HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-12-10 Charter Commission MinutesCORCORAN CHARTER COMMISSION
MEETING MINUTES
DECEMBER 10, 2009
7:00 P.M.
1) Call to Order. Charter Commission Meeting was called to order by Chair George
Gmach at 7:06 p.m. Present were Commissioners:
• George Gmach, Chair
• Ken Guenthner
• Dorothy Theis
• Brian Lother, Secretary
• Tom Cossette
• Ken Kluck
• John Hausladen
• Jim Tilbury
• Also present was City Administrator, Daniel J. Donahue
2) Agenda. Motion by Guenthner and seconded by Hausladen to approve the agenda as
presented. All voted in favor.
3) Approval of Minutes. There were no meeting minutes from 2008. Only meeting in
2007 occurred in November and no minutes were submitted or approved. There
appears to have been no actions undertaken.
4) Open Forum. No persons appeared before the Commission.
5) Old Business. No commissioner present brought forth any unfinished business. The
commission reviewed minutes and agendas from the previous five years.
6) New Business.
a) Appointment of Officers;
i) Kluck nominated George Gmach as Chair during 2010. Seconded by Theis.
All voted in favor;
ii) Guenthner nominated Tom Cossette as Vice -Chair during 2010. Seconded by
Gmach. All voted in favor;
b) Review of Appointment Terms. Commissioners reviewed current terms and the
expiration dates of the members. Terms expiring on June 16, 2010 are Lother,
Cossette, Kluck, and Hausladen. The chair asked Donahue to obtain a ruling from
the City Attorney on the question of whether or not commissioners terms were
limited to two consecutive appointments by the Court.
c) Discussion of Possible Charter Commission Business in 2010.
i) The Commission reviewed previous activities and business since the
beginning of 2004. Commissioners expressed interest in the Charter Updates
that were prepared for consideration in 2006. The background of petitions
submitted, process used, and the outcome of that effort were all discussed. It
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CORCORAN CHARTER COMMISSION
MEETING MINUTES
DECEMBER 10, 2009
7:00 P.M.
was the consensus of the Commissioners that they would like to renew the
process to update the City Charter by making technical and language
corrections to the Charter in order to more easily interpret and use it, without
changing in any way the substance. The Commissioners expressed a desire to
proceed with preparing a recommendation for language updates, corrections
and changes that would be content neutral and, free of any political bias.
ii) The commissioners discussed other possible ideas that might be discussed in
2010. The discussion focused on a couple of possibilities and policy
directions. It was the consensus that:
(1) The language updates should proceed alone;
(2) Any Charter issue or matter having political overtones should be put to the
voters of the city;
(3) Once language issues are clarified there is a desire to consider a
substantive idea to include language in the charter to limit the length of
professional services contracts /agreements to no more than two years with
expiration on or before December 31 of the year of the statewide general
election. This is to protect the public from lame duck contracts that may
not be in the best interest of the City.
7) Other Business.
a) The Chair expressed interest in holding quarterly meeting in 2010 with the first
meeting in February. Consensus was that this should be done.
b) Motion by Guenthner to file a report of this meeting with the court, seconded by
Kluck. All voted in favor.
8) Adjourn. Motion by Theis and seconded by Cossette to adjourn. All voted in favor.
Meeting adjourned at 6:51 PM
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