001all right good evening everyone uh I'd like to call the public hearing to order and I'd like to start by uh allbody rise to pledge for the allegiance Tom would you kindly lead us please sure I pledge Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible will liberty and justice for all okay thank you Tom uh I would like to ask the town clerk to read the legal notice into the record please thank you notice is hereby given that the charter revision commission will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. on Monday February 24th 2025 in the council chambers of the municipal center for the purpose of hearing proposals for Amendment of the charter of the town of Plainville dated at
002Plainville Connecticut this 20th day of February 2025 thank you Cindy uh now I'd like to ask for the commission members to introduce themselves starting from my left please Sandy hergot Kristen Shores Dan celski John gasperini Tom fod and also we have Dana Snell who's currently not here and Michelle chaput who has another commitment at this time um next I'd like to ask for a motion to approve the minutes of the February 10th organizational meeting move to accept the minutes is there a second I second any discussion all in favor I opposed okay now I'd like to give a quick overview of um what the charter revision is asked to do uh the charter revision commission has been asked to consider the following provisions of the charter the division of fire services and the town manager
003residency and we will also consider any other sections of the charter we deem appropriate for review the commission will be responsible for submitting a draft report to the Town Council no later than June 16th any other comments by committee members no okay um one last thing about that I would say is that once we have added or made any uh recommendations they will go on to the Town Council for confirmation so this is we are not saying this this is an automatic change it still has to be approved by the Town Council if the Town Council approves any suggested changes then we will go on to um those changes will go on to the no um November election for the voters approval if the changes are to be made permanent anything anybody else want to
004say anything to that no okay all right uh we now come to the public comment section of our hearing and if you would like to speak to the commission please come to the podium and state your name and address for the record does anyone wish to speak Mr Klick yes sir John Kissle 65 foral Avenue I remember some of you from the last commission um I have uh the agenda that you had last time for some of these same issues May 23rd 2023 5:30 p.m. in the library now at at that um after you got through with your whole Comm Mission and what you recommended to the town one of the items was the town manager residency requirement now on November 7th of 2023 we had a vote on that we had 30% voter turnout
005from the town we had 3,113 people vote on that question and 59% 1,838 voted no which would require the town manager's residency to stay the same now here we are a year and nine months later and I do not understand why this commission you guys did a great job and I mean you worked like heck the people sent a message to you to everybody in the town that this is something that should be mandatory it's been in our Charter since 1959 now from what I've been hearing from people nothing's going to change my opinion you're you're wasting your time now what's happening in the way I see it the Town Council has how did I put this has um neglected their responsibilities to the citizens in Char of a planville is passed and they have
006done nothing with the result of this they have ignored it now they're kind of making you guys lackies putting it back on you again to bring this to the people and I don't think that's fair that a year and nine months later you guys did hard work and I think everybody on there should respect the vote of the people only a year and nine months ago it is it is not going to change so I'm going to ask this commission to please don't even consider that we're wasting our time don't even recommend that to the Town Council because of their their inability to follow the charter and signed legal contracts they're putting it on you so with that I'm not going to stay I had enough to say but I really appreciate if you this
007committee would consider that because year and a half it doesn't make sense nothing's going to change thank you for your time thank you John wish would anybody else wish to speak yes Roberto laua 18 parin Road um for clarification please um attorney B I hope I pronounced your name correctly sir um is here can you please clarify for me can you please clarify for me the town manager residency that you want to change and how because there's there's nothing in here so I'm a bit confused and I honestly thought during topics of discussion um before the public comments those three bullets would have maybe been discussed a little bit more for a better understanding not just for me but for the viewers that are going to be listening to this you're asking a town attorney
008if somebody can I'll whatever I just I want understand what what Duty you're being asked to do I'll defer that question to the town thank you sure so we're here for a public hearing tonight and the commission cannot begin to do its work until after the public hearing is concluded and the public has an opportunity to address them so that's why we're here um I think there might be some misunderstanding with regard to um the charge that the commission received and that's exactly why I it had explanation it's not um was not something that was generated through uh Us by giving uh legal advice that uh it should be done what we did was we gave options and the council voted to return this again that's what historically happened as far as the reasons and
