04-09-1998 Charter Minutes (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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Charter Commission April 9. 1998 Page 5 Chair Montain then asked the members if they wanted to make the effort to rewrite Chapter 8 themselves. Commissioner Dunn liked the idea of getting all the typographical errors corrected before the next meeting. Chair Montain asked everyone to read the Charter and make corrections and then bring it to the next meeting. Commissioner Dunn stated he would like to have Chapter 8 rewritten and would like to authorize Commissioner Sullivan eight(8) hours of time with the attorney to accomplish this. Chair Montain said that he disagreed, feeling there was no need to change the Charter at this time. Commissioner Sullivan pointed out that Mayor Sullivan felt they did not need to go to the voters for every change in the by-laws and he would like to see the process started. Commissioner Trehus felt they needed to determine if any proposed changes will require a referendum and suggested they get a legal opinion about changes even if it is just a grammar change. He then reminded the group that Mayor Sullivan warned about changing the Charter. Commissioner Trehus felt they should leave it as is. Commissioner Turner disagreed stating that it is very important to make the document readable. She believes that they need more women on the Board, and that would happen if it were easier to understand. She said that they do have a budget to pay for this and the changes could be made without changing the intent of the Charter. She felt that as citizens,they would get a lot from the Charter if they went through it step by step. MOTION by Commissioner Kenfield, seconded by Commissioner Sullivan, for each member to review and correct typographical and grammatical errors. Motion carried with Commissioner Trehus voting no. MOTION by Commissioner Kenfield, seconded by Commissioner Turner,to authorize Commissioner Sullivan to investigate what changes could be made to Chapter 8 for$500.00. Commissioner Sullivan asked if they only wanted Chapter 8 reviewed. Chair Montain indicated they should only focus on Chapter 8. Commissioner Dunn wanted to add to the motion that they could expand the changes if Chapter 8 could be done for under$500.00. He felt they should let him investigate beyond Chapter 8 to make the Charter more user friendly without changing the meaning. Commissioner Lane indicated he did not want to authorize any other changes, but to only get an estimate for Chapter 8, Subdivision 2. 5