The Council Review Report

The power of blogging. One of the 186 people visiting today provided me with a copy of the Council Review Committee's Report. (Thanks!)

Sorry for the formatting errors, but I will work on it this weekend. As you will see, the Committee took their responsibilities very seriously and conducted a thorough analysis.

1. Introduction

The Council Review Committee (CRC) was formed from an October 2006 vote of the sitting Barnstable Town Council. The Council in its wisdom agreed to form a Presidential Advisory Committee from public volunteers to review the complex issue of the future version of the legislative branch of Town of Barnstable. The charge of the CRC was limited to the review of Town of Barnstable Charter Chapter II; The Legislative Branch.

All town charters may be subject to a constituent Charter Review Petition on any given day. All cities and towns in the Commonwealth may be subject to restructuring their precincts or districts based on the upcoming 2010 US Census results. These two above mentioned issues are always real possibilities and the CRC Committee had to integrate these possible issues into all their discussions. C.R.C. realized their work may provide insight into any Charter Committee's efforts. C.R.C. was very aware of the mathematical formulas that may need to be satisfied based on the upcoming 2010 Census count.

The Committee met with a guest speaker, Marilyn Contreas, Policy Analyst of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Office of Housing and Community Development, to discuss alternative municipal governmental structures currently used in various communities throughout the commonwealth. Thanks to the volunteer efforts of Town of Barnstable Town Clerk Linda Hutchenrider and Town of Barnstable Town Attorney Robert Smith numerous imperative questions were resolved so the committee's work could continue.

The workload of the C.R.C. and its reporting date of February 1, 2007 created the demand for weekly meetings throughout the holiday seasons. The commitment made by Committee members was real and came with a price. Alphabetically the Committee make up was as follows: John Alden of Hyannis, John Brennan of West Barnstable, Michael Daley of Marstons Mills, Marcy Dugas of Barnstable, Allen Goddard of Hyannis, Lou Gonzaga of Hyannis, Michael Ingham of Centerville, Jacques Morin of Marstons Mills, Ron Mycock of Cotuit, Lucien Poyant of Hyannis, Susan Rohrbach of Centerville, and Chairman Jim Crocker of Osterville.

II. Committee Debates and Decisions

Council Size, District and At Large Representation:

The Committee voted 9-1 (1) to recommend a 9 member council made up of 5 district members, elected from their district, and 4 at large members. (1/03/07)

From the first, there was discussion that a combination of district and at-large Councilors could serve Barnstable well, and the Committee looked at a variety of configurations. Since so many big decisions are town-wide, members thought that including at large representation would bring the villages together and emphasize that: we are one town, we want greater voter access to the leadership of the town, we want some candidates to concentrate their campaigns on town-wide issues, and we want the focus of the Council on the interests of the entire town.

Given that the villages are a very significant part of our identity in Barnstable and the village issues are often quite different, village representation was considered to be a critical component of the Council membership. Members also thought that districts should be small enough so that District Councilors would be easily accessible to their constituents. In addition, the recommended makeup would ensure that each voter would get to choose a majority of the Council members (4 at-large plus 1 district). The mathematics of districts made up of precincts allows for a variety of choices. Some of combinations lend themselves to a stable configuration.

Given Barnstable's estimated population growth, a five districts format was voted to be the best configuration. A nine (9) member council with five (5) district members would allow for flexibility. An increase to 15 precincts (from the current 13) would mean 3 precincts per district and would carry the town up to a population of 60,000. Beyond that, an increase of one precinct per district could accommodate up to an additional 20,000 in population.

Length of a Single Term:

The Committee voted 8-2 (2) to recommend that the term of office remain at 4 years (1/03/07).

Members thought that this would give Councilors ample time to learn and do their job without having to think about re-election immediately. With the district and at large configuration and the greater area of representation, the committee felt that councilors would be more accountable to the voters.

Timing of Elections:

The Committee voted 9-1 (3) to recommend that all 9 Councilors should be elected every 4 years (1/10/07).

Despite some concern that this could result in a lack of experience for a new Council, there was strong feeling that all Councilors standing for election simultaneously would stimulate more interest in the election on the part of the voters and focus discussion on town-wide issues. Having all Councilors serve as a group for four years would give the Council a significant period of time to work together and address matters with a longer term view.