009and any other legal analysis I do intend to address this commission at the next meeting with regard to that so if you want to attend you'll hear a full legal explanation at that time I was not intending to do that tonight as a public hearing it's an opportunity for you to all talk I'm a lawyer my experience is that sometimes people will not say things that they might want to say after I talk and we don't want to do that we want to is we want to hear from the public we want to hear what you're opinion is regardless of what I might have to say hopefully you listen to me too but uh at this point we want to hear from the public so I'm going to defer answering any further beyond that thank
010you sir um I appreciate the explanation and I have no problem talking after you do um it's a little bit difficult to comment on these because there isn't much information just basically the words that are here um you talk about the town manager residency and as well as the division of the fire services and I guess where I'm confused is this decision was already made now if you want to clarify keep um honoring the decision of the voters that was done on November 7th of 2023 that's fine other uh meetings Our Town attorney has commented that that the wording is not correct he wants to change the wording and if you want to change the wording that's fine however the people should be respected with the vote they made on November 7th um maybe if
011you want to include something include um an expiration date or a number of days that in um the town manager who decides to come to our wonderful town decides to within a certain number of time certain number of days or maybe two years whatever however many days or years you have maybe that needs to be added to that instead of when you're saying The Residency but the people have already decided and that should be respected if you want to change some wording that's great but the issue what I'm understanding here of The Residency that's already be been decided and it should stay that way if you want like as I said if you want to change a couple words great if you want to add an expiration date or a due date that's even better
012but under no circumstances should we be asked to go back and vote two years after after something that's already been decided especially when our Charter says it's supposed to be done every five years it just makes us look bad now the whole reason why we have a town manager is because of one gentleman who was our last first selectman by the name of Joseph Edmund and it was his decision actually he convinced people to move to a town manager form of government and I'm sure it's because as the first selectman he realized the growth Plainville was doing the population and what's been going on and he probably and I'm sure he realized that this is something that um needs more time so bringing somebody in who can be a resident and truly understand what's going
013on is how it should be fast forward many years later and it seems that things going on maybe we've outgrown this maybe what you should be looking into and investigating is a mayoral form of government where we have someone sitting here who is a resident then you can go back and think about well gez let's think about something here but we have had past Town managers who get in this position and behave like tyrants and dictators they manipulate things they bully people and they threaten people and I want to emphasize this past Town managers as soon as they get in this position this is their behavior I can say that and I will say it because I was both a witness and a recipient of this Behavior and sadly the town man the the Town
014Council no matter how many times folks came up here and brought things to their attention did nothing about it so maybe we have to look at the whole scope of things we have plenty of things around us plenty of towns around us who see who have a mayal form of government and is being run very successfully now that's not to say we shouldn't have a town manager or an assistant Town manager it's our Charter so it's our decision but it's obvious we can't keep putting a Band-Aid on something so maybe we need to look at the whole process and maybe we need to um admire the late Joseph Edmund and say it was good at one time but like he wanted to change and he convinced the voters that yes this is time to do
015it maybe we need to do the same thing again there's nothing in here that states that we have to go this route so think about that as well because you've got under the third bullet any other sections or chapters you deem necessary maybe that needs to be considered so that you don't have to worry about this number two bullet but look at everything but this should not be change in terms of residency if you want to change a couple words perfect in addition there should be a a a cut off date some deadline for anytime we have a manager in there but don't limit yourself to what you're doing you're being given a gift so take advantage of what's going on around us bring it together and use it that will best fit the people
016of this town don't keep putting Band-Aids on things and asking people to vote for the same thing again and again thank you thank you rber for your comments anyone excuse me anyone else wish to speak yes sir Mr roral good evening uh Christopher wzor 19 Usher Avenue uh as chairperson of the uh planville Town Council I'd like just to extend our heartfelt uh thanks to each of you uh for accepting this important uh task and reviewing our community's Charter um I understand you haven't had the opportunity to yet discuss or uh even ask questions for that matter on on the on the two specific issues that the council's asked you to look at um but I I do have some personal comments um you know first The Residency requirement as both people have already mentioned
01718 months ago we did discuss this um however you know in understanding some of the background you know the council isn't asking for you to remove the requirement we are asking you to take a look at the way it's currently written and see if there's something that may be better for the community and I I consider that a very wide landing area it's not a this or that you know we're we're hoping and our expectation is that you will consider every option that's on the table and there's probably options I haven't thought of that you guys may discuss which is perfectly Within your realm and I I hope you do that I I have no problem um but just to give you a little background you know I was part of the last Town manager
