PORT HURON CITY CHARTER COMMISSION HOLDS FIRST MEETING

The Port Huron City Charter Commission held it's first meeting tonight, March 10, 2009. This is a very important time in the city of Port Huron because the Charter is the constitution of this city and sets the guidelines on how the city will be governed. Over the years, some very controversial issues have arisen because of the wording of this charter. It is the intent of the new Commission to work on making this document clean and easy to understand.

The Community News will be attending these meetings and provide detailed notes as to what went on at these meetings. It is our hope that people will read these and learn about how the process work and maybe inspire those who read this to attend some of these meetings and make their feelings known.

The meeting started at 7:00 p.m. in the Municipal Office Center, Room 408. The Municipal Office Center is located at 100 McMorran Blvd.

In attendance were Sue Child (city clerk) and John Livesay (city attorney). The role call was taken of the new Commission. Karen Jamison, Melinda K. Johnson, B. Mark Neal, Patrick D. Parcell, Pauline M. Repp, Laurie Sample-Wynn, Gregory T. Stremers, Karl S. Tomion and Jeff Wine were all in attendance.

Mayor Brian Moeller was in attendance for the first few minutes of the meeting and congratulated the Charter members for being elected to such an important board. He also congratulated those who did not make the top nine because even though they did not get elected, he felt that their participation should be recognized and applauded. He went on to tell the Commission that this is a great opportunity for them to help lead the city into the future. Mayor Pro-tem Jim Fisher wanted this to happen when he was first elected and it's been a long struggle for him to get this to happen.

Councilmember Lonnie Stevens was also in attendance for the first few minutes and wanted to congratulate all the wonderful people on this wonderful board for the wonderful job she knew they would do. She was very happy that people with experience were elected and these same people would know what to do.

Councilmember Alan Lewandowski was in attendance and stayed for the entire meeting to observe.

At this time, Sue gave the oath of office to the entire group. She announced that all sessions of the Commission would be open to the public.

They then went around and introduced themselves to each other. Pauline Repp has recently retired after spending 30+ years with the city, 20 of which was as city clerk. She has lived in the city 30+ years.

Mark Neal has been a 20 year councilmember. He owns a local business.

Karen Jamison recently retired from teaching government and felt this would be something she could really help with.

Karl Tomion worked for the city of Port Huron for 9 years. He also worked in two other cities as a city manager.

Greg Stremers is a local attorney and worked as the city attorney before he went into private practice.

Melinda Johnson is a director of non-profits and has experience with drafting these kinds of documents.

Jeff Wine is a real estate agent and local business owner. His goal is to move the city forward and improve the business climate.

Laurie Sample-Wynn works in Detroit and lives here in the city. She has been mayor in the past.

Partrick Parcell worked on several of these documents nationally and is hopeful to help bring his experience to the table.

At this time Patrick Parcell nominated Pauline Repp as chairperson of the group. No other nominations were offered and it was a unanimous vote of yes. Sue Child swore Pauline in.

Mark Neal then nominated Karl Tomion as Vice-Chair of the Commission. No other nominations were offered and it was a unanimous vote of yes. Sue Child swore Karl in.

They received and filed the City Canvas Board Report concerning the election of members to the Charter Commission. They also received and filed a copy of the City Council resolution adopting the November 10, 2008 setting compensation for the Charter Commission. Each member will receive $20 per meeting.

The meeting schedules were discussed. Mark Neal felt that Tuesdays at 7:00 were a good time for everyone. This gives people time to get out of work, grab a bite to eat and make the meetings. He also asked that a time limit of 2 hours be initiated to help keep it within a timeline. He also requested that the Commission meet 2 times a month.

Everyone went around the table and discussed their schedules. Pauline Repp reminded them that they must think about the public as sell because they want people to come to the meetings. It was decided that at this point the meetings will be held the 2nd & 4th Tuesdays of the month at 7:00 p.m. in the MOC building, Room 408. They pointed out that as certain times, members would miss the meetings but they could carry on if need be, unless there were less than 5 people at the meeting.

Pauline wants to hear a lot of input from the public because she thinks it's important that everyone have a chance to tell the Commission what they would like to see happen. This will give the Commission some direction as to where the people want the city to go.

