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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1994-07-25 94-344 ORDER94-344 COUNCIL ACTION Item No. Date July 25, 1994 Item/Subject: Proposing Amendment to Bangor City Charter, Article II -A, Superintending School Committee -- Term Limitation for Committee Members Responsible Department: Legal The attached Order, if adopted, would result in submission of a Charter amendment to the voters of the City of Bangor at the next regular municipal election to be held on November e, 1994. The Charter Amendment would limit members of the Superintending School Committee to two consecutive three-year terms. Pursuant to 30-A MRSA 9 2104(1), a public hearing must be conducted on the attached Order no mv e than seven (J) days prior to final action by the City Council. In order to be placed on the ballot for the next municipal election, the attached Order must receive final approval by the City Council no later than 30 days prior to the election date, i.e., by Friday, October ], 1994. An earlier date may be necessary,to permit printing of the local ballot. Finance Director Legal Approval: M SyzJ�`A ,,��{{ 7His i% /^` �p �RoI�L'ina/j{r q�ihlne�+I'y^� ,— ,p✓ C't , tax Minkel ✓noC(/ ✓Ulc/ /3JSMlSS_ iredarea For Passage First Reading Referral dun0��y����^�O�(�i0 e9 Page 1 of 3 94-344 Anipmd to Camekr Popper July 25, 1994 CITY OF BANGOR (TITLE) 19YClierr, __. Proposing . Amendment to Bangor City _Charter,_ . Article II -A, Superintending School Committee -- Term Limitation BY Us City CowuB of de Ct of Ammer. ORDERED, TUT WHEREAS, the Bangor City Charter currently permits members of the Superintending School Committee to serve as often a elected for an unlimited number of consecutive terms; and WHEREAS, it is in the interests of the citizens of Bangor that the service of members of the Superintending School Committee be limited in the s currently provided for members of the Bangor City Council NOW, THEREFORE, By the City Council of the City of Bangor, be it ORDERED, THAT the following amendment to Article II -A of the Bangor City Charter be placed on the ballot of the next regular municipal election, to be held on November 8, 1994, for approval by the qualified voters of the City of Bangor in accordance with Title 30-A M.R.S.A. Sections 2104(1) and 2105: ARTICLE II -A SUPERINTENDING SCHOOL COMMITTEE **Sec. 2. Composition, Election, Tenure of Office. The Super- intending School Committee shall consist of ) members to be elected, at large, by popular vote from among the qualified voters of the City of Bangor. Those members of the committee holding office at the time this a endment takes effect shall serve until their terms expire and their successors are duly elected and qualified. The remaining 2 positions shall be filled at a special election to be held not more than 90 days, after the effective date of this amendment. The candidate accruing the largest total of votes at the municipal election shall be elected to serve until the 94-344 IN CITY COUNCIL I5 O R D E R July 25, 1994 1 Tabled Vote: 6 yes, 3 No l Title, Voting Yes: Baldaccf, Blanchette,, SOM1en, Poppe[, Shubert Tyler, ppo asin See.... [s Ban '. Voting No: Soucy, scone, Sullivan ...Q.... $........... to B &PF. Cit Chfrter. 1, Article II-A, Superintending School Committee - A Term Limitation for Committee Members. IN CITY COUNCIL , ULA'" '^ August 8, 1994 Aemgnea Charles Curran of Pine Stxee[,spoke regarding Public Hearings for School Committee 6 Council Members term Limits and regarding possible conflicts - Councilman of interest. Phyllis Shubert of Summit Avenue 5 Martha Newman of Royal Road spoke against term limits for School Committee and in favor of indefinitely postponing C.O. 94-344. Suspension of rules was passed allowing Council Orders 94-3448 94-361, 94-362 6 94-363 to be discussed together. C.O. 94-362 read first, - 94-344 read second, 94-361 read third S 94-363 read - fourth. C.O. 94-344 Indefinitely Postponed Vote: 5 yes, 3 No, I Absent Councilors voting yes: Cohen,Soucy,Stone, - Sullivan d Tyler. j Councilors voting no: Baldaccl, Noppe[ 6 Shubert Councilor absent: B ncM1eC[e - �% CLNxO 94-344 first Monday in November, 1984, and the candidate receiving the ext to the largest total number of votes shall be elected to serve until the first Monday in Novembex, 1983. Thereafter, at each regular municipal election the qualified voters of the City shall ballot for candidates for office on the committee whose terms expire that year. All members of the Superintending School Committee shall serve for terms of 3 years and until their successorsare duly elected and qualified. Sec. 2.1. Term Limitation No Person my serve as a member Of the SUPerintendina School Committee for more than two (2) complete Consecutive terms. Provided that any Person holding office a member of the Committee at the time this amendment takes effect, if otherwise qualified, may complete the most recent term to which that aerson was elected, notwithstanding the limitations of this subsection. and