Review to the City Charter
On April 15th, when this edition hits the streets, the Lawrence City Council is meeting to discuss proposed changes to the City Charter. This is a process that should take place every ten years and it was due since 2010, which means that they are four years late.
Last week, we published the Notice of Public Audience in order to take testimonies and opinions from the residents. Most people don’t attend or watch the council meetings and are not aware of most of the decisions they make. Charter changes are vital because they will affect us all and we should have a voice in the matter; but it is a long list of changes and I don’t believe people have had time to study them. I certainly haven’t!
One item deals with electing the City Councilors to three-year terms and stagger them so that not all of them will be going for reelection at the same time. They are also considering the creation of a process for recalling the members of the City Council if the new policy is adopted.
One idea that I am happy to see added is giving the mayor 60 days to appoint members to city boards and commissions from the date an opening occurs. Failing to do so the City Council Personnel subcommittee could take applications from interested individuals and appoint members to the openings. Traditionally, this has been a huge problem with many boards and commissions unable to meet and function due to the lack of quorum for not having the appropriate number of members.
There are plans to make changes in the makeup of the School Committee also. If the council goes to three-year terms, do the same with the School Committee and possibly adopt a recall option for them.
The change that troubles me the most is the prohibition of city employees from holding elective office. Currently, the City Charter states that no city employee could hold another paid position in the city. Members of the School Committee could also be city employees because they are volunteers. That doesn’t apply to members of the City Council because they get a small stipend for their duties.
There have been councilors serving on boards or commissions without getting any stipend so the only stipulation was whether or not they were getting paid.
Now, the proposal is to prohibit city employees from serving on compensated or uncompensated offices.
The reason for my concern is that Massachusetts law encourages municipal employees to get involved and participate in all forms of government. I looked into that when Frank Bonet was forced to give up his seat on the School Committee because he was director of the personnel department for the city. He had every right to run for office, be elected and hold that position.
We then saw the same argument when Jose Alfonso Garcia was nominated for the Licensing Commission. The excuse was that he works for the public schools and he presented evidence to the council that the state supports that idea to no avail.
A surprising item on the agenda for the City Charter is increasing the time allotted for the return of signed petitions in the event of a recall. At present, they are required to return them and file with the city clerk within 30 days following the date the petitions were issued. That will be increasing to 60 days giving residents more time to gather signatures.
Nobody knows which way this will go on Tuesday night. I only hope that it becomes so tedious that nothing gets accomplished because this will give more residents the opportunity to read up, study and express their opinions in future meetings. We should not be forced to accept something we have not reviewed properly – and that goes for some of the councilors.
Planning Director’s job
Let me state that I am embarrassed for the way Theresa Park has been welcomed to this city. Ms. Park is someone that should make us proud that she chose to come here and instead, is involved in controversy and antagonism just because of the way the mayor handled her appointment. There are procedures to follow without stepping on anyone’s toes and he is acting totally on his own.
Treasurer’s position
Just like the Planning Director’s job, the mayor selected John Pica for the opening of Treasurer a few weeks ago and it is open again. The reason is because he was moved to the office of Comptroller. He was hired without doing due diligence and it backfired.
While all eyes are set on whether John Isensee will be appointed permanently as DPW Director, all of this is going on in the background and nobody talks about it.