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TR-2012-34 TERM EXTENSION FOR MAY, CC AND SC it � �� r _ � �� --- - - -- `, � � �.. � U1W 0 VOL/ TR-2012-34 A RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL PETITION FOR THE ENACTMENT OF SPECIAL MUNICIPAL LEGISLATION CHANGING THE TERM OF OFFICE OF THE MAYOR, CITY COUNCIL AND SCHOOL COMMITTEE FROM TWO YEARS TO FOUR YEARS (Sponsored by The Community Relations Committee Members: Councilors Cecilia P. Calabrese, George Bitzas, James Cichetti, Paul Cavallo, Dennis Perry) r.-a C) C= WHEREAS, Massachusetts state law provides for cities and towns to 1JMkeLnF= changes in the organizational structure of local government by petitioning for enactP7—SFnt, C-) .p.r of special municipal legislation; and un rn r.C"D WHEREAS, the ability to petition for special municipal legislation renws tl-�p T available and has been used to change the form of local government in approximatel)05 C-) communities; and OD rn WHEREAS, the special municipal legislation would be subject to voter ratification at the next regular city election after approval by the Commonwealth; and WHEREAS, section eight of the Home Rule Amendment allows communities to petition the state legislature, to revise their charter, following approval by the communities legislative body; and WHEREAS, said legislation would revise the charter by increasing the term of office for the Mayor, City Council and School Committee from two years to four years. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED AND ENACTED BY THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL to petition the General Court to the end that legislation be adopted precisely as follows. The General Court may make clerical or editorial changes of form only to the bill, unless the Agawam City Council approves amendments to the bill before enactment by the General Court. The City Council hereby authorizes the Mayor to approve amendments which shall be within the scope of the general public objectives of this petition: AN ACT FURTHER PROVIDING FOR THE LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE OF THE TOWN OF AGAWAM Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority ofthe sarne asfollows: SECTION 1. Notwithstanding chapter 43 of the General Laws or any other general or special law to the contrary, the town board of registrars shall place upon the ballot for the regular town election in 2013 in the town of Agawam the following question: "Shall the term of office of the mayor, city council and school committee of the town of Agawam be 4 years?" If a majority of the votes cast in answer to said question are in the affirmative, the term of office of the mayor, city council and school committee of the town of Agawam shall be 4 years and shall continue until the election and qualification of their successor, beginning with the 2013 regular town election. SECTION 2. If a majority of the votes cast in answer to the question in Section 1 are in the affirmative, the following changes shall be made to the Charter: §2-1(c) shall read: "Election and Term — The terms of councilors shall be four years beginning on the first secular day of January after their election, and until their successors are qualified." §2-6(a) shall read: "If a vacancy shall occur, by failure to elect or otherwise, in the office of councilor during the term for which councilors are elected, no special election shall be held. The City Clerk shall notify the Council forthwith of such vacancy. The Council shall, within fifteen (15) days of such notification, choose as councilor for the vacancy, whichever of the defeated candidates for the office of council at the regular municipal election at which councilors were last elected, who is eligible and willing to serve, and who received the highest number of votes at such election. If the defeated candidate who received the highest number of votes is ineligible or unwilling to serve, the Council shall choose the defeated candidate with the next highest number of votes, as so on, until such vacancy is filled, provided such person remains eligible and willing to serve. If there is a tie in the election the City Clerk shall conduct an automatic recount of the election. If the recount does not break the tie a toss of the coin shall determine the outcome. The Clerk will then list the order of the candidates, If no defeated candidate is eligible and willing to serve, the Council shall by majority vote of the full council select a registered voter of the Town of Agawam to fill such vacancy. §2-6(b) shall be deleted. §3-1(b) shall read: "Term of Office — The term of the office of the mayor shall be four years beginning on the first Monday of January following his or her election until his or her successor is qualified." §4-1(c) shall read. "Election and Term — The teftns of school committeepersons shall be four years beginning the first secular day of January after their election and until their successors are qualified." P-6 shall read: "If a vacancy shall occur, by failure to elect or otherwise, in the office of school committeeperson during the term for which school committeepersons are elected, no special election shall be held. The City Clerk shall notify the School Committee forthwith of such vacancy. The School Committee shall, within fifteen (15) days of such notification, choose as school committeeperson for the vacancy, whichever of the defeated candidates for the office of school committeeperson at the regular municipal election at which school committeepersons Were last elected, who is eligible and willing to serve, and who received the highest number of votes at such election. If the defeated candidate who received the highest number of votes is ineligible or unwilling to serve, the School Committee shall choose the defeated candidate with the