Laurie suggested that they publish and invite the public. They established that they could have smaller committees to work on specific tasks and report back to the whole Commission at later dates. They also discussed in great detail how they should handle the rules of procedure. It was suggested that they check into what other cities have done with Charter Commissions recently. They all agreed on keeping it fairly informal so as to allow ideas to flow.

Karl Tomion suggested putting together a subcommittee to look into rules of procedure. jeff Wine, Mark Neal and Laurie Sample-Wynn all volunteered to be on this committee. Mark Neal backed off because Laurie and Jeff wanted to do it. Karl has connections with the Michigan Municipal League (MML) and will talk to those connections about other Charter Commissions and their rules of procedure. He also suggested that Sue Child be included in any meetings the sub-committee may have to take minutes.

Sue Child suggested that all documents for this Committee be distributed through e-mail to save on postage. Sue let the group know that they can set up email accounts through the cities system. She also mentioned that this Commission will have it's own webpage for people to check and see what actions have been taken. It was suggested that only one email address be set up for the Charter Commission so that if people want to ask a question or send their thoughts, all the Commission members get it, not just one or two. Everyone felt this was an excellent idea. Sue told the Commission that the new email address for the Commission will be set up as charter@porthuron.org.

Pauline then asked if the group should set up special times for the public to come and speak openly. Maybe an hour of open comments. It was also suggested that comments be taken from city staff since they have to work with this document.

Karl Tomion pointed out that a lot of the document has been preempted by State law. He said it can be written generally or specifically but they should discuss that and see which way would be best.

Greg Stremers suggested that they should get input from city boards and commissions.

Mark Neal felt that the public audience should be kept to regular meetings, otherwise his fear is that if they set up special public meetings and no one shows up, the Commission will be wasting their times. At least if public audience is set up during regular meetings they can continue on with the meeting if no one shows up.

Pauline Repp said that the Commission will take written presentations from the public if they prefer to write their thoughts instead of speaking at a meeting.

Karl Tomion would like the time limited on how long a single person can speak at public audience. He also suggested the Chairperson write what this Charter Commission intends to do and what kind of public input they are seeking and then publish it on their website and through media outlets. Pauline said she would write the letter and let the group look it over before she submitted it to the media.

Sue Child then read the rules of the Charter Commission. That being that they have 3 years to get it done within 90 meetings. Laurie Sample-Wynn said that they should set their goal to have it finished within 2 years so that they have another year to get it passed by the City Council and the public. If it doesn't make it, this will give them time to go back, look at it and change some things and resubmit it.

Pauline Repp wanted to go through it chapter by chapter to make it organized. She also felt that since most of the things people wanted to see changed were in the first three chapters, they would show the residents that they were working hard to get it done.

Jeff Wine wanted to know how they will replace someone if they drop off the Commission. John Livesay said the law was very clear. They Commission would appoint someone they felt would help them finish the job.

Sue Child will post the minutes of each of the minutes on the website. There will also be questions posted there so the public can read and answer them right on line. The entire Commission said that to comment, people will be required to give their real names and contact information so the Commission can follow up with them if they need to.

Karl Tomion wanted the Time-Line document posted on the website as well so people could see what the actual time-line is. Pauline Repp said that the media letter she is going to draft should also be posted on the website so if someone is reading it, they will see that too. She does not want the Charter Commission to be accused of not asking the public for input.

The next topic was the Budget. Pauline Repp was hoping that most of the publicizing could be done for free through the media. It was brought up that maybe they should hire a consultant. Karl Tomion said that it was advantageous to have two attorneys on this Commission. Laurie Sample-Wynn said now was not a good time to go to the city and ask for money. Greg Stremers thought that the most expense they might have is to print and publish the publish the document later on. Karl Tomion requested that Sue Child come up with a budget for publication and elections when they are done. They should also add in the $20 each of them will receive and extra for supplies.

Patrick Parcell said that this should be voted on in a general election or primary so it won't cost the city anything to have this on the ballet. Pauline said the entire document would need to be published in the paper and that would cost a lot of money. The group also asked if it costs more to have any city staff at these meetings and they were informed that the staff gets paid what they get paid and if they are required to be at any of these meetings it would be part of their regular work.

