PShooter wrote:

Some details from Charter Review Mtg. 08/27/09

To be presented at next April's Town Mtg.

Mayor:
-Elected / 4 year term / Executive
-In charge of all town business except legislature
-Appoints/removes dept. heads, etc. w/ Councilmen's approval
-Appoints/removes "Solicitor", and secretary (Councilmen's approval NOT needed)
-Must be Wareham resident

Councilmen:
-11 total / 1 per precinct (6 precincts) plus 5 "at large"
-Elected / 2 year term / Legislatve
-Majority(6) needed for quorom
-Must be Wareham resident

PShooter

the 6 precincts will be the voter precincts and must reside in for atleast 1 year.

acasualobserver wrote:

Did they detail at all what they thought was wrong with the current form, or just say "this is what we want to go with"?  Did they do any comparisons to other towns of similar size/demographics?  In short, do they have any actual analysis backing this up, or is it just a case of they want a mayor, the Donahues want a mayor, so they're recommending that Wareham get a mayor?

detail.. it doesnt work. comparisions they talked with other towns yes if you check the minutes the first meeting OF CHARTER REVIEW they talked abpout scrapping our current charter and moving on.. not reviewing this current charter..
ps casual you have a pm

acasualobserver wrote:

Did they detail at all what they thought was wrong with the current form, or just say "this is what we want to go with"?

Charter Minutes 03/12/2009

"Mr. Slavin stated that he would like to take a straw poll of members present to see how many supported a change in town government.  The poll was recorded 5-0-1 in favor."

Charter Minutes 05/14/2009

"Leie Carmody made a motion that we pursue the Special Act Charter method and if it fails at town meeting then we move directly to a Charter Commission vote.  Ed seconded and Alan called for the vote. It was unanimous, 7-0-0."

Charter Minutes 06/11/2009

"The members debated several of the issues for more than forty minutes.  Alan stated that he felt we should narrow it down and chose a course of action.  We would then be able to assign members to research their respective city governments.  Jack made a motion to select *Form B. The motion was moved by Ed and seconded by Mick.  Alan called for the vote and it was recorded as unanimous."

*Form B: Government by Mayor and City Council Elected by District and at Large

http://www.wareham.ma.us/Public_Documen … rterReview

pssst. Whomever's job it is to post the minutes for the town..you're lagging.

---This process started a while back.

PShooter

Last edited by PShooter (2009-08-28 20:12:48)

Hey Liz, I found this pincushion gnome for you. Is this what your backyard's going to look like Sunday?



PShooter

So, even if the mayoral system is voted down at town meeting, they have a backup plan to make sure it happens? Wow...even if the town votes it down, they don't care! They want it and that is that?

This doesn't sound too kosher to me.....

Larry McDonald wrote:

So, even if the mayoral system is voted down at town meeting, they have a backup plan to make sure it happens? Wow...even if the town votes it down, they don't care! They want it and that is that?

This doesn't sound too kosher to me.....

Charter Minutes 05/14/2009

"Alan explained about the Special Act charter amendment which needs a two thirds majority vote. Ed stated that we could do both by trying to get it through town meeting for the vote and if that fails, then we could concentrate on the Charter Commission to get the petition of fifteen hundred signatures, etc.  He stated that we have one or the other or both.  We discussed the elected commission and their powers. It was discussed if we chose to do both and one or the other fails; we can go through town meeting and also go for the charter commission."

PShooter

the danger here is that they already have a voting base (dem. town committee) of over 1000 and it is a lot easier to go around to places where they have a captive audience and no opposition.

Lets face it the level of indifference in this town is incredible and a pair of solicitors canvassing neighborhoods, nursing homes and trailer parks over a weekend could scare up 2000 votes for pretty much anything.

some people in town will allegedly sign a blank petition.

That is 2000 out of 14,000. Surely we can scare up 3000 votes to put them out of business. I think some of those votes were lost during the John Donahue race baiting issue. Old times would more than likely vote against a mayoral system, and there are plenty still hiding in the shadows for personal reasons that will not vote with the power brokers running this town. Hopefully, we can organize and inform enough of the voters to bring a stop to the nonsense happening. If not, then I guess we all lose.

You can get enough votes to kill anything with the energy generated by this site.
Has anyone checked into the WCTV program?
Once on the air, and accepting phone calls, it should be well watched and participated in...time to get going!

Your cable show should take phone calls and questions.
The difference between what you will offer and any show that the CRC or BOS have is that your show will be an outlet for real news in the Town and any citizen can participate.
Once people know they will be treated with respect, they will only watch your show...the other shows will be watched by the participants families and friends.
One show (yours), entertaining and informative.
Their show..boring and presumptuous and probably patronizing.
Which show would YOU watch?

acasualobserver wrote:

Are these meetings open to the public?  I just read the minutes from the first 3 (will get to the rest later), and there really is no reference to actually reviewing the charter.  Is there a 'citizens participation' time?  Can someone go and stand up before them to ask "The meeting minutes from this committee show that the decision was made to change the charter without any work having been done to review it.  Why didn't you review the charter before making the decision to change it? "

For the record, I don't think Wareham needs a mayor, but if someone put a logical analysis in front of me saying "We reviewed the charter, here are the X number of things wrong with it, and here's how they would be solved with a mayor and 11 councilors.  Also, a mayoral system isn't perfect, and we anticipate these Y number of problems with it, but here's how we plan to address those".....well, that could be convincing if done right.  This, however, was most definitely not done right.

yes the crc meeting are open to the public i attended 1 last thurs. no citizens part.. that was my point the crc NEVER reviewed the charter 1st meeting was discussed to scrap ours..