next highest number of votes, as so on, until such vacancy is filled, provided such person remains eligible and willing to serve. If there is a tie in the election the City Clerk shall conduct an automatic 2 recount of the election. If the recount does not break the tie a toss of the coin shall determine the outcome. The Clerk will then list the order of the candidates. If no defeated candidate is eligible and willing to serve, the School Committee shall by majority vote of the full committee select a registered voter of the Town of Agawam to fill such vacancy. SECTION 3. The city solicitor shall prepare a fair, concise summary and purpose of the law to appear with the question no later than 60 days before the election in accordance with section 58A of chapter 54 of the General Laws. SECTION 4. This act shall take effect upon its passage. Dated this (Sth day of J U'Ve- , 2012. PER ORDER OF THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL C:5 Christopher C. Johns President TIAN "I CAU I ArR VED LTO FORM AND LEGALITY CUL Win—cent-FGloscia, City Solicitor Law 3 MAYORAL ACTION Received this day of 2012 from Council Clerk. Signed by Council President this 'I 1�AA-N day ofj�A 2012. APPROVAL OF LEGISLATION By the powers vested in me pursuant to Article 3, Section 3-6 of the Ag arter, as ame . TT *d, I herej)y approve the passage of the above legislation on this —day of 201 Richard A. Cohen, Mayor DISAPPROVAL OF LEGISLATION By the powers vested in me pursuant to Article 3, Section 3-6 of the Agawam Charter, as amended, I hereby veto ihe passage of the above legislation on this day of 2012 for the following rea-son(s): Richard A. Cohen, Mayor RETURN OF LEGISLATrON TO COUNCIL CLERK Returned to Council Clerk this day of. �June-/ 2012. FA W AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL 36 MAIN STREET AGAWAM, MASSACHUSETTS 01001 June 25. 2012 Richard Theroux PRESIDENT City Clerk Christopher C Johnson Town of Agawam VICE PRESIDENT 36 Main Street Dennis J Perry Agawam, MA, 0 100 1 COUNCILORS Re: Certification Of vote for TR-2012-34 George Bitzas Cecilia P. Calabrese Paul C. Cavallo James P. Cichetti As Clerk and Administrative Assistant to the Agawam City Council, Gina U. Letellier please consider this ll�tter as certification that at the June 18. 2012' Robert A. Magovern Regular Meeting of the Agawam City Council which was held at tile Joseph Mineo Roberta G. Doering School, 68 Main Street, Agawam, at 7:00pm, the Donald M. Rheault - Robert E. Rossi Agawam City Council voted unan]mously (I I Yes — 0 No) to approve TR-2012-34 which is a Resolution Requesting the Agawam City Council Petition for the Enactment of Special Municipal Legislation Changing the ADMINISTRATIVE Term of Office of the Mayor, City Council and School Committee from ASSISTANT Two Years to Four Years. A draft excerpt of the minutes of that meeting Barbara A Bard is enclosed for your convenience. If you require further information or assistance, please do not hesitate to contact this office. Sincerely, &qwLa— - Barbara A. Bard Administrative Assistant Agawam City Council C:) 1, Richard Theroux, City Clerk f[or,the Tow -of Agawam, hereb;9 c7n; "'c 'Ow -01 Agawam, TELEPHONE attest that the above is t accurate rn 'u (413) 786-0400 Ext. 8716 Ln _3 C FAX 13 T V ux, City C e (413) 726-9717 Ric ar T eroux, City C erk — r--) EMAIL bbard@agawam.ma.us REGULAR MEETING OF THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL Minutes dated June 18, 2012 5. TR-2012-34 - A Resolution Requesting the Agawam City Council Petition for the Enactment of Special Municipal Legislation Changing the Term of Office of the Mayor, City Council and School Committee from Two Vears to Four Years (Community Relations Committee) President Johnson — Is there a Motion? Moved by Councilor Calabrese, seconded by Councilor Cavallo. Is there a report from the Community Relations Committee? Councilor Calabrese — Yes, first of all. I just want to thank George Bitzas, farries Cichetti, Paul Cavallo and Dennis Perry forioining me in sponsoring this Resolution and also Richard Theroux for his assistance in putting this into the proper form. This is a matter that has been talked about several times in the past about extending the term of office and our rationale basically is two-fold. There will be a minor cost savings to the town and I'm always in favor of trying to save the taxpayers some money to the tune of about $10,000.00 but also it will give the elected officials an opportunity to have some breathing room so that you're not always coming off an election or campaigning for re- election. I remember my first term on the City Council, even though you do your home work and you get ready so that you can hit the ground running come .1anuary, there really is a learning curve to serving in public office and then once you get your year under your belt then you have to turn around and run for re-election. This is gonna give everybody an opportunity to really do some long-term planning, some long-term projects that maybe we talked about and just haven't had the opportunity or the cohesiveness of our legislative bodies to get them and the thing that's important to remember is ultimately it will be the voters of Agawam that are gonna have the final say on whether they want their elected officials to serve a two or four year term. So the process, if this is approved tonight, it goes to the general court for their approval and then it will appear on the ballot as a binding question in the next municipal election. I do want to just address something that had come up in our conversations and that was Teresa Kozloski had brought this up tonight and that is the idea of a staggered term. We had considered that, the actual implementation of a staggered term would be somewhat unwieldy and I think that this is a really good first