Ordinance and Administration Subcommittee Meeting

The Ordinance & Administration Subcommittee met to consider several governance and land-use items. The committee discussed and approved multiple amendments to the draft City Council Rules (bill 2024-002), including changes to Rule 11A (wording and advisory member language), Rule 11B (report-out timing and phrasing), Rule 5B (moving Dangerous Dog hearings to special meetings), and Rule 6O (reorganizing sentence placement). After amending the draft rules the committee voted to return 2024-002 to the full City Council with a positive recommendation and asked the three committee members to co-sponsor a final version; issues about designating non-Council advisory members as Special City Employees were raised, with KP Law advising against such designations and an advisory member noting she could not continue without that status.

The committee also considered bill 2024-057, a home-rule petition seeking to exempt the Deputy Police Chief position from Chapter 31 (civil service). The Police Chief presented the rationale for the exemption, KP Law clarified that the committee was authorizing a petition to the State Legislature rather than enacting a state law directly, and a former Selectman offered historical context supporting exclusion of the Deputy Chief. The committee returned 2024-057 to the full Council with a positive recommendation and an amended title to reflect that it requests legislative action. Additionally, the committee voted to return 2024-058 (approval and acceptance of a Preservation Restriction Agreement for 6 Center Street) to the full Council with a positive recommendation, and it continued two zoning-related ordinances (2024-065 and 2024-066) to the next Ordinance & Administration meeting in June.