Length of Consecutive Years of Service:

The Committee voted 8-2 (4) to limit the number of years of service so as not to exceed 12 consecutive years of service in total. (1/10/07)

Opinions ranged from limiting service to 8 years through eliminating service limits altogether. Most members want to promote some turnover of membership to bring in fresh ideas, while at the same time allowing for the benefits of experience. Also, a majority of the committee wanted the definition under this section to be stated clearly enough to stand alone without legal interpretation.

Section II Notes(1) Goddard in the negative, Brennan medical absence, Chair abstained.(2) Alden, Dugas in the negative, Brennan medical absence, Chair abstained.(3) Goddard in the negative, Chair abstained. (4) Alden, Dugas in the negative, Chair abstained.

III Conclusion and Recommended Action Plan

Findings: composition

a.) The present Council is currently made up of 13 members each representing one precinct.

b.) Currently, each voter is allowed to elect only one member of the legislative body. Most voters feel they can only call upon their representative councilor on issues of concern. The current council structure does not encourage broad constituent-legislator communications.

c.) The composition currently does not encourage broad intra-council communications. Further, this structure does not encourage broad based legislative behavior. This tends to create perception that the council is counter productive. In effect, initiatives are not always looked at globally and thus can take an inordinate amount of time to accomplish. Consensus and decision making tend to be more prolonged. The current charter does not foster a town-wide perspective within the voting community. Most of the town residents perceive the office of town councilor to be one of a precinct-oriented nature.
Our recommendation is designed to achieve broader legislative objectives. Through our recommendations we are attempting to avoid a disconnect in both inter-council and intra-council communications.

d.) The current council is designed to grow as population drives up precinct count. As a result the Council will continue to expand unless a change is made in the composition (Sec. 2-1 a.)

e.) The next state wide redistricting when a new precinct design will take place is scheduled for 2011-2012 after the completion of the 2010 federal census.

f.) At present, the earliest opportunity for re-composition is the 2011 town election.

Findings: length of service

a.) Language in Section 2-11 Prohibitions is deemed to be unclear relative to the definition of a term.

b.) Further, language in Section 2-1 (c) Election and Term requires four year terms with overlapping two year election cycles based upon odd and even precinct numbers.

Recommended Action Plan

Our recommended plan of action would be to file special legislation to accomplish the following:

1.) Reduce the council membership to nine members.The nine-member council addresses the existing large number of 13 members and prevents future council growth due to population changes. Further, this change is deemed to improve the ability of the council to work together as a result of the smaller group dynamic.

2.) Establish five district councilor positions.The continuation of district representation protects the current representation attributes of our charter. While there will be less representative members, the majority would still come from specific geographic areas of the community. In addition, it creates an option for councilor candidates relative to constituent size and area of representation. This modification is deemed to improve the intra-council communications in that it helps create a natural partnership.

3.) Establish four at-large councilor positions.The introduction of at-large representation allows us to greatly broaden the number of council members directly elected by the voters. Rather than voting for one council member (7% of the council) this enables a voter to elect five members (55% of the council) thereby increasing each voters representation on the whole. This also creates an option for councilor candidates relative to constituent size and area of representation. This recommendation also is deemed to improve the intra-council communications in that it helps create natural working relationships and that it encourages the current precinct based views to be looked at in a more town-wide perspective.

4) Establish four-year election cycles for all elected officials.This recommendation continues the existing four-year terms.

Additionally, this recommendation is deemed to improve our legislative body in the following ways:

Creates more continuity by keeping the same council group together for a longer period of time.

Improves productivity by reducing the number of campaign cycles from one every two years to one every four years.

Avoids redistricting problems by eliminating staggered elections.• It clarifies the term of service allowed by elected councilors.

5) Empower the Town of Barnstable to establish five representative districts for the first town election after the 2010 federal census has been completed and the map and precinct changes have been approved by the Town Council.This recommendation is fundamental to an improvement to our legislative body. The Council Review Committee unanimously recommends this strategy to the council. Without such action being initiated by a forward thinking town council, our existing legislative structure would remain, and we would face the possibility of 15 precinct-based Councilors after the 2010 census. Without special legislation no changes can occur to enable the benefit of the conclusions stated herein.