step. So what I would encourage my fellow City Councilors to do is to vote yes on this this evening, let the voters have their say. If they feel that they want their local officials to serve a four year term, so be it and that's all that I have to say. Thank You. PresidentJohnson —Councilor Letellier? Councilor Letellier — Yes, I just wanted Councilor Calabrese to clarify something, So it's gonna go on the Fall 2013 ballot and then if it passes, then whoever is elected in the Fall 201 election would serve all four years, correct? Councilor Calabrese —That's correct. Councilor Letellier— I just want to make sure the public understands that. Okay. President Johnson —Other questions or discussion? Councilor Bitzas? Councilor Bitzas — Yes, as a member of the committee, I co-sponsored the Resolution but for me, I have no strong feelings one way or the other but the people should give the right to say yes or no and I respect that and I'll support the Resolution. Thank you. President Johnson —Other questions or discussion? Councilor Magovern? Councilor Magovern — I feet the same way as Councilor Bitzas. One way or the other, I really don't care but by the same token I think that with the four year term, it does take the politics out of the Council somewhat because you're not always back biting, trying to look forward to that two-year election so h7s up to the citizens of the town to go the way thev want to go. If you feel that It's a good idea that the Council and the Mayor and School Board to serve four years, then go in and vote and supporl it but I really feel that it would eliminate some of the pohtics and it would be a lot smoother to have a four-year term rather than a two-year term so I will also be supporting it this evening. President Johnson —Councilor Rossi? Councilor Rossi — Thank you. Fm in favor of letting this go to the voters although I have some thoughts concemincy the staggered terms. I thought that that probably would be a good idea. I think we would get more people interested and involved in the mayoral race for one but then I have a question. As I read this and I don't know if I read it accurately or not or understood it accurately., once It goes through the voters, can we change that at some point down the road to staggered terms or maybe term limits or . anything like that or do we have to accept it as it Councilor Calabrese — Once this question is passed on the ballot, it all becomes a four- year term. That doesn't tie our hands to do this process again if we do decide that we want to yes, take a look at stagoered three-year term, whatever might be appropriate, We always have the power to go through this process again. Councilor Rossi — Well, I understand that but there's really no point to do that. So the committee just didn't, that's something that we just didn't consider, right? Councilor Bitzas — Point of information, If we decide here that the one reason to support this is to save money to the town, $15,000, with the staggered term we have an election every year so it's defeat the purpose. Councilor Rossi — Well, my question, I thOLI(Yht that maybe the Mayor's race and the Council race could be separate. Now say for example a councilor wants to run for mayor, he loses he seats as he probably wouldn't if they were staggered and that was just a thought. I mean it doesn't matter but it was just a thought. President Johnson — Further discussion? Councilor Cavallo? Councilor Cavallo — Yes, as a member of the same committee, first of all I'd like to thank Richard Theroux if he's still here. He did a wonderful job assisting our committee and working with the state and other officials to draft a Resolution — that's the first point I wanted to make, The second point is that I'm the only on that's sitting up here that's served on both the School Committee and the Council and I can rest assured, I felt the same way in both cases that Councilor Calabrese alluded to. The first year on the School Committee and the first year on the Council, it's a learning process and by the time you get to that second year, you may be right in the middle of a lot of issues, you may be on important committees that are involved in those issues and yet you're taking a back step for a little bit because you are running for office. There's no question about it. I know right now the way that President Johnson has reorganized our committees, we handle many more subjects, areas of our job and we meet quite often to handle these and we've got a lot of things going at one time and they all can't be done — like another project we have going with our committee with the Cecilia Calabrese — it will take us I'm sure another three or four months to resolve before we get a resolution going and if this were the second year of the term and we were acting on it in the second year and we're all up for re-election, think about where we'd be if some of us who are on this committee are not re-clected, it's almost starting the process all over again. Again, I also think it will encourage a lot of people to run for office too. There's no question about it. I think there1l be a lot of contenders. Like the School Committee had six people run and six people were elected. That's unheard of. never happened, if I'm correct Mr. Theroux, in the history of this town. I remember the first time I ran for School Committee —thirteen people ran, thirteen people ran in 2004 1 believe I ran and since then it's Just gone down. I don't know if there's no interest or what the story is but again I support this. The committee has worked hard on it and Councilor Calabrese has done a good Job along with Mr. Theroux's help in putting this thing together so again I applaud you both. Thank you. Prcsident Johnson —Any further discussion? Councilor Rheault? Councilor Rheault — Yea, I've been Sitting Up here