Canton, Massachusetts · Saved source text
By-law minutes Jan 23, 2025
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Municipal By-law Modernization Committee Minutes for January 23, 2025 Pequitside Tavern, 7:00 pm Members Present: George T. Comeau, Louis Jutras, Jen Kemalian, Paul McAuliffe, Randy Scollins, Gilda McGonagle, Dr. Susan Harrington Absent: Mike Loughran, William Kring The meeting was called to order by the chair George Comeau at 7:00 pm. The chair moved to the first agenda item of the approval / discussion on the minutes from the meeting of December 12, 2024. No comments or corrections were offered so Mr. Scollins made a motion to approve the minutes. The motion was seconded by Ms. Kemalian and the motion passed 7-0. Mr. Comeau then opened the meeting for public comment and at this time there was no one from the public in attendance. The next order of business was the discussion and follow up on the revised proposal from General Code for the codification of the entire by-law which will include zoning and other related sections. Mr, Comeau noted that he had a discussion with the Planning Board chair on the e360 platform and while Mr. Comeau was providing this background Mr. David McCarthy, Chair of the Planning Board, arrived at the meeting. The discussion continued with Mr. Comeau providing an overview of our previous meeting with General Code, the presentation, proposal, and timeframe for this project and the impact on the Planning and Zoning departments and committees. Mr. Comeau provided an opportunity to Mr. McCarthy to ask any questions or provide any thoughts on the codification process that the By-law Committee is thinking about. Mr. McCarthy had no objection to the process and program. He felt that it would be a benefit to the residents and received input and support from the Town Planner as well. Mr. McCarthy inquired to see if the By -Law Committee was seeking a vote from his Board to which Mr. Comeau responded that we were just looking for an overall acknowledgement and general support and did not need a formal vote. The committee also mentioned the impact to other Boards or Committees and that we had the support of the Town Clerk to move ahead with this process. Page I 1
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The discussion continued with an overview of other benefits of this project and concluded with Ms. McGonagle making a motion to approve the General Code proposal in the amount of $20,727 which was seconded by Mr. Scollins. The motion passed 7-0. After the approval of the proposal Mr. Jutras made a comment on the timeline for this process and the necessity of forming a sub committee that would include members from the Planning Board, Zoning Board, Town Planner, and a member from the By -Law committee. The chair agreed and referred to various section in the General By-law that overlap and impact the Zoning and Planning sections. It was discussed that once we have a signed contract with General Code that we would reach out to all parties involved and provide additional information on the process and timeline. Mr. McCarthy left the meeting at this time. The next discussion point was an article for the upcoming May 2025 Annual Town Meeting. Ms. Kemalian, Mr. Comeau, and Mr. Scollins prepared the following appropriation article for consideration. "To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate or transfer from any available funds or borrow pursuant to any applicable statute, a sum of money in order to increase the appropriation voted in Article 30 of the 2024 Annual Town Meeting for the purposes named in said article for the Chief Procurement officer with the approval of the Committee to engage consultant(s) to support the Committee in its modernization work and town meeting recommendations, and any other action related thereto. " Ms. McGonagle questioned the need for the request at this time and wasn't sure that we needed additional help. Mr. McAuliffe stated that General Code is a good start but that we may still need a consultant for other items beyond just the reorganizing and digitizing process. Ms. McGonagle was of the opinion that the General Code work and the necessary involvement of bylaw stakeholders in the process of normalizing the code, in eliminating or replacing obsolete and redundant code and in remedying conflicting code, we would in fact be fulfilling our mission of modernization within the current budget. This discussion continued and various members provided examples as to why we should request funds now and what they might be used for. Examples included Electronic voting, electing of a moderator, water and sewer commission, and dates and times of Town Meeting. Most agreed that the digitizing process is the first step and that in order for the committee to present changes to an upcoming Town Meeting that we would need outside assistance which this funding article would cover. The chair then entertained a motion to approve the article wording. Mr. Scollins made a motion to approve the article wording with the request amount to be finalized at our next meeting. The motion was seconded by Dr. Harrington and the motion passed 7-0. Page 12
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The chair then turned the committee's attention to our next meeting which should focus on preparing a report and presentation to the May Town Meeting, Mr. Jutras mentioned that if the process remains the same as the last few years that the report and related material would need to be presented to the Finance Committee prior to Town Meeting, At this time the committee discussed it next meeting date and set February 11, 2025 as the date. The date was changed to a Tuesday night to accommodate various committee members, Dr. Harrington asked if we could also schedule a second meeting so the committee selected March 11, 2025 as the second meeting date. Dr. Harrington then asked a question about the process for approval of the codified / reworked code and the committee began a discussion on what the next steps might look like and how the review process will happen. Comments were made that recalled the presentation by General Code where they outline the concept that they would prepare the warrant article(s) that could be as low as 2 articles; one to remove the current by-law and a second to adopt or the articles could be expanded section by section. The committee talked about scenarios where we might have a special town meeting for the by-law update or have a special inside of an annual town meeting. Once the review process begins with General code we will have time to review and discuss this further. Mr. Jutras made mention that General Code provided their quote on the 2023 published By- law. Mr. Scollins and Mr. Comeau asked about the recent updates to our By -Laws and if they would be incorporated into the process. Mr. Jutras will check with the Town Clerks office to see if they have incorporated the latest changes and if so will check with General Code on the use of the latest revision. At this time Ms. McGonagle asked about the areas and options needed to make actual changes to Town Meeting and various processes. She believes that the current system disenfranchises most of the town's voters. She further stated that articles having broad impact, such as the MBTA Zoning article, ought not to have been decided at an Annual Town Meeting since the limited space of the CHS auditorium accommodates just a small fraction of the town's voters and its two-hour window makes it impossible for many residents to cast their vote. Various comments were made by the members that such a change is outside this committees' purview and that the statutes of the Commonwealth prescribe the form of government options that can be established. After wrapping up the discussion on voting and forms of government Mr. Comeau offered a motion to adjourn. The motion was made by Dr. Harrington, seconded by Mr. Scollins and the motion was unanimously approved. The committee adjourned at 7:58 pm Respectfully submitted, Page 13
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Louis Jutras, Clerk Page 14