For purpose of illustration, we have provided the following table for your review:

Election Date Description

November 2007 Town election - 13 precincts
November 2008 State/Fed. Election 13 precincts
November 2009 Town election 13 precincts
November 2010 State/Fed. Election 13 precincts
November 2011 Town election 15 precincts
November 2012 State/Fed. Election 15 precincts
November 2013 Town election 15 precincts
November 2022 State/Fed. Election 20 precincts
November 2023 Town election 20 precincts

Section IV

Other paths to Changing Charter

The Committee has endorsed the request of a Special Act of the Massachusetts Legislature to expedite changes to our Legislative body. The Council would request our legislators to submit special legislation to change our charter. Such a change would require both a vote of the Council and both houses of the state legislature. In addition, the voters of Barnstable would be required to approve the change at a town election.The Committee acknowledges there are other action plans that might be considered to effect similar change.

INITIATING CHANGE VIA A SUCCESSFUL CHARTER INITIATIVE.

There is an initiative currently under way to collect sufficient signatures to place approval and election of a nine member Charter Commission on the next Municipal Ballot.

Pro: A Charter Commission is empowered to review all sections of the Charter at the same time. Changes could be recommended to include but not be limited to Legislature, Elected Officials, School Committee, Administrative Organization, etc.

Con: Changes in other sections of a proposed charter might defeat the new charter as a whole, including the necessary changes to the Legislative body. This would require another pass at the Special Act process and additional delay.

Section V

Chapter II sectional rewrites to correlate the committees recommended changes to the current Charter. This section points out wording changes required by committee decisions outlined in Section II above. The full text of the charter is not included here but can be seen in Attachment A to this report.

The committee is aware that changes made to any chapter of the charter may require changes in other chapters. Those changes are not detailed here. Nor is this report an attempt to produce final, legally acceptable text.

Section 2-1 Composition; Eligibility; Election and Term

Recommend following changes:Para(a) the statement one councilor shall be elected from each precinct needs to be changed. Para (b) the word district needs to be modified Para (c) The word Councilors shall serve four year overlapping terms so arranged that the terms of as nearly half of the councilors as may be shall expire at each biennial town election needs to be replaced-

Section 2-2 Council Organization

No Change Recommended

Section 2-3 General Powers and Duties

No Change Recommended

Section 2-4 Appointments of Multiple Member Bodies

No Change Recommended

Section 2-5 Filling of Vacancies

Recommend language changes be made to accommodate the change from precinct representation. The charter will need to provide for replacement of district and at large councilors.

Section 2-6 Exercise of Powers; Quorum: Rules of Procedure(b)Quorum

Recommend change in language to lower current one-half of council plus 2 to six councilors.

(c) Rules of Procedure

Recommend change in language to lower number of councilor votes from four to three on a vote of 7-2 see (1)

Section 2-7 Council Staff

No Change Recommended

Section 2-8 Measures; Emergency Measures: Charter Objection

No Change Recommended

Section 2-9 Delegation of Powers

No Change Recommended

Section 2-10 Inquires and Investigations

No Change Recommended

Section 2-11 Prohibitions

The line of person elected to serve as a town councilor may serve more than three consecutive terms needs modification

Section 2-12 Compensation, Expenses:The committee by a vote of 6-3 (2) recommends the current level of 2/3 town council votes required be lowered to a simple majority. This would lower the required vote from the current 6 to 5.The committee by a vote 8-0 (3) (4) recommends that the current language be changed to require that a vote to set the salaries of the next council be taken within the recommended time frame.

In addition to the above recommendations, this section is deemed by the committee to be in further need of a special review.

The committee offers the following for consideration:a)The committee is suggesting a smaller council. The committee is suggesting two new sizes of constituency (multi-precinct district seats and town-wide seats). This will change the workload of each member.b)The four year non-staggered term changes we have proposed is a dynamic that could allow raises only once every four years.c)The members ideas for Town Councilor salary adjustment mechanisms included: the elimination of the council from the process, the use of voter ballots, the use of advisory committees, the use of the Human Resources Dept, the exploration of a predictable and annual adjustment to be built into the ordinance, no change in the practice.

Section V Notes:(1)Brennan and Goddard in the negative, Chair Abstained(2)Dugas, Goddard, and Gonzaga in the Negative, Chair Abstained(3)For Recommendation as stated two abstention Dugas and Chair(4)Prior vote to allow council to set salary Alden, Dugas, and Gonzaga in the Negative, Chair Abstained.