be it further ORDERED, THAT pursuant to 30-A M.R.S.A. 5 2104(6) and 2105(2), the form of the question to be submitted to the voters shall be as follows - QUESTION (CITY CHARTER AMENDMENT) "Shall the proposed City Charter Amendment summarized below be approved and adopted by the City of Bangor?" Tummy: The proposed amendment to Article II -A, Section 2 of the City Charter would provide that members of the Superintending School Committee may serve nomore than two (2) consecutive three year terms. School Committee members holding office on the effective date of the Charter amendment would be 'permitted to serve out the most recent term for which elected. School Committee members would still be permitted to serve for any number of non-consecutive terms.^ The City Clerk is hereby directed to take all necessary action consistent with this Order. (STATEMENT OF FACT: Additions to the existing Charter provisions are underlined. The intent of this amendment is to limit members of the Superintending School Committee to two (2) consecutive terms in office.) -2- (2) Several Councilors may also recall that in 1976, Bob Miller gave his opinion that the two-termlimit adopted for City Council members would not bar Council members sitting at the time of adoption from serving an additional two terms on the Council following the effective date of the Charter amendment. That opinion was based on a Charter amendment that was silent as to its effect on sitting Council members. . In drafting the attached items, I have 'included language in C.O. 94-344, inCouncilor Cohen's "four term" revision, and in Councilor Cohen's proposed "four tern" limit for City Council members, that would address the effect of the amendments concerned sitting School Committee or City Council members. All three items would allow those sitting or elected on the effective date of the Charter amendment to serve our their current term, regardless Of term limits. In my opinion, this language speaks directly to the issue of retroactivity and would be given effect by the courts as drafted. (3) Title 30-A MRSA 4 2104, governing the Charter amendment process, requires that each proposed Charter amendment be limited to a single subject, and prohibits alternative statements of a single amendment. C.O. 94-344 and Councilor Cohen's "four -term revision of C.O. 94-344 arguably a not "alternative statements of asingle amendment", because they would effect different substantive changes to Article II -A, Section 2 of the Charter. However, to avoid voter confusion and to prevent any possible legal challenge, it would be preferable for the Council to adopt a side version of any proposed Charter amendment for submission to the voters in November. The same comnts would apply to the two draft items relating to City Council term limits. tc Attachments pc: Edward A. Barrett, City Manager Russell J. MCXenna, City Clerk Bruce N. Shibles, Asst. City Solicitor 11.3,q rix (rl�iira� July 28, 1994 T0: Bangor City Council FROM: Erik Stumpfel, City Solicitor RE: Term Limits In preparation for next week's workshop on Council and School Committee term limits, attached to this Memo please find copies of four draft proposed City Charter amendments, as follows: -- Council Order 94-344, as presented and tabled at the Council's meeting on Monday, July 25th; -- An amended version of C.O. 94-344, as circulated by Councilor Cohen on the 25th; -- A draft Charter amendment eliminating the existing two -term limit for City Council members; and -- A draft Charter amendment replacing the existing two -term limit for City Council members with a four -term (nonconsecutive) limit. i will express no opinion on the merits of any of these proposals. Procedurally, however, the following comments are warranted: (1) Several Councilors may recall that in September 1989, former City Solicitor Bob Miller gave his written opinion that term limits could be imposed on School Committee members as part of a Charter revision, but not by regular Charter amendment. The Charter revision process is more complicated than the Charter amendment process, requiring the creation of a Charter Commission for that purpose. Bob Miller's 1989 opinion was based on a rather close - reading of Title 20-A MRSA 5 2301, pertaining to municipal school committees, which had been construed by the Maine Law Court to preclude municipal legislation in certain areas relating to education, except as provided in the statute. Since Bob Miller's 1989 opinion, the Legislature has revised Maine's home rule statute, 30-A MRSA 5 3001, in a way that has generally expanded municipal legislative authority. Based on those revisions the Maine Law Court, in School Committee v. Town of York, 626 A.2d 935 (Me. 1993), partially reversed several 0f its earlier decisions to rule that Title 20-A does not generally preempt municipal legislative authority. Based on the School Committee v. Town of York decision, it is my opinion that term limits maw be imposed on Bangor School committee members by regular Charter amendment.