This, from the minutes almost immediately after the first CRC meeting started:

Charter Minutes 03/12/2009

"Mr. Pacewicz referred to the article that was in the newspaper regarding the Town of Bridgewater and their on going effort to change their form of government.  This article was in the Brockton Enterprise.

The members discussed the possibility of changing town government and the problems that have been observed with the town meeting process.  Members expressed the issue of three hundred people making decisions for the whole town and the lack of attendance at town meeting.  It was also discussed that members of town meeting have expressed to Selectmen their anxiety at rising to speak on an issue and the jeers they receive if they do.  The issue of special interest groups was also fully discussed, as well as problems with clarification of the budget process, regulations for missing meetings, calling of special town meetings, defining day-to-day operations, defining certain phrases and the ambiguity of same.  It was discussed that it would be much more feasible to take the Charter one section at a time."

So, someone brings up an article in The Enterprise and suddenly EVERYONE there feels we need a new form of government in Wareham?

PShooter

Well $120,000 is more than John Donahue or Sweet Brucie have ever made in their lives. And when you surround them with the rest of the salaries, they really don't have anything to do. Sounds just like the job at the court house. Oops he lost that one.

I watched the interviews for the people who put in applications to be on the CRC at the televised bos meetings. The questions asked by the bos made it quite clear that they were looking for a new form of government and wanted to find sympathetic people to put on the committee. Most of the people being interviewed--now on the CRC--complained about town meeting during their interviews. When Sweet Brucie asked what specific areas of the charter they were concerned about--they couldn't answer. Some had not even read the charter.  Cronan asked just one question of each person. I can't remember it word for word, but if you didn't agree with his question--something about whether or not the present charter was working--you didn't get appointed. It was a joke really.

And the people they didn't appoint to the CRC? Well, ragboy would have called them the power elite. I would have called them concerned citizens who had been to every town meeting for years, and loved the town and wanted to see what was best for it. Not like the jokers who had only been to a couple of town meetings and/or had only lived in town a short time,and/or were bos lackeys.

None of us should be surprised that they are acting the way they are. What the CRC doesn't realize is that the 300 people who attend town meeting do so because they CARE about the town and want a say in how it is run. Let's be honest. Town meeting is no walk in the park. It is long and it often takes three nights of your life. We do it because we CARE.

I've got a question.  What happens when their recommendation doesn't get the 2/3 vote at town meeting and they still haven't "reviewed" the Charter ?
I'm convinced that most of the CRC members still have not read the entire Charter.  And I haven't heard of a back up plan yet.  Hopefully they'll consider an alternative.  Otherwise the existing form of government remains in effect and democracy in its truest form will prevail.
I noticed as you did, Molly, that the majority of those appointed didn't have 10 years of town meeting experience combined.  And by only witnessing the last two or three years, they've seen the most disastrous meetings we've ever had.  And look at who's responsible; the same compliment that have caused the most dysfunction in Wareham's history.

I thought it might be easier to have the Charter Review minutes read to me rather than reading through them myself (lazy, I know), but this is what I came up with.

These are intended to be identical in content to the minutes posted on the Town's website, which can be found at:

http://www.wareham.ma.us/Public_Documen … rterReview



Charter Minutes 03/12/2009



* I intend to post additional meeting minutes as they are posted by the Town.

PShooter
http://takebackwareham86bos.blogspot.com/

Last edited by PShooter (2009-09-05 04:52:57)

Charter Minutes 03/26/2009



PShooter

Charter Minutes 04/23/2009 (Parts 1 & 2)







PShooter

Charter Minutes 05/28/2009



PShooter

Charter Minutes 06/11/2009



Why the most recent minutes posted are almost three months old, is anyone's guess.

PShooter

Good job, as always, PShooter...you are the man!!

waterview wrote:

Sweet Brucie already acts like he is THE MAYOR!  -  Controlling every part of Town Government and spending Millions on stupid lawsuits with no fear of being put in his place or in jail. As a Selectam, absent of checks and balances, he has seized  and abused the power of his office with gusto.  Changing to a Mayoral form of Goverment would open the door of corruption even wider!

If change is needed, go slowly and don't let go of the power that you as Wareham residents still posess!

I wonder if the Interim Butt Monkey feels like the BOS, etc. have interfered with the "day to day" business of the town. According to the charter:

"...no individual member of the board of selectmen, nor a majority of it, shall, at any time, attempt to be involved in the day to day administration of the affairs of the town, but, shall, at all times, act only through the establishment of the said policy directives and guidelines which are to be implemented by officers and employees appointed or employed by it."

They think the term "day to day administration..," is so ambiguous a term, that they can disregard the intended authority of this directive.

PShooter

What? According to Jane D--Wareham is all about TRANSPARENCY now that this bos is in control.

No minutes being posted online for 3 months? Sarcasm alert---What's not transparent about that?

A charter review committee that's required by the town charter but that isn't reviewing the charter? Sarcasm alert again---What's not transparent about that?