Greg Stremers wanted to know how they could keep from getting accused by people from the townships and county that they weren't cooperating. Jeff Wine felt that the Commission needs to think regionally because trends are showing regions are becoming partners. Example: McMorran as a regional solution instead of a local solution. Tomion pointed out that the Charter would probably not deal with issues like McMorran and the Commission must set up the Charter for future councils to have tools to move forward. This document will be in place for years to come so it needs to embrace things that change in the future.

Patrick Parcell felt that Detroit has alienated themselves from the surrounding suburbs and that Port Huron needs to extend an olive branch to surrounding townships and county. Greg Stremers wants the townships and county to feel welcome to come to the meetings.

Pauline Repp felt that at some point it needs to be clarified what the difference between an Ordinance and the Charter are. She feels the public gets confused by this.

Greg Stremers has access to the Home Rule Act. It's very long but he could make it more user friendly so people could read it. It might help them understand the difference. John Liversay said that there are certain things that HAVE to be in the Charter. Greg Stremers said the MML website has a lot of information about things like that and it's MML.org.

Patrick Parcell said that a lot of people have asked him to deal with the city income tax and that is not part of the charter. Karl Tomion said the Charter is the structure of government. The City Council and voters have a lot of control over many of the other things. Greg Stremers said there are documents about the Role of Charter Commissions & Overview on the MML website.

Mark Neal suggested they get binders with all the paperwork organized in them. He and Laurie Sample-Wynn prefer to have the hard copy in their hands instead of reading it on the internet. Greg Stremers said he could get the Commission copies of those documents for the binder. Sue Child will get binders for everyone and make sure all the documents are in it up to this point.

At this time the meeting started to wind down. Pauline Repp said that at the next meeting they will review what they have come up with concerning rules of procedure. Karl wanted to talk to Sue, Jeff and Laurie about their subcommittee to get organized on getting this information.

Patrick Parcell wanted to know if they could do some things he knew people wanted to be fixed right away to show them they are working. Mark Neal wanted to start at the front and work their way through.

Pauline Repp said the next couple meetings will focus on setting up the process and getting public input. She also said that they should set up tasks at each meeting to be done in between and presented at the next meeting.

Karl Tomion stressed that they must be deliberative about this process and make sure everyone understands what they are doing. Explain things because rumors could start that aren't exactly true. He said they need to avoid misinformation.

Greg Stremers felt they needed to do little bits at a time so as to not overwhelm the city attorney.

John Livesay said the website needs to be exact so the public can follow it.

The meeting was then adjourned. The next meeting is set for March 24, 2009. 7:00 p.m. in the MOC building, Rm. 408

It is the Community News' hope that the public will follow these items in the news blogs. They will cover everything in as much detail as possible in hopes that people will feel comfortable with the process and be able to understand what is being done. Please check back from time to time for new posts and listen to WGRT 102.3 FM for live updates and information.

    Comments:

Larry King 03/10/2009
I left something out about Mr. Parcells fiasco.It was in Port Huron,The city He represents?

Larry King 03/10/2009
I Was wondering if the council was aware that Patrick Parcell as a union member in the early 80's was arrested for trespassing on a new non union job site where a lot of equipment was destroyed and damaged but no one charged with that I do not believe

Larry King 03/10/2009
I Was wondering if the council was aware that Patrick Parcell as a union member in the early 80's was arrested for trespassing on a new non union job site where a lot of equipment was destroyed and damaged but no one charged with that I do not believe

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Chad Noetzel 03/10/2009
Thank you for the hard work. I just found this today

Trina 03/10/2009
OpinioiNate - I hadn't thought about it but that's an excellent idea. I will talk to flowerchild about that. She's good at spreading the word.

OpinoiNate 03/10/2009
Do you intend to get your news letter mentuoned on the forums so everyone knows where to get the information?

Wing Thiele 03/10/2009
Thanks for your hard work and efforts.

Mark Byrne 03/10/2009
Thanks, Great Job.

I all ready used the charters new email address you provided.

easydoesit 03/10/2009
You're a great note taker. Thanks for the info.

HARBor 03/10/2009
Excellent, and nicely written, Trina!

art 03/10/2009
Thanks for the update

flowerchild 03/10/2009
I agree. Good job!

MACHUISHLA 03/10/2009
GOOD JOB !!BWCN

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