20231016 City Council Legal Affairs Committee Meeting Minutes CI rY OF 9f*V`."Rt.Y
RECEIVED Arl1�''D RECORDED
CITY CLERKS 01 r10E
Estelle M. Rand-Chair 2023 OCT 2 3 A a 0 1
Todd C. Rotondo
Brendan S. Sweeney
Legal Affairs /City Council Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes
Monday, October 16, 2023, 6:OOPM
City Council Committee Room, 311 Floor,Beverly City Hall, 191 Cabot St.
Rand called the meeting to order at 6:00pm.
Members present: Todd Rotondo, Brendan Sweeney, Estelle Rand
Members absent: None
Councilors Hannah Bowen and Scott Houseman were present to listen to the discussion.
Also present: City Solicitor Stephanie Williams and Assistant City Solicitor Jesse Dole
Order Date to Description Action Taken
Number Committee
President Flowers-A letter regarding Section 8-5 of
#239 9/18/2023 our City Charter(Review of Ordinances) Hold
#183 10/2/2023 A request for temporary "Resident Only Parking" Hold
Reappointment-Mr. Peter A. Davekos 5 Brookhead
#246 10/2/2023 Avenue to serve as a constable in the City of Beverly Approved (3-0)
Williams stated it would be fine to discuss the document received on Thursday (#239A) as it falls under the
umbrella of what is on the agenda.
Rotondo asked if the term"handicap" would be changed.
Williams stated that is being reviewed as part of the modernization of the language in the ordinances.
Sweeney asked about the proposal to exempt the Human Rights Committee members from the Beverly
residency requirement.
Williams stated that, in general, finding individuals to serve on committees can be difficult. The other thing the
Human Rights Committee would be exempted from with this proposed change is the requirement that members
be a registered voter/citizen of the United States under Section 15-8(B)(1). It gives more flexibility for
appointments for this committee.
Sweeney stated it looks like in 15-8(B)(4)the Council could waive these anyways.
Williams confirmed.
Williams stated the Solicitor's Office would need to check about any state requirements regarding registered
voter requirements for certain committees like the Planning Board, Conservation Commission or other boards
established by state law.
Rand stated that she understands why this would be an exemption for the Human Rights Committee and asked
if there have been discussions about exempting other committees.
Williams stated that there has not been a discussion about other committees yet.
Sweeney stated he does not see why there needs to be a requirement to be a registered voter unless it is required
by state law. Sweeney stated he does not have an issue with loosening that requirement across the board and
allowing for the waiver process for someone who is a resident of the Commonwealth but not a resident of
Beverly. Sweeney stated his preferred approach would be to remove the section specific to the Human Rights
Committee, loosen the registered voter requirement overall, and leave the waiver process for someone who is
not a resident of Beverly.
Rotondo asked if there would be any reason not to adopt that method.
Williams reiterated they would first need to check if particular state-created boards require a member to be a
voter. Policy decisions are up to the Council.
Rotondo asked if the waiver would still be possible for the voter requirement if this was not changed.
Williams confirmed.
There was some discussion about how having to come before the Council for a waiver of voter registration
requirement may be a deterrent for a qualified candidate.
Rotondo stated he would not like to see that registered voter requirement removed since they would still have
the option of a waiver. If a strong candidate is not a registered voter,the administration can present that
candidate to the Council for the waiver process.
Rand stated she liked the idea of removing it as an obstacle.
Williams stated this proposal allows for waivers of requirements for residency, registered voter, and age. For
the Human Rights Committee there would be a blanket waiver to not have to be a resident of Beverly or a
registered voter.
Sweeney asked if it would be possible, as a bridge between the two ideas,to say if someone is eligible to be a
voter,then they must be registered, and if not,then they can still serve.
Rand stated it sounds like the next steps are to figure out state-wise if it is required for any boards, and then if it
would be possible to have something in between with a requirement that eligible voters be registered.
Rand asked about term limits being removed and stated that she had been very intentional in including that
language when creating the Human Rights Committee. A lot of committees have people who serve year after
year. Rand stated it is worth considering if having the same members for years best serves the committee.
Williams stated this is a policy discussion and worthwhile conversation to have. The notion behind it is that
there are something like over 350 volunteer positions to find qualified candidates for, and will it hamstring the
city in any way to have term limits.
Rand suggested planning a time where the mayor can join for specific questions and asked Solicitor Williams to
give an overview.
Williams stated,to wrap conversation about 15-8, it seems there has been a residency waiver used for an
individual for multiple reappointments. As written,the waiver would really be just to complete a term. It would
need to be revised as proposed if the waiver is being used repeatedly for multiple terms.
Williams continued in Section 15 and spoke about 15-10 ensuring uniformity by following the charter. Williams
noted the proposed change in Section 15-13 would waive the Beverly residency requirements for the members
of the Board of Assessors.
Sweeney stated for this board it does make sense to waive the residency requirement for all members.
Williams stated the charter already defines a quorum, so the proposal is to remove 15-21(13)(2). In 15-28 the
proposal is to make the language match the state statute regarding people with disabilities and to remove the
requirement for a member to be a Beverly resident.
Rotondo asked about having a Bike Committee member on the Parking and Traffic Commission [15-42].
Williams stated she would bookmark that and look at whether it adds a member or requires one of the nine
members to be from the committee.
Beverly City Council Committee on Legal Affairs Alleeting Allinutes—October 16,2023 page 2 of 3
Williams stated the bicycle committee would go in alphabetically even though in this draft it is added at the end
of Section 15.
There was some discussion on if the Youth Activities Commission [15-49] is still active and how it is different
from the collaboration with the YMCA.
Williams moved to Section 1-1(C) where the computation of time has been updated to match the charter, gender
has been updated, and the quorum definition has been added. 1-2 would be updated to reference the charter.
To wrap up the meeting, Williams stated the biggest thing will be squaring away the registered voter thing. The
charter talks about eligibility and ordinances cannot change that. Williams talked about organizing the
ordinances so that they refer to the charter where applicable rather than parroting the charter so that the
ordinance needs to be updated if the charter charges. There are also several ordinances on books that are
unconstitutional which will be cleaned up with these proposed changes.
Rand stated she would like to aim for the fourth session to include department heads (not the next meeting but
the one after that). The next two meetings will be before the next two City Council meetings.
The meeting adjourned at 6:59pm.
Beverly City Council Committee on Legal Affairs Meeting Minutes—October 16,2023 page 3 of 3