MERRIMACK CHARTER
COMMISSION
REGULAR MEETING
January 31, 2006
Commission
members present: Chairman Tom
Mahon, Vice Chairman Heather Anderson, Secretary Fran L’Heureux, Robert Kelley,
Tim Tenhave, Peter Batula, David Yakuboff, Finlay Rothhaus (arrived at 7:25
PM), and Lon Woods.
Chairman
Mahon convened the meeting of the Charter Commission at 7:10 pm in the Conference
Room of the Town Hall.
Announcements
Chairman Mahon noted that material regarding the final report is
available on the Charter Commission’s website. The Charter is available in its entirety, as well as broken
into each article. A comparison of
current form to Charter form is included with links to the appropriate sections
of the Charter for easy reference.
There was no public comment at this time.
Vice
Chair – Vice Chair
Anderson noted she is working with Brian McCarthy to put everything on the
Commission’s website. A binder is
being created to go to the Board of Selectmen. She noted that she also spent time with some of the Frequently
Asked Questions and other issues to be presented to the public.
Heather
Anderson noted she is in the process of creating a chart containing our 5 key
messages and several bullets of supporting statements for each key message. The information in this chart will be
used for meetings with community organizations and a video for government
television.
Tom Mahon
noted that the agenda for this meeting has been set. The discussion with the Board will probably begin about 7:30
PM. He noted he will keep his
remarks brief and to the point. He
will respond to any questions by the Board. The meeting will be held in the Court House.
David
Yakuboff noted he is still awaiting final confirmation of a date to meet with
the Senior Citizens.
Fran
L’Heureux noted she is still awaiting a final confirmation of a date to meet
with the Lions Club.
Heather
Anderson noted that a page on the website will note dates/times of speaking
engagements. She asked if anyone
would be willing to pull the “coffee chats” together. This would involve informal chats at local coffee
shops. Mrs. L’Heureux volunteered
for this work. (Finlay Rothhaus
arrived at this time.)
Some
possible FAQs were presented. It was
noted that these are questions that will be asked of the Charter
Commission. There was some concern
expressed over question #19 which deals with the things that are “broken” with
the current form of government.
Some members of the Commission felt that it is the responsibility of the
Commission to inform the voters of how the proposed Charter will be different
from the current form and not to dictate what is “broken” with the current
form. Robert Kelley noted that
this question could be turned around to tell the public what is better with the
proposed Charter. Tom Mahon noted
that members should turn in their answers and the Commission will decide later
what to do with this question.
January
5, 2006 – A motion
was made by Lon Woods and seconded by Robert Kelley to accept the minutes of
January 5, 2006 as printed. The
motion passed 7-0-2.
January
10, 2006 – A motion
was made by Fran L’Heureux and seconded by Heather Anderson to accept the
minutes of January 10, 2006 as printed.
The motion passed 9-0-0.
January
17, 2006 – A motion
was made by Robert Kelley and seconded by Heather Anderson to accept the
minutes of January 17, 2006 as printed.
The motion passed 9-0-0.
There
were no questions from the press at this time.
There
were no comments from the public at this time.
Lon Woods noted a
“Thank You” to all of the Commissioners, especially Tom Mahon, Heather
Anderson, and Fran L’Heureux. He
noted that the work on this Commission has been interesting due to the task and
the members of the Commission.
Adjournment
A
motion was made by Fran L’Heureux and seconded by Lon Woods to adjourn the
meeting at 7:55 PM. The motion
passed unanimously.
Respectfully
submitted,
Rita
Carlton, Recording Secretary