By Barbara Scott
Staff Writer
At a regular Caribou City Council meeting held Sept. 12, members of the Caribou Charter Commission presented the panel with the final report, regarding the revisions to the Caribou City Charter.
Patricia Collins, chair of the commission committee, addressed the council and Caribou City Manager Steven Buck saying, “This is our graduation day. We have the final report of the Caribou City Charter and it is ready to be filed, it is yours now.” Collins informed the council members that included with their copy of the charter, there was also the ‘red-lined copy,’ showing where the specific revisions had been made to the original document.
“I would like to take this time to say ‘thank you’ to the members of the Charter Commission Committee, I have never served with a better group of people,” stated Collins.
The city council will set a public hearing date, during their next meeting on Sept. 24, to receive comments on the city charter revisions. This public hearing will be to discuss the document as it has been amended but not to suggest further changes.
It is noted in the report that “dated language that referred to the initial Charter was removed; references to state laws were updated; and the reality of the schools being now part of RSU 39 was recognized. A new preamble was written and a new Article X Transitional Changes was required.”
In the general election to be held on Tuesday, Nov. 8, the Charter Commission Report will appear for referendum vote. Any affirmatively voted Charter revision will take effect the first day of the new year.
Copies of the City of Caribou Charter Commission Report are now available at the city office as well as viewable on the city’s website.
Members of the Caribou Charter Commission included: Roy Alden, Patricia Collins, Sandra Huck, David Martin, James Savage, John Swanberg, Scott Walker, Ronald Willey and Bryan Thompson.
Also included in the final charter report is a brief summary of the changes in each Article as follows.
• Article I, Powers of the City — no changes.
• Article II, City Council — major changes. Eligibility: added a requirement for city councilors to be current for all city taxes; Compensation: a modest increase in compensation to go into effect in 2013 with a new provision allowing a councilor to decline compensation. Meeting attendance: required attendance by councilors at meeting of the council and assigned committees unless excused. Forfeiture of office: added two new reasons for forfeiture of office including failure to pay city taxes and failure to attend meetings as required unless excused; a new procedure for the council to follow in expelling a councilor.
Regular meeting procedures: Robert’s Rules of Order to be used as appropriate; meetings of the council and committees except for personnel and executive sessions to be open to the public; the agenda for council meetings to be available for Friday before the scheduled meeting; a new provision for a 15-minute time slot at the start of council meetings for public input with all requests being honored. Acts requiring ordinances: sections of this rewritten to be more explicit; Recall provision: a new procedure for citizens to recall a councilor.
• Article III, City Manager — minor changes. Replaced school department with Regional School Unit
• Article IV, Administrative Departments — minor changes. Removed School Department and Cary Medical Center as being served by the city’s legal officer.
Article V, Financial procedures — major changes. Entire budget procedure rewritten: more detailed information provided for the citizens to use when reviewing the annual budget; the expense budget and the capital expense budget to be considered at the same time and finalized before the start of the new fiscal year; new deadlines established to provide more opportunity for citizen input before the budget is voted on by the council.
• Article VI, Appropriation for public education — major changes. Article VI rewritten to reflect that Caribou is now part of RSU 39 and the city’s responsibility is only to raise monies for the assessment, the title was also changed.
• Article VII, Nominations and Elections — minor change. Added reference to Maine law.
• Article VIII, Ordinance initiative and referendum — grammatical changes only.
• Article IX, General provisions — major changes. Prohibitions: defined that the prohibition on city employees from participating in political activity refers only to city elections; added definition of an amendment and revision; added rules for taking action or filing claims against the city.
• Article X, Transitional provision — major changes. Struck entire language and added new provisions based on input from municipal attorney. Added effective date of this revision; effect of this revision on existing law; effect of the revision on existing ordinances and contracts; separability clause; expiration of term of present elected officials; continuance of employees and appointed officials.