longer than not all of you but close to it I guess and I have mixed emotions about going to four years on any part of it however I would never deny the public the opportunity to express their opinion and I will support it for that particular reason. President Johnson — Further discussion? Stepping from the Chair, I share Councilor Rheault's reservations. I'm the only person in Agawam's history that's served on all three Paul —mayor, chair and City Council —and Councilor Cavallo — But I didn't say, I didn't mention that, I lost the other one! (LAUGHTER) President Johnson — I have concerns because when you go to a four-year term, our Charter has no provision for recall and I understand the politics of recall but we have no way to get an elected official out of office short of them committing a felony which under state law we could remove for. Short of that, there's no recall provision in our Charter and never has been. When there's a two-year term, you can live with it for two years; Ws much more difficult with four. I also believe that staggered elections should be looked at because it's not a question of savim, the $10.000 every election cycle; it's the question of the daunting task of potentialiy facing 22 candidates for Council, 12 for School Committee and 2 for Mayor. When you walk into the voting booth, it's awful difficult when there's one forum in the election cycle for Council and School Committee, that's it, where each council candidate gets maybe a minute or two on four or five questions to get their positions across to the general public. If they were staggered and only half the Council were up every two years, you'd have more interest and more ability to ascertain but as with Councilor Rheault, I have my reservations about this but I will give the people the option to vote for it or not at the November 2013 ballot. Further discussion? Seeing none, it requires six votes. Barbara, call the roll please. ROLL CALL— I I YES, 0 NO President Johnson — With a vote of eleven yes, you've approved TR-2012-34. TR-2012-34 A RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL PETITION FOR THE ENACTMENT OF SPECIAL MUNICIPAL LEGISLATION CHANGING THE TERM OF OFFICE OF THE MAYOR, CITY COUNCIL AND SCHOOL COMMITTEE FROM TWO YEARS TO FOUR YEARS (Sponsored by The Community Relations Committee Members: Councilors Cecilia Calabrese, George Bitzas, James Cichetti, Paul Cavallo, Dennis Perry) WHEREAS, Massachusetts state law provides for cities and towns to make changes in the organizational structure of local government by petitioning for enactment of special municipal legislation; and WHEREAS, the ability to petition for special municipal legislation remains available and has been used to change the form of local government in approximately 35 communities; and WHEREAS, the special municipal legislation would be subject to voter ratification at the next regular city election after approval by the Commonwealth; and WHEREAS, section eight of the Home Rule Amendment allows communities to petition the state legislature, to revise their charter, following approval by the communities legislative body; and WHEREAS, said legislation would revise the charter by increasing the term of office for the Mayor, City Council and School Committee from two years to four years. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED AND ENACTED BY THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL to petition the General Court to the end that legislation be adopted precisely as follows. The General Court may make clerical or editorial changes of form only to the bill, unless the Agawam City Council approves amendments to the bill before enactment by the General Court. The City Council hereby authorizes the Mayor to approve amendments which shall be within the scope of the general public objectives of this petition: AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE OF THE CITY KNOWN AS THE TOWN OF AGAWAM Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority qf the same asfollows: SECTION 1. Notwithstanding chapters 43 and 43B of the General Laws or any other general or special law to the contrary, the charter of the Town of Agawam shall hereby be amended to establish four year terms for the mayor, city councilors and school committee members. SECTION2. Section 2-1(c) of said charter shall be amended by deleting the word "two" and inserting in place thereof the following:- four. SECTION 3. Section 2-6(a) of said charter shall be amended by re-numbering said section as Section 2-6, and further, by deleting the first sentence and inserting in place thereof the following:- If a vacancy shall occur, by failure to elect or otherwise, in the office of councilor during the term for which councilors are elected.. no special election shall be held, SECTION 4. Section 2-6(b) of said charter shall be deleted in its entirety. SECTION 5. Section 3-1(b) of said charter shall be amended by deleting the word "two" and inserting in place thereof the following:- four. SECTION 6. Section 3-8(a) of said charter shall be amended by deleting the word "fifteen" and inserting in place thereof the following:- thirty-nine, SECTION 7. Section 4-1(c) of said charter shall be amended by deleting the word "two" and inserting in place thereof the following:- four. SECTION 8. Section 4-6 of said charter shall be deleted in its entirety and inserting in place thereof the following:- If a vacancy shall occur, by failure to elect or otherwise. in the office of school committeeperson during the term for which school committeepersons are elected, no special election shall be held. The City Clerk shall notify the school committee forthwith of such vacancy. The school committee shall, within fifteen (15) days of such notification, choose as school committeeperson for the vacancy, whichever of the