20221128 Legal Affairs City Council Committee Meeting Minutes Estelle M. Rand-Chair
Todd C. Rotondo
Brendan S. Sweeney 1I11 NOV 3 0 A i[: 51
LEGAL AFFAIRS/CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING MINUTES
Monday,November 28, 2022, 6:30PM
City Council Committee Room, 31d Floor, Beverly City Hall, 191 Cabot St.
Rand called the meeting to order at 6:30pm.
Members present: Estelle Rand, Todd Rotondo, Brendan Sweeney
Other Councilors present: Matthew St. Hilaire, Scott Houseman,Hannah Bowen
Order Date to Description Action Taken
Number Committee
Councilor Houseman-Special Municipal Employees-All board
#259 11/14/2022 and commission members shall be designated as"Special Hold 3-0
Municipal Employees"
#259A 11/14/2022 Councilor Houseman-Special Municipal Employees-Conflict Hold 3-0
of Interest disclosures filed with the Office of the Mayor
Councilor Houseman and Councilor Rand-Citizen Advisory Approve with
#268 10/17/2022 Committee for National Grid Cable Transmission Project recommended
language 3-0
#270 11/14/2022 Appointment-Director of Municipal Inspections-Mr. James Hold 3-0
Butler
Mayor's response to Order 75A proposed amendments to 1995
#276 11/14/2022 Beverly Horne Rule Charter Hold 3-0
#282 11/14/2022 Councilor Bowen-A letter regarding Accessory Dwelling Units Hold 3-0
Orders#259 and#259A
Houseman stated that the Solicitor's Office is working on an updated list of committees. Some committee
members were already made special employees under a 2003 order. Houseman stated he wanted to make sure
there was a process in place for these disclosures and that the City Clerk's Office, as the keeper of records,had
copies on file.
The motion to hold#259 and#259A was made and seconded. A vote was taken and the motion passed (3-0).
Order#268
Rand stated she had been working with the Solicitor's Office on this to fulfill the condition requirements but
also recognize what the committee wants. Rand distributed a handout with next steps as prepared by the
Solicitor's Office. Rand stated the main solution would be to reconstitute the committee without appointed
members and have an open membership. Rand said it would not take away any functionality and that the
committee would operate as a forum for citizens to communicate with National Grid about how the project is
going. Rand noted that a SEPAC is set up similarly.
St. Hilaire asked about the problem and the negative impact of any changes.
Rand stated that most of the committee members are concerned about being able to share information on the
project in the neighborhood while not wanting to violate open meeting law restrictions. It is a unique problem
because it is a limited amount of time and a construction project. Rand compared it to the lA project. The body
does not have any governmental power already, so there is not really any negative impact to changing how the
committee is structured.
Houseman added that the meetings would still be posted with the Clerk's Office and have minutes.
Bowen stated it would be good to get clarification on the piece about the committee as restructured not being
empowered to act collectively.
Rand stated that the members should still be able to speak at Council meetings or reach out to Councilors as
citizens if there were concerns about how the project was going.
Houseman stated it seemed like the committee would still be able to designate someone to reach out to the
Council if needed.
There was some discussion around the weekly reports from National Grid and how the process seemed to be
working well so far.
Rand clarified that this would not dissolve the committee but reconstitute or reorganize it.
The motion to accept changes for reorganizing the committee as recommended by the Solicitor's Office was
made and seconded. A vote was taken and the motion passed (3-0).
Rand stated that she will submit something for the next Council meeting with the information from the handout
distributed at the committee meeting.
Order#270
Houseman stated he had received a cover letter and resume for Mr. Butler from the Mayor's Office and asked if
it could be shared.
There was discussion about a desire to receive this kind of information with department head appointments so
the Council could have some background information.
Bowen noted that there will be two to three more department head appointments coming up so this could be an
opportunity to talk about the process.
St. Hilaire asked if there had been any updates on the vacant Diversity, Equity& Inclusion Director position.
There was some discussion about requesting more information on what the plan is and what the challenges are.
Rand suggested asking Mr. Butler to attend either the December 5 City Council meeting or a Legal Affairs
Committee meeting beforehand.
The motion to hold 4270 was made and seconded. A vote was taken and the motion passed (3-0).
The Legal Affairs Committee set a meeting for Monday, January 9, at 6:30pm to discuss Order#276 and
possibly any other items before the Committee at that time.
The motion to hold Order#282 was made and seconded. A vote was taken and the motion passed (3-0).
The meeting was adjourned at 7:27pm.
Beverly City Council Legal Affairs Committee Meeting Minutes—November 28,2022 page 2 of 2