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Qs Regarding the Charter Review Committee Report

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Marianne View Drop Down
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    Posted: Jun 18 2009 at 1:40pm
Forgive me for all these questions, but since we've had two members of the Charter Review Committee kind enough to post, I'll throw these questions out there:

1.  Who wrote the report? 

In other words, who is responsible for writing the "Background" on page 2?  Who is responsible for the summary discussions regarding recommendations made for each item? Was this done by one person on the committee? Multiple people?  Were there drafts of this report brought before the group?

2.  Why did the chairman, Tom Brickey, not sign the report? Please see p. 3

3.  I had trouble following the procedures outlined in the last paragraph on p 2 regarding the presence or absence of members and their signing of recommendations.  "The recommendations are signed by the members of the committee present when the written recommendation was presented.  There may be instances where members who voted a recommendation were not present to sign that recommendation, or vice versa."

Was there a difference between a vote during a meeting regarding an issue and a written recommendation being voted on?  It seems to be the case, because - to use Article III, Section 8 as an example - you have Kent Bradshaw's signature there, but he is not indicated as present in the minutes during which this was topic was discussed - unless I missed his name on the list or there was an error?  It seems strange to me that you could not be present for a discussion but vote on a recommendation.  Was that the case in some instances?

Thank you.

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Paul Nagy View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Paul Nagy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jun 18 2009 at 7:09pm
Marianne,
    Thanks for the good questions.
     #1. The report was written by Les Landen, City Law Director and Betsy Parr, our City Clerk. They were at every meeting and guided the meeting throughout. Ms. Parr kept the minutes of the meetings.  A very hard job especially during the intense discussions.
      #2.  Tom Brickey, our chairman, did not sign the report because it was prepared within the 24 hour period following our last meeting. Sadly, Mr. Brickey had a severe heart attack and heart surgery the morning of our final meeting. Our prayers and thoughts are with him and his family.
      #3. Members who were not able to be there at the signing of the recommendations were allowed to come back at the last minute prior to the report being prepared to get the report to council for Tuesday nights council meeting. Those members were there through the discussions.
       I hope this helps.
       Thank you for your interests.
       Paul Nagy
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rhoffman View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rhoffman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jun 19 2009 at 2:28am
A summation of the Charter meetings and the draft language that was to be used for various Council recommendations was given to us throughout the time period. It was then discussed at our final meeting as we were signing off on the final recommendations. As Mr. Nagy said, Les Landen and Ms. Parr put together the final draft. I just finished reading the report and believe it to be an accurate representation.
 
Their was some discussion regarding absence, votes and signing. When a motion was carried a record of the vote was entered into the minutes. I personally kept notes of motions in my Charter Workbook. All members were entitled to vote and sign off. We had to have enough participants at every meeting to constitute a clear legal majority. I believe that all of the Charter members had issues that they felt were important and others that they didn't feel were as important. I personally believe that absence was never really an issue.
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Marianne View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Marianne Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jun 19 2009 at 10:44am
Thank you, Mr. Nagy and Mr. Hoffman for your answers to my questions.  I must admit I'm still perplexed that people who were not on the committee, Mr. Landen and Ms. Parr, would write the committee's report.  I've served on many committees, and it has always been the case that the members wrote the report. 

Also, Mr. Hoffman, you mention that you just finished reading the report, but I hope you meant to write "rereading the report," as I'm assuming you wouldn't agree to sign off on a document at the last meeting that you had not yet reviewed?

Thanks again for responding to my questions.  As someone who teaches professional writing and as someone whose field of intellectual interest involves report writing, I'm perhaps more attentive to these issues than many others.  I appreciate your answers and service.
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rhoffman View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rhoffman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jun 19 2009 at 1:44pm
Thank you Marianne. The report itself was only prepared on Tuesday. I knew the language and read the draft. Though I had not seen the "official" final report, nor had any of us, until a few days ago. The final report was made available to Charter members whom attended the recent Council meeting the night of the presentation. I followed the link on this website and read it last night. I received it via email this morning. I had read previous drafts of the report and the legislation. It needed to be prepared and presented immediately if any of the recommendations were to make it to the voters in November.
 
