minutes

Juan Bacigalupi motioned to accept the minutes of October 2, 2003 as presented; this motion was seconded by Jerry Blumengarten and was unanimously approved, except Ruth Maney abstained and Cathy Bowmar-Perry was not yet in attendance.

Planning Board

Beverly Kane… commended the Charter Commission for all the work and thought in producing the Preliminary document. She said she reviewed it and as a member of the Planning Board offered the following comments that relate to Planning Board:

• Term of 5 years is too long.
• Associate Member not mentioned in Charter…currently they have one who serves on an annual basis.
• Discussed at length the role of Town Manager and, in particular, Town Planner reporting to Town Manager versus reporting to Board of Selectmen.
• Asked: Does Charter group see same relationship that Planning board has with Planning Department or will that relationship be changed? Response: No, relationship won’t be changed.
• To give more power to Board of Selectmen to appoint…too much power in hands of 5 people.
• What are benefits to Planning Board of “Home Rule”? Response: One benefit is by having a Charter it makes people more aware of powers that they do have. Another is it makes it easy for people to understand town government and thereby probably increases citizen participation.
• Currently Town Administrator serves on committees—particularly open space committee—and has a vote. Under this Charter what is duty of Town Manager serving on committees and voting? Response: This is covered by By-Law, not Charter.

An in-depth discussion was held during which following were noted:

• Town Manager may become too powerful. Response: We must have the most qualified, experienced people fighting for the people of Mashpee. You achieve that by hiring a strong candidate.
• Elected vs. appointed discussed at length. Response: It was again reiterated that anyone can run for election; by appointing you can get candidates with required qualifications.
• Charter prevents running for 2 offices. Response: No, can serve but 1 must be ex officio…however, this is being looked at again.

Following discussion, Beverly then stated that it appears adoption of Charter might encourage voters to be more involved in running of Town.

Action Items

Section 2-11…refers to written report of Planning Board. This is to be reviewed again by Charter Commission.

Ed Larkin addressed the Charter Commission asking for a consensus on two items. The Charter Commission did reach consensus as follows: • Term to serve on Planning Board should be 3 years. • An Associate Member for Planning Board to be included in the Charter. Tom Fudala to provide write-up of language used to spell out current requirements.

ADJOURNMENT

Ruth motioned to adjourn the meeting; Cathy seconded the motion; and it was unanimously approved. The meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Jean Giliberti, Recording Secretary