defeated candidates for the office of school committeeperson at the regular municipal election at which school committeepersons were last elected, who is eligible and willing to serve, and who received the highest number of votes at such election. If the defeated candidate who received the highest number of votes is ineligible or unwilling to serve, the school committee shall choose the defeated candidate with the next highest number of votes, as so on, until such vacancy is filled, provided such person remains eligible and willing to serve. If there is a tie in the election the City Clerk shall conduct an automatic recount of the election. If the recount does not break the tie a toss of the coin shall determine the outcome. The Clerk will then list the order of the candidates. If no defeated candidate is eligible and willing to serve, the school committee shall by majority vote of the full committee select a registered voter of the-Town of Agawam to fill such vacancy, SECTION 9. This act shall be submitted for acceptance to the qualified voters of the town of Agawam at the 2013 regular election in the form of the following question: "Shall an act passed by the General Court in the year 2013, entitled 'An Act Relative to the Leadership and Governance of the city known as the Town of Agawam' be accepted?" Below the question shall appear a fair and concise summary of the proposed charter amendments prepared by the city solicitor. If a majority of votes cast in answer to this question is in the affirmative, sections I through 8 shall be applicable in the town of Agawam and the charter shall be amended as set forth herein, but not otherwise. Further, if a majority of votes cast in answer to this question are in the affirmative, persons elected to the positions of mayor, town councilor, and school committeeperson at said 2013 regular election shall be deemed to have been elected for the four- year terms authorized herein notwithstanding that said offices appeared on the ballot for two- year terms. SECTION 10. The city solicitor shall prepare the summary required under section 7 not later than sixty (60) days before the election under section 58A of chapter 54 of the General Laws, SECTION 11. This act shall take effect upon passage. Dated this (V� day of JUq4P- _, 2012. PER ORDER OF THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL Christo�—her C. Johnt President RO D TO FORM AND LEGALITY Citv S( ;in nt F. Gioscia. City Solicitor M,AYOR,A,\L ACTION Received this day of lknt--*�' 2012 from Council Clerk. Signed by Council President this *1 (�4\ — day of 2012. APPROVAL OF LEGISLATION By the powers vested in me pursuant to Article 3, Section 3-6 of the Agaivaff arter, as amejuW, I hereiby approve the passage of the above legislation on this I day of 2011, Richard A. Cohen, Mayor DISAPPROVAL OF LEGISLATION By the powers vested in me pursuant to Article 3, Section 3-6 of the Agawam Charter, as amended, I hereby veto the passage of the above legislation on this_day of 2012 for the following reason(s): Richard A. Cohen, Mayor RETURN OF LEGISLATION TO COUNCIL CLERK Returned to Council Clerk this day of 2012, F AG. Town of Agawam Law Department 4 June 2012 MEMORAbUM TO: Cecilia Calabrese George Bitzas James Cichetti Paul Cavallo Dennis Perry FROM: Law Department SUBJECT: 4-Year Term Resolution Questions Attached are the answers to the Commiftee's questions, a fresh copy of the Resolution and a copy of an email from Michelle Tassinari from the Commonwealth's Election Division. f--j C- F AG Town of Agawam Law Department Memorandum To: Community Relations Committee From: Law Department Date: 4 June 2012 Re- 4-Year Term Questions You asked about the procedure for filling a vacancy in the Office of the Mayor, the year in which the legislation will become effective and whether City Council members could be removed while serving out their term? If there is a vacancy in the Office of the Mayor §§ 3-7 and 3-8 of the Charter apply: Section 3-7. Temporary Absence of the Mayo (a) Acting Mayor Whenever, by reason of sickness, absence from the town of Editor',V Note: So in originaL ProbabIly should read"or."other cause,the mayor shall be unable to perform the duties of his office for a period of three successive working days or more, the president of the town council shall be the acting mayor. In the event of the absence or disability of the president of the town council the vice-. president shall serve. (b) Powers of Acting Mayor--The acting mayor shall have all of the powers of the mayor except that he shall not make any permanent appointment or removal to or from any office unless the disability of the mayor shall have continued for more than sixty days, nor shall be approve or disapprove of any measure passed by the town council unless the time within which the mayor must act would expire before the return of the mayor. During any period in which the town council president, or vice- president, is serving as acting mayor he shall not vote as a member of the town council. Section 3-8. Vacancy In Office of Mayo (a) Special Election-- If a vacancy in the office of mayor occur in the first fifteen months of the term for which the mayor is elected whether by reason of death, resignation, removal from office, incapacity or otherwise the town council shall forthwith order a special election to be held within ninety-days following the date the vacancy is created to fi H such vacancy for the balance of the then expired term. (b) Council Election-- If a vacancy in the off ice of mayor occur in the last nine months of the term for which the mayor is elected whether by reason of death, resignation, removal from office, or otherwise, the president of the town council shall become the mayor. Upon-the qualification of the president of the town council as the mayor under this