018search um our initial um opening or the initial application process that we went through didn't give us I would say the talent that we were looking for um in in some you know in some feedback we got from our consultant she indicated that The Residency requirement ment was a hindrance to some of the applicants wanting to go through the process um the council that was uh elected in 2021 at that point and I I agreed with it made the decision to go out for a second round of applications and this time we allowed the consultant to let people know that we were going to establish a charter or attempt to establish a charter revision commission with the thought that we would make some changes whether it was outright removal or some way make some changes
019to that residency requirement the second round of candidates we received was a STK contrast to the first and part of the result you see here is is Mr paulus who's with us now but my point is that it was made clear by the consultant that that was something that we would have to consider as we move forward so I'm not even thinking about where we are now necessarily although I do believe in some comments the council's made some comments the town attorney's made and I'm sure he will be very supportive in any questions you have of him and he will help you through any issues that you feel you have but you know you are being requested by the council to take a look at this and the council only certainly we consult with the
020town attorney I I value his opinion um he is looking out for the best interest of the community and I support that you what so I I would like you to just look at in that perspective I do have some personal background with this and that's what I'm not looking for an either or scenario I want you to use every resource you have available to you including Town staff if you need something from me honestly and some of you will probably be happy to know after tonight you probably aren't going to hear from me unless you want me to come back to a meeting and answer questions or give you more feedback I'd be happy to do that but as of the close of this public hearing I will not be talking or discussing with
021you you know anything that's going on so I hope that makes you feel a little bit more comfortable after we get through tonight the second item I'd just like to touch on is is the charter uh chapter regarding fire Services um we're currently in the process of addressing some inconsistencies the way the fire department the fire company Town procedures and processes uh Fire Company bylaws and the Charter kind of fit together we we've been looking at some things and again with consultation with the town attorney we feel there's some things that need to be clarified and and that's the reason we're asking you specifically to look at this chapter is specifically maybe uh get these different entities to work together while better defining roles and responsibilities but again you'll you'll be given the information and
022certainly any question you have will be answered whether it's me or any Town Administrator certainly you'll have the resources available for you to go through that and answer any questions and I just you know I I I have full confidence in your ability uh to rise to this and make recommendations you feel benefit the town and you know I I appreciate I I like the makeup of the commission we have some experienced people we have some people who are new to this I I just think you know be open-minded I'm always you know please and and I don't have any other reason to believe you won't be open-minded I just feel like it's something I should say publicly but you you have our anytime you need any information you need any support from the council
023please let us know we'll be happy to be there and I again thank you for your time and your commitment to making sure this goes uh the way that you feel it should thank you thank you Mr rero does anyone else wish to speak does anyone else wish to speak does anyone else wish to speak hearing none we'll close the public hearing uh comment section uh next uh Cindy has given us um dates for our attentive meetings upcoming uh March April and May uh the first one at March 11th is on a Tuesday night and all the others are on Wednesday nights and as she has indicated on the sheet at 5:30 in room 302 unless something changes she'll obviously let us know um so I'll ask a motion um for regular meeting scheduled to
024accept those dates do I have a motion so moved second second all in favor I oppose none okay uh so before we ask for adjournment can I ask anyone who wish to make any kind of comment add any comments ladies nothing Dan I not right now thank you okay Tom no no okay well then I'll ask for an adjournment MR chairman I yes sir I I should make a quick comment uh I do want to also thank you for your time and your efforts here tonight I know that uh it is it is coming taking personal time to come here um I am going to address the commission at the next meeting on March 11th and I also wanted to remind you that tomorrow night we have a sub committee meeting for the fire uh
025district for the uh department and the company and I anticipate I know that we're going to have a pretty substantial presentation that's been made by both the company and the department a joint presentation is going to be a PowerPoint and pretty good material so I would invite you all to attend it's up to you I'm it's not a it's not a meeting of your commission 7 tomorrow here that's tomorrow at 6 6 at 6 and I'm going to be handing out now as I told you this is the redacted report for you to review so and that's the only comment I have thank you okay yeah we'll just pass those before we adjourn thank you thank you okay any other comment Mike any want to make any comments uh just thank you for your time
026all right thank you Cindy we're all set we are okay SC have a motion to adjourn so move second second okay everybody wants some adjourn right all right thank you everyone and we'll see you on uh March 11 thank you