2000-01-11To: Beverly Chaffer Revision Commission Members
From: Jack Quigley
January 11,2000
Re:
a. New meeting date Wednesday, January 26, 2000
b. Overview of first meeting and public hearing
c. Suggested procedure for legal/historic review
d. Ethics Conunission opinion
Now that the holidays are over, I think it a good idea to bring you all up to date on our
current status, potential plans and some observations about the first meeting and the
hearing. Please note that an interim meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday,
January 26, at 7:30 PM at City Hall to address several issues and concerns tbat have
arisen since our last meeting. An agenda for this meeting will be mailed out by January 17.
First Meeting: November 30, 1999
At our initial meeting we elected officers, the majority reiterated its sole objective, by voting
in the affirmative to limit the Commission's deliberations to questious concerning regaining
access to West Beach for all Beverly Citizens. This includes deliberations both pro and
con. I believe we all knew the position of the majority prior to the election of officers.
Indeed, the majority members worked very hard and very publicly to open the chaffer and
to win the right to choose officers for this commission. The minority will be heard
throughout this process, as is their right but it is the first rule of a democracy that the
majority has the right to make the decisions for the whole. To do less now would be a
breech of the good faith invested in us by the voters of Beve~y.
The Public Hearing
The public hearing, required by law, was held December 15th. The event was video taped,
the equipment was loaned by Media One and a volunteer did the taping. This tape has been
shown on Media one. I did not see it nor do I have a copy, but copies should be available
from Media One. The public hearing was also audio taped and a copy of this tape will be
available by January 17. I have enclosed a rough draft of the hearing notes/minutes of the
public hearing. The corrected version of the heariug minutes will be sent out after Mrs.
O'Brien returns from vacation January 15th. Minutes of the first meeting were previously
sent out to you. Copies of the minutes of the first meeting and the draft minutes of the
hearing are available at the city clerk's office and at the main branch of the public library.
The Commission members were provided an opportunity to make an opening statement at
the hearing ( copy of my statement enclosed). After these statements, we went into the
hearing where we heard from twenty speakers.
Mr. Gilmore made a motion that the Commission appoint a qualified person to conduct a
title search and render an opinion as to who were the owners of record of West Beach at the
time of the formation of the Corporation. The motion was amended to allow each
commissioner to investigate candidates and costs and to report back at the next meeting
before making a final decision. The amended motion was passed unanimously.
The Commission's counsel suggested that we may wish to review the 1907 State Supreme
Court decision (enclosed) relating to the title of the West Beach Corporation and the
extensive report by the Superior Court prior to any decision on expending funds to search
titles.
Suggested Document Review Process
I believe it is fair to say that, as outlined at our initial meeting and reiterated at the public
heating that the sole purpose of this Commission is to develop a proposed amendment to
the Beverly City charter to reopen West Beach to all Beverly citizens. This amendment will
be voted upon by our citizens at the municipal election in November 2001. To ensure that
this proposed amendment is consistent with the Commonwealth's Constitution, and its
statutory and case law, t believe we should devote whatever time is necessary to properly
document both the legal and historical basis for amending the Special Act of 1852 through
the Charter process. With that in mind, I propose the following four-fold process for your
consideration that should help us to successfully conclude the work of this commission:
1. Review of the applicability of the Constitutional provisions setting out the Home Rule
Charter procedure to amend the Special Act of 1852 in order to guarantee equal access
to membership in the West Beach corporation to all interested Beverly citizens;
2. Review legal and historical documents relating to the question of public access to West
Beach prior to 1852;
3. Review the question of whether there were any legally recognized owners of
record of West Beach in 1852 prior to enactment of the Special Act;
4. Review the question of what role, if any, emminent domain will play in this process.:
5. And finally, develop the proposed chatter revision language.
State Ethics Commission opinion and follow up material
Following our adoption of a motion, I forwarded an inquiry to the State Ethic Commission
requesting an opinion whether the fact that our counsel, Mr. John Quinn, had been a
defendant in a law suit brought by the West Beach Corporation raised any conflict of
interest questions. The response, which l received just before the holidays is enclosed.
The opinion directs on pages 5 and 6 that to dispel the appearance of a conflict of interest,
Mr. Quinn should file a formal disclosure statement with the Charter Commission setting
out the extent of his relationship with the West Beach Corporation. The opinion also raised
the question of whether our counsel must be objective and impartial on the issue of public
beach access. Mr. Quinn informed me last week that in order to avoid the appearance of a
conflict of interest, that he would not be able to act as the Commission's counsel until he
had obtained a response to a request for a clarification that he has filed with the Ethics
Commission. I have enclosed a copy of both his letter to the Ethics Commission and to our
Commission members. It is unclear whether the clarification will have been issued before
next meeting.
Finally, I wish to heartily thank you for the great patience you have shown to date as we
attempt to get this fairly complicated process underway. With enough energy, focus and
good will from all of us we can bring a finished, well developed proposal to the people for
their consideration in as timely a fashion as possible. I hope that we can all agree on that.
ohn H J~ley