PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — City councilors approved four out of six of the proposed amendments to the city charter to be considered by voters in the Nov. 7 election.
The city attorney reviewed and approved of the six charter amendments after the last city council meeting.
The council has been discussing the charter changes that mostly pertain to election requirements and the city council.
“Just to remind everyone as we vote on these [charter amendments] they aren’t coming to fruition,” said Jacob Shaw, City Council chairperson. “What we are voting on tonight is to move these to the ballot, so that way voters have an opportunity to look at these and decide if they agree with our assessment of changing the city charter.”
One of the four amendments the council approved was to lower the minimum number of signatures needed for city council candidates to be placed on the ballot from 75 to 50, which is consistent with state legislative candidates.
A second was the ability to hold remote meetings for city council members to attend and cast votes without being physically present, although no one could cast a proxy vote for members not present.
“I imagine once this is approved by the voters, we would have a policy that would say 48 hours ahead of the meeting to determine [a remote meeting],” said City Manager Martin Puckett.
A third amendment would change election warden and warden clerk from elected to appointed positions that require council approval. Puckett pointed out that it’s important to have people who understand election laws and can work closely with the city clerk.
Jayne Farrin, who was elected to election warden in 2021, spoke out in favor of the proposed changes.
“My personal recommendation is that the council appoints their continuously trained city clerk as the warden with her advancing forward the name or names she wants in a ward clerk or clerks position,” Farrin said.
Lastly, the city councilors approved an amendment that would change the title of the head of city council from chairperson to mayor.
One of two amendments councilors struck down was breaking tie votes or forfeiture of office being determined by the flip of a coin or drawing names out of a hat. The Maine Municipal Association’s legal opinion was that the results can easily be contested by the party that doesn’t win and it’s up to the public to determine the outcome of a tie vote.
The other amendment would have capped the city’s reserve account to $3 million with the account currently sitting at $2.8 million. It is expected to reach $3 million within the next couple of budget cycles, because $100,000 is set aside for it each year.
“I would argue that it needs to be based on valuation because as the community grows, or gets smaller, there’s either more or less opportunity for the need for an emergency fund,” City Councilor Mike Chasse said.
