#1 2009-10-12 10:53:25
Several weeks ago, I posed questions to the CRC. I used the link on the town site and asked for a response to the following questions:
1. Has there been any consideration as to whether it our current elected officials contribute to the problems with our government? Could this be a bigger issue than the actual charter?
2. Is it a conflict of interest to have an elected official, Mary Ann Silva, as a committee member?
3. Because the committee is one member short, has there been any consideration given to some of the citizens who were interviewed? In particular, two citizens that have a firm grasp of the charter and MGL? (Peter Baum and/or Cara Winslow). If not, why not?
4. Wouldn’t it be better to review the current charter and discuss the issues with each piece of the charter? It would give the citizens of this town a better comfort level if you can show an actual effort to review the charter instead of chucking it out the window.
5. If the citizens of Wareham reject your changes at Town Meeting, why would you pursue it against their wishes?
6. Was there any review of previous Charter Review Committee notes? If not, why?
I have received no response to the questions and I have to ask why? One of the stated goals of this committee is to gain citizen participation. Ed Pacewicz , a CRC member, stated it is important that we allow the public to become part of the process. He added, “That way any changes proposed can’t be argued and we can incorporate the public view, and we don’t finalize anything until after we receive public comment. I am still awaiting a response to my questions.
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#2 2009-10-12 11:57:12
Alan Slavin, the Chairman, told a visitor to the meeting in August, the committee received no direction from the Board of Selectmen and in fact they had no interaction with the Selectmen. This is simply not true. In the March 26 meeting, it was decided the committee would receive direction from Brenda Eckstrom due to her expertise! As we all know, Brenda Eckstrom is a Selectmen. Again, why not just come out and state the truth? Oh yes, they are supposed to be impartial and looking out for the best interests of the citizens of Wareham.
In fact, Brenda Eckstrom attended the April 9 meeting, which contradicts (again) the statement from the Chairman Alan Slavin. It was in this meeting that a “charter expert” from town counsel, Kopelman & Paige, was brought in to discuss how to change the charter. The following is from the minutes of the meeting:
“She (Brenda Eckstrom) stated that Lauren informed her that there was a couple of ways to change the Charter. First, for a complete overhaul, you would want a Home Rule Petition which once passed at town meeting would go the Legislatures for approval and then be brought to a ballot to be ratified by voters. She added that the smaller changes could be accomplished by what Mary Ann had handed out to board members. Brenda stated that Lauren was willing to attend our next meeting, personally to go over what we can and can’t accomplish. She stated that we would not need to conduct a dual process regarding the petition process. She added that any major changes would need consistent PR. She stated that Lauren stated that we would follow Chapter 43B, Section 10, home rule guidelines. Alan was concerned about making changes and how they would affect the town’s bylaws. Brenda assured him that the Charter trumps the bylaws and that the bylaws could be easily changed to conform to the charter. “
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#3 2009-10-12 11:59:45
In their first official meeting, March 12, they discussed how they could NOT change the composition of our government or town meeting and then took a straw vote to see how many supported a change in town government. That didn’t take long! It’s a simple “no we won’t” followed by a “yes we will!” The biggest problem with this thought process is that the same Board of Selectmen who appointed this group of handpicked members have been telling us for years the current form of government isn’t working. Do you think there is an agenda here?
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