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Next Charter Review Committee regular meeting:
Monday, Sept. 20, 2010
5:30 - 7:00 p.m.
Council Chambers
Future CRC Meeting Schedule:
October 4, 5:30 p.m., Location TBD
October 18, 5:30 p.m, Training Rm, Cmty Bldg
November 1, 5:30 p.m., Location TBD
November 15, Training Rm, Cmty Bldg
Can't attend the CRC meeting? You are always welcome to e-mail comments to the CRC.
News & Updates as of August 31, 2010:
Charter Committee Discusses Report on Utilities
The Committee met on August 30. They discussed a report from their subcommittee about proposed Charter changes on the relationship of the Utilities Board or county operations. The subcommittee's report is posted here (link to the document in the right sidebar). Utilities Board President Paul Smith and Utilities Manager John Arrowsmith attended the meeting to answer questions.
There are four subcommittees - a description of each subcommittee, members and meetings that have been scheduled is as follows:
Initiative, Referendum, Recall & Petition Requirements:
This includes Article VII, plus the 907 section of Article IX. Members are Chris Chandler, David Israelevitz, and Robert Pelak.
Meeting Schedule:
Sept. 14, White Rock Town Hall
Sept. 27, Pajarito Cliffs Site Conf Rm
Oct. 19, Community Bldg
All meetings run 5:30 - 7:00 p.m.
(Members of the Charter Review Committee and the Public are invited to attend)
Structure of Government
This includes questions that have been raised by the public, and is likely to be of the most interest to the public. It involves the form of government for the county, ranging from items such as the number of councilors elected, whether they are elected at large (versus having districts or wards), having a mayor instead of a chairperson of the council with a county administrator, and will include the questions raised in the last year about the possible deletion of the requirement to fulfill party affiliations for the Boards & Commissions. Town Halls on this subject were held by the League of Women Voters in 2006. Their report is shown in the right sidebar. Members are Kyle Wheeler, Larry Warner, and Morrie Pongratz.
Meeting Schedule:
Sept. 7, Community Bldg (Training Rm)
5:30 - 7:00 p.m.
Consistency & Clarity
After addressing Tier 1 issues in the last six months, this Subcommittee will now turn their attention to sorting Tier 2 and Tier 3 issues, which were more complex than Tier 1 (which mainly involved cleaning up minor inconsistencies in wording or other legal language in the Charter). Members are Chris Chandler and David Israelevitz.
Meeting Schedule:
To Be Announced
Utilities Department "relationship to the rest of County government"
Reviewing the Charter sections related to the Utilities Department such as structure, organization, financial considerations, etc. Members are Harry Ettinger and Morris Pongratz.
Meeting Schedule:
To Be Announced
Charter Amendments - Ordinances Moving Forward on the November Ballot
All 11 ordinances in their final form have been posted here today to download as a pdf file - click on the links in the right sidebar. They will be on the November 2 general election ballot. The ordinances are also available to review at either reference desk of the public library. Copies are also available at the 311 Customer Care Center.
The Election Resolution to place the 11 questions on the November ballot was approved at the August 24, 2010 Council meeting.
A general "Fact Sheet" is also posted here, at the libraries, and at the 311 CCC.
Looking for the County Charter?
Visit the 311 Customer Care Center, either public library, or, you can search the Charter and read it on line! Return to the home page, look under "Popular Links" and click on the Municipal Code/Charter link.
Update on the July 27 Council meeting
The CRC provided a report on their two subcommittee solutions lists (addessing charter section 705 and petitioner issues raised in January) to Council at this meeting, which included one charter change recommendation and several non-charter changes. Read the report when you link to the document in the right sidebar, or download the Council meeting agenda documents. The Council took no action, but accepted the report and asked the Staff to place a discussion item on a future agenda to consider next steps.The date of that meeting will be posted here on the webpage when available.
About the Charter Review Committee Meetings...
The Committee is currently re-considering their meeting schedule and locations. They have noted that public attendance is better in Los Alamos than in White Rock, and thus they may hold all future meetings in Los Alamos. They may also reduce the frequency of their meetings in the future, based on the workload of the Committee and additional meetings of the subcommittees. Watch this webpage for details!
All meetings are open to the public and they follow the Council's Open Meetings Resolution, just as any Board or Commission would. Opportunities for public comment are offered at the beginning and end of each meeting. Minutes are posted here as soon as they are approved by the Committee.
Background:
The County Charter has not been reviewed for many years, and the Council desires to have extensive citizen involvement regarding additions, deletions, or clarifications. The Council appointed a Council Subcommittee this past summer to draft guidelines that could be given to a citizen-based steering committee to undertake this task. The guidelines were discussed in October 2009 and adopted by the Council. Shortly thereafter, the County ran advertisements and web postings calling for interested citizens to apply via letter of interest to be considered for appointment. Fifteen citizens applied and Council appointed nine of those citizens to the Charter Review Committee in November 2009. Here are the nine that were appointed:
Chris Chandler
Harry Ettinger
Deborah Gill (resigned May 25, 2010 - running for Council - no Council replacement appointed at this time)
David Izraelevitz
Jim Hall (resigned March 21, 2010 - running for Council)
John Hopkins
Robert Pelak
Morrie Pongratz
Larry Warner
Kyle Wheeler (added April 13, 2010 to replace Jim Hall)
The Chairman is John Hopkins. Vice Chairman is Larry Warner.
County staff liaison is Steven Lynne, Administrative Services Director and Chief Financial Officer.
The Committee met for the first time on December 9th, 2009. Citizens are invited and encouraged to watch the Committee at work. Updates about their meetings are posted to this webpage shortly following each meeting, and minutes are recorded and posted as well after they have been approved by the Committee. The Committee expects to have several venues for public comment in the future (outside of their work meetings).