section, a vacancy shall exist in his seat on the town council which shall be filled in the manner provided in Section 2-6. (c) Powers,Term of Office-- The mayor elected under section 2-9(a)or(b) shall have all the powers of the mayor. He shall serve for the balance of the term unexpired at the time of his election to the office. The choice on when the legislation will become effective is left up to the Town's officials, as written the term extensions will become effective when passed by the voters. If passed by the voters in the regular municipal election in 2013, the term extensions will become effective for the elected officials voted in during the 2013 election. Their terms will begin on January 1, 2014 and continue until their successors take office in 2018. The Town of Agawam does not have a procedure for removing Councilors while they serve out their term, should members cause disruptions during meetings, Robert's Rules of Order may be used for discipline. Specifically chapter 20 tilted Disciplinary Procedures provides an exhaustive guide on the proper way to deal with disruptive members (and non-members), Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, 7th ed. (Scott, Foresman and Co., 1970). The severity of the disruption shall determine the proportionality of the penalty; a member should not be censured for merely speaking out of turn unless his or her disregard for civility becomes habitual. A penalty should not be imposed until the member is first called to order and named; this responsibility lies solely with the chair. After a calling to order and naming, should the member continue to be disruptive, another member may rise and make a motion to propose a penalty. Censuring a member requires a motion, a second and a majority vote. The purpose of the censure is to reprimand the member in the hope of refonning his or her behavior. A member can also be censured without a naming if the members bad behavior, outside the meeting, is known by another member and brought to the attention of the assembly where a motion is made along with a second and then a vote to censure may be taken. Bad behavior outside a meeting should be that tending to injure the good name of the organization of which the individual is a member. A copy of Roberts Rules of Order Newly Revised may be consulted for further discussion and implementation of proper parliamentary disciplinary procedures and other rules of order. 2 TR-2012-34 A RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL PETITION FOR THE ENACTMENT OF SPECIAL MUNICIPAL LEGISLATION CHANGING THE TERM OF OFFICE OF THE MAYOR, CITY COUNCIL AND SCHOOL COMMITTEE FROM TWO YEARS TO FOUR YEARS (Sponsored by The Community Relations Committee Members: Councilors Cecilia P. Calabrese, George Bitzas,James Cichetti, Paul Cavallo, Dennis Perry) WHEREAS, Massachusetts state law provides for cities and towns to make changes in the organizational structure of local government by petitioning for enactment of special municipal legislation; and WHEREAS, the ability to petition for special municipal legislation remains available and has been used to change the form of local government in approximately 35 communities; and WHEREAS, the special municipal legislation would be subject to voter ratification at the next regular city election after approval by the Commonwealth; and WHEREAS, section eight of the Home Rule Amendment allows communities to petition the state legislature, to revise their charter, following approval by the communities legislative body; and WHEREAS, said legislation would revise the charter by increasing the term of office for the Mayor, City Council and School Committee from two years to four years. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED AND ENACTED BY THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL to petition the General Court to the end that legislation be adopted precisely as follows. The General Court may make clerical or editorial changes of forrn only to the bill, unless the Agawam City Council approves amendments to the bill before enactment by the General Court, The City Council hereby authorizes the Mayor to approve amendments which shall be within the scope of the general public objectives of this petition: AN ACT FURTHER PROVIDING FOR THE LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE OF THE TOWN OF AGAWAM Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same as follows: SECTION 1. Notwithstanding chapter 43 of the General Laws or any other general or special law to the contrary, the town board of registrars shall place upon the ballot for the regular town election in 2013 in the town of Agawam the following question: "Shall the of office of the mayor, city council and school committee of the town of Agawam be four(4) year terms effective upon passage in the 2013 municipal election?" If a majority of the votes cast in answer to said question are in the affirmative, the term of office of the mayor, city council and school committee of the town of Agawam shall be 4 years and shall continue until the election and qualification of their successor, beginning with the 2013 regular town election. SECTION 2. If a majority of the votes cast in answer to the question in Section I are in the affirmative, the following changes shall be made to the Charter: §2-1(c) shall read: "Election and Term — The terms of councilors shall be four years beginning on the first secular day of January after their election, and until their successors are qualified." §2-6(a) shall read: "If a vacancy shall occur, by failure to elect or otherwise, in the office of councilor during the term for which councilors are elected, no special election shall be held. The City Clerk shall notify the Council forthwith of such vacancy. The Council shall, within fifteen (15) days of such