Charter Change Committee

Minutes

November 29, 2018

Committee Members Present: Joan Shannon (JS), Chair, Richard Deane (RD), Max Tracy (MT)

Staff Present: City Attorney Eileen Blackwood (EB); Beth Anderson, CAO; Bill Ward, Code Enforcement; Kim Sturtevant, Assistant City Attorney: Brian Lowe, Chief Innovation Officer

Public: Kelly Devine, Austin Brasile

The meeting was convened at 5:04 pm.

1.01     Motion to adopt agenda—Deane moved, Tracy seconded.  Unanimous.

2.01     Approval of the Minutes of 9/20/18: Deane moved, Tracy seconded.  Unanimous.

3.01     No public comments.

4.01     Discussion of proposed charter change to eliminate the business personal property tax.

At the Council work session, a councilor had suggested that perhaps the charter could allow the council to eliminate the business personal property tax sooner than the 2026 date stated. 

JS moved, MT seconded to add “or sooner by resolution of the City Council.”  RD asked whether the original language adopts the proposed phasing out of the tax, or if some separate action needs to be taken?  Staff confirmed that it would adopt the proposed phase-out, and the amendment would allow some flexibility.  Unanimous.

JS asked if the Committee wants to be able to increase the exemption over time prior to elimination?  JS moved, MT seconded that the following language be added to (a): “The amount of exemption may be increased by the City Council prior to approval of the next fiscal year’s budget.”  Unanimous.

MT moved, RD seconded to recommend the charter change as amended to the City Council. Unanimous.

4.02     The Committee reviewed the proposed changes in order. JS questioned whether the director of permitting and inspections should be required to be a resident. MT and RD thought residency should be required to be equitable with other departments; if there needs to be a change, the council should look at the residency requirement overall.  RD suggested changing “shall be a combination of” in §370 to “combine.”  The Committee agreed.

 RD suggested deleting “for developers and citizens” in §371(a).  The Committee agreed. 

The Committee suggested reordering §371(b) so that (7) becomes (1) and the other subsections are renumbered accordingly.

The Committee agreed to delete “appointment of administrative officer” from the title of §372.

RD suggested renaming §373 “powers, duties, and responsibilities of zoning administrative officer.”  The Committee agreed.

RD moved, MT seconded to recommend the charter change with the above amendments to the Council.  Unanimous.

JS asked if the Committee wanted to discuss, but not take any action on, the planning/CEDO portion of the permit reform.  RD agreed, but MT disagreed because this issue was not referred to the Committee.  JS felt councilors could always discuss the issues privately, so felt it would be helpful to briefly discuss the issue of what happens to the planning department.   

5.01     Next meetings: December 4 and 11.  Add another possible meeting on December 12 at    5 pm.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:10 pm.