The report is to amend our basic articles of corporation. When people come together to discuss changing things it has to be done in a specified manner. These are all legal issues. The report needs to be written a certain way, as does the legislation. Mr. Landen and Ms. Parr have an immense amount of experience in this field. We offered our opinions, they prepared the language. It looks great and depicts accurately what was done.
 
Thanks again.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote eyespy007 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jun 19 2009 at 5:29pm
Just curious...is there a way to find out what board(s) that Anita Scott Jones is an active member of?
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Mike_Presta View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mike_Presta Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jun 20 2009 at 12:30am
BWA  HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I personally sat in a meeting where a majority of council, the law director, and city manager realized that they, themselves, didn't even know who was really was on what anymore!!!  And I will swear to that in court, even though you won't find it in any minutes!  And YES, this was a "prearranged discussion of city business!"
 
However, to answer your question, to officially find out, you can review the minutes of the FIRST council meeting of each year.  However, if one reviews the meeting minutes of the various boards, commissions, committees, panels, etc., you will find that things change frequently, and that there are "alternates", and other "changes" that have NEVER been acted upon by council in ANY PUBLIC MEETING.  Council DENIES ever having met behind closed doors, so how did it happen?  No one can answer that question, but perhaps the minutes will be somehow "revised" after they read this, eh?  (wink, wink)
“Mulligan said he ... doesn’t believe they necessarily make the return on investment necessary to keep funding them.” …The Middletown Journal, January 30, 2012
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Marianne View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Marianne Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jun 20 2009 at 3:34pm
Originally posted by rhoffman rhoffman wrote:

The report is to amend our basic articles of corporation. When people come together to discuss changing things it has to be done in a specified manner. These are all legal issues. The report needs to be written a certain way, as does the legislation. Mr. Landen and Ms. Parr have an immense amount of experience in this field. We offered our opinions, they prepared the language. It looks great and depicts accurately what was done.
 
Thanks again.


The legislation needs to be prepared in a particular way, so I can understand Mr. Landen being involved with writing that aspect, and even Ms. Parr being responsible for producing minutes, but I believe the committee should have been capable of preparing its own report at least as far as preparing a Background, etc.  As I said, I teach report writing, so I'm perhaps more attentive to these items than most. 

Thank you for your response.
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spiderjohn View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote spiderjohn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jun 20 2009 at 4:24pm
Ms.Marianne is right on the money, as usual.
Any board or committee on which I have been involved has run it's own ship. Choosing a lead person and a member secretary responsible for the minutes.
 
Granted, Mr.Brickey's unfortunate situation(all the best to him!) didn't make it easier at such a late time, however this structure seems to have been in place long before that time(from the beginning). With these items to be run as legislation,Mr.Landen probably neede to write them. Ms.Parr is very good at what she does.
 
Council blew through the first reading of these issues with no discussion among themselves or any public dialog. Will these items now come back as emergency legislation?
 Either way--WE SHOULD have the final say in November.
 
The minor changes hardly matter, while the major issues will probably be rejected(as they should be imo) with the exception of term limits. Too bad that the term limit concept wasn't extended to municipal boards and committees.
 
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Mike_Presta View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mike_Presta Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jun 20 2009 at 7:07pm
Originally posted by eyespy007 eyespy007 wrote:

Just curious...is there a way to find out what board(s) that Anita Scott Jones is an active member of?
007:
I was looking for something else and happened across this item.  The following appointments were "confirmed" as part of the "Consent Agenda" during the 4/1/2008 City Council meeting:
 

Confirm creation of Council Subcommittees and members as listed:

Economic Development – Bill Becker, David Schiavone, Leslie Ford

Housing Issues – David Schiavone, Anita Scott Jones

Street Improvement – Tony Marconi, Bill Becker, Anita Scott Jones

Finance/Financial Plan – Bill Becker, Anita Scott Jones, David Schiavone

Public Safety – Tony Marconi, Jim Armbruster

Diversity Affairs – Larry Mulligan, Leslie Ford

It seems appropriate (at least to me) that this occurred on April Fools' Day!!!  LOL LOL
“Mulligan said he ... doesn’t believe they necessarily make the return on investment necessary to keep funding them.” …The Middletown Journal, January 30, 2012
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