notification, choose as councilor for the vacancy, whichever of the defeated candidates for the office of council at the regular municipal election at which councilors were last elected, who is eligible and willing to serve, and who received the highest number of votes at such election. If the defeated candidate who received the highest number of votes is ineligible or unwilling to serve, the Council shall choose the defeated candidate with the next highest number of votes, as so on, until such vacancy is filled, provided such person remains eligible and willing to serve. If there is a tie in the election the City Clerk shall conduct an automatic recount of the election. If the recount does not break the tie a toss of the coin shall determine the outcome. The Clerk will then list the order of the candidates. If no defeated candidate is eligible and willing to serve, the Council shall by majority vote of the full council select a registered voter of the Town of Agawam to fill such vacancy." §2-6(b) shall be deleted. §3-1(b) shall read: "Term of Office — The term of the office of the mayor shall be four years beginning on the first Monday of January following his or her election until his or her successor is qualified." §4-1(c) shall read: "Election and Term — The terms of school committeepersons shall be four years beginning the first secular day of January after their election and until their successors are qualified." P-6 shall read: "If a vacancy shall occur, by failure to elect or otherwise, in the office of school committeeperson during the term for which school committeepersons are elected, no special election shall be held. The City Clerk shall notify the School Committee forthwith of such vacancy. The School Committee shall, within fifteen (15) days of such notification, choose as school committeeperson for the vacancy, whichever of the defeated candidates for the office of school committeeperson at the regular municipal election at which school committeepersons were last elected, who is eligible and willing to serve, and who received the highest number of votes at such election. If the defeated candidate who received the highest number of votes is ineligible or unwilling to serve, the School Committee shall choose the defeated candidate with the next highest number of votes, as so on, until such vacancy is filled, provided such person remains eligible and willing to serve. If there is a tie in the election the City Clerk shall conduct an automatic 2 recount of the election. If the recount does not break the tie a toss of the coin shall determine the outcome. The Clerk will then list the order of the candidates. If no defeated candidate is eligible and willing to serve, the School Committee shall by majority vote of the full committee select a registered voter of the Town of Agawam to fill such vacancy." SECTION 3. The city solicitor shall prepare a fair, concise summary and purpose of the law to appear with the question no later than 60 days before the election in accordance with section 58A of chapter 54 of the General Laws. SECTION 4. This act shall take effect upon its passage. Dated this day of 2012. PER ORDER OF THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL Christopher C. Johnson, President APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY Vincent F. Gioscia, City Solicitor 3 Page I of* I William Reichelt From: Tassinari, Michelle (SEC) [michelle-tassinari@state.ma,us] Sent: Friday, June 01, 2012 4:19 PM To: William Reichelt Subject: RE: Agawam's Four Year Terms Will- That's a question for the Council as to what their intent is. It should be clearly stated in the legislation itself. Michelle From: William Reichelt [mailto:WReichelt@agawam.ma.us] Sent: Friday, June 01, 2012 3:51 PM To., Tassinari, Michelle (SEC) Subject: Agawam's Four Year Terms Good Afternoon Michelle, This past Wednesday a City Council sub-committee approved the resolution, forwarding it to the full Council for debate, but they had a question. Should the question appear on the 2013 ballot and be voted for in the affirmative, the elected officials in 2013 would all have four year terms? It was my understanding that they would but I would like your experienced opinion to provide the Council with an authoritative answer. Thanks, Will William Reichelt Law Clerk Law Department Town of Agawam 36 Main Street Agawam, MA 01001 (413) 786-0400 x8726 ConRcientla1hy StatannLrit This Town of Agawam ulecironic rnes�,age alona ivith any corre,-;pijndin(j;�ttnt!rlieiits may conto;[i viivkged or callfidential infolmatiol; This informavon is fof me ose of ilic intended reupiont(!�)unly.Any disdosurc,c,,,,pyini;.rf,sifibUtiOn.nr use oflht;cvnilrils o:tbis rnt-.,�,tiaqu-in aq rnanner isstrictly proldbited by anyone o1her 1�:,qn the intt�nded mclpien�(S).ff you havu received Ilils eiriai�in e:ror,iloifty thesender irnmedialeiy by email And delL,,te ail copies frain yow nr-t%v?)Tk 6/4/2012. TR-2012-34 A RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL PETITION FOR THE ENACTMENT OF SPECIAL MUNICIPAL LEGISLATION CHANGING THE TERM OF OFFICE OF THE MAYOR, CITY COUNCIL AND SCHOOL COMMITTEE FROM TWO YEARS TO FOUR YEARS (Sponsored by The Community Relations Committee Members: Councilors Cecilia P. Calabrese, George Bitzas, James Cichetti, Paul Cavallo, Dennis Perry) WHEREAS, Massachusetts state law provides for cities and towns to make changes in the organizational structure of local government by petitioning for enactment of special municipal legislation; and WHEREAS, the ability to petition for special municipal lcgislation remains available and has been used to change the form of local government in approximately 35 communities; and WHEREAS, the special municipal legislation would be subject to voter ratification at the next regular city election after approval by the