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
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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
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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.