HomeMy Public PortalAboutCharter Review Committee Minutes 12-01-2011 Charter Review Committee Minutes
December 1, 2011
Community Board Room
Members Present:
Chairman Bill Agan
Secretary/Vice Chair Jeff Ritter
Member Loyce Greer
Member Doug Knowlton
Member LaRue Wall
Audience Present:
Janece Hill
The meeting was called to order by Chairman Bill Agan at 7:04 PM.
Member Greer stated her concern that the Committee complete the Charter Review by
May 1, 2012 in order to have time to place the Charter on the November, 2012 ballot.
Secretary Ritter pointed out that after the May election, there may be new members on
the Committee that would have to be caught up and further slow the process.
1. Read and Approve minutes from last meeting(November 17, 2011)
Member Wall motioned to accept the minutes from the November 17, 2011 meeting.
Member Knowlton seconded.
The motion was approved by unanimous vote.
Secretary Ritter indicated he would be updating and distributing the latest Working
Charter as soon as Member Greer provides the new index from the beginning.
2. Review City Charter.
3.11 —Abstention
Secretary Ritter questioned the default action of abstention being a"NO"vote. Ritter
stated his concern that there may be other reasons for abstention other than a financial
conflict of interest as defined in Sec. 3.13.
Member Greer stated that we could re-define a conflict of interest to include other
reasons than financial.
Secretary Ritter moved to accept, Member Wall Seconded.
Motion passed by unanimous vote.
Sec. 3.12—Code Of Ethics
Extensive discussion by all regarding the over-generality of the Code Of Ethics as stated
in the current Charter.
Member Ritter stated that he felt the current Code of Ethics basically dealt with conflicts
of interest with little other guidance.
Member Knowlton stated he feels strongly that the Code of Ethics should specifically
state actions a Council member or Mayor can or cannot do.
Secretary Ritter questioned what other than a conflict of interest a Charter could
specifically address.
The consensus of the committee was to revisit the Code of Ethics at a later date as it is of
critical importance to the governance of the Council and Mayor.
Member Knowlton motioned to revisit the Code of Ethics.
Member Wall Seconded.
The motion passed with unanimous vote.
Sec. 3.13 —Conflict of Interest
Secretary Ritter recommended re-writing this section to include other possible conflicts
of interest than financial involvement.
Member Greer indicated she would re-write the section using the T.M.L. guidelines and
include political and personal reasons to be considered conflicts of interest.
Member Knowlton motioned to re-write the section.
Member Wall Seconded.
The motion was approved by unanimous vote.
Sec. 3.14—Independent Audit
Member Greer indicated she would include the article and section of the Charter which
references budgeting and Council responsibilities for the Audit.
Secretary Ritter motioned to accept with Member Greer's additions.
Member Wall Seconded.
The motion was approved by unanimous vote.
3. Assignment for Next Meeting
Continue studying new Article 3 for changes, modifications, additions or deletions.
4. Public Comments
None
5. Adjournment
Secretary Ritter stated the audio recorder had turned off sometime during the meeting and
was off at the time of adjournment.
Member Wall Motioned to adjourn.
Chairman Agan adjourned the meeting at 8:49 PM.
Jeff Ritter-Secretary Bill Agan-Chairman