Commonwealth; and WHEREAS, section eight of the Home Rule Amendment allows communities to petition the state legislature, to revise their charter, following approval by the communities legislative body; and WHEREAS, said legislation would revise the charter by increasing the term of office for the Mayor, City Council and School Committee from two years to four years, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED AND ENACTED BY THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL to petition the General Court to the end that legislation be adopted precisely as follows. The General Court may make clerical or editorial changes of form only to the bill, unless the Agawam City Council approves amendments to the bill before enactment by the General Court. The City Council hereby authorizes the Mayor to approve amendments which shall be within the scope of,the general public objectives of this petition: C= C) AN ACT FURTHER PROVIDING FOR THE LEADERS141P Al 'm GOVERNANCE OF THE TOWN OF AGAWAM QF )> ::E C--) Be it enacted by the Senate and I-louse of Representatives in General Court assemble7, ;I and by the authority of the same asfollows: =:X Cn n -n SECTION 1. Notwithstanding chapter 43 of the General Laws or any other general 64 M special law to the contrary, the town board of registrars shall place upon the ballot for tre regular town election in 2013 in the town of Agawam the following question: "Shall the term of office of the mayor, city council and school committee of the town of Agawam be 4 years?" If a majority of the votes cast in answer to said question are in the affirmative, the term of office of the mavor. city council and school committee of the town of Agawam shall be 4 years and shall �oniinue until the election and qualification of their successor, beginning with the 2013 regular town election. SECTION 2. If a majority of the votes cast in answer to the question in Section I are in the affirmative, the following changes shall be made to the Charter: §2-1(c) shall read: "Election and Term — The terms of councilors shall be four years beginning on the first secular day of January after their election, and until their successors are qualified." §2-6(a) shall read. "If a vacancy shall occur, by failure to elect or otherwise, in the office of councilor during the term for which c6uncilors are elected, no special election shall be held. The City Clerk shall notify the Council forthwith of such vacancy. The Council shall, within fifteen (15) days of such notification, choose as councilor for the vacancy, whichever of the defeated candidates for the office of council at the regular municipal election at which councilors were last elected, who is eligible and willing to serve, and who received the highest number of votes at such election, If the defeated candidate who received the highest number of votes is ineligible or unwilling to serve, the Council shall choose the defeated candidate with the next highest number of votes, as so on, until such vacancy is filled, provided such person remains eligible and willing to serve. If there is a tie in the election the City Clerk shall conduct an automatic recount of the election. If the recount does not break the tie a toss of the coin shall determine the outcome. The Clerk will then list the order of the candidates. If no defeated candidate is eligible and willing to serve, the Council shall by majority vote of the ftill council select a registered voter of the Town of Agawam to fill such vacancy. §2-6(b) shall be deleted. §3-1(b) shall read: "Term of Office — The term of the office of the mayor shall be four years beginning on the first Monday of January following his or her election until his of her successor is qualified." §4-1(c) shall read: "Election and Term — The terms of school committeepersons shall be four years beginning the first secular day of January after their election and until their successors are qualified." §4-6 shall read: "If a vacancy shall occur, by failure to elect or otherwise, in the office of school committeeperson during the ten-n for which school committeepersons are elected, no special election shall be held. The City Clerk shall notify the School Committee forthwith of such vacancy, The School Committee shall, within fifteen (15) days of such notification, choose as school committeepeTson for the vacancy, whichever of the defeated candidates for the office of school committeeperson at the regular municipal election at which school committeepersons were last elected, who is eligible and willing to serve, and who received the highest number of votes at such election. If the defeated candidate who received the highest number of votes is ineligible or unwilling to serve, the School Committee shall choose the defeated candidate with the next highest number of votes, as so on, until such vacancy is filled, provided such person remains eligible and willing to serve. If there is a tie in the election the City Clerk shall conduct an automatic 2 recount of the election. If the recount does not break the tie a toss of the coin shall determine the outcome. The Clerk will then list the order of the candidates. If no defeated candidate is eligible and willing to serve, the School Committee shall by majority vote of the full committee select a registered voter of the Town of Agawam to fill such vacancy. SECTION 3. The city solicitor shall prepare a fair, concise summary and purpose of the law to appear with the question no later than 60 days before the election in accordance with section 58A of chapter 54 of the General Laws. SECTION 4. This act shall take effect upon its passage. Dated this day of 2012. PER ORDER OF THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL Christopher C. Johnson, President ArjR ED TO FORM AND LEGALITY Vincent'F'Gloscia, City Solicitor 3