Eighteen Candidates Vie for Nine Spots on Charter Review Commission

Report on the Meeting of the Governance, Organization and Legislation Committee (GOL), April 4, 2024

This meeting was held over Zoom and was recorded. The recording can be viewed here.

Present
Ana Devlin Gauthier (Chair, District 5), Freke Ette (District 1), Pat DeAngelis (District 2), and George Ryan (District 3). Absent: Lynn Griesemer (District 2)

Staff: Athena O’Keeffe (Clerk of the Council)

With 18 residents submitting Community Activity Forms for the nine-member 2024 Charter Review Committee, the Governance, Organization, and Legislation Committee (GOL) declared the applicant pool to be sufficient to make appointments by a vote of 4-0 (Griesemer absent). Applications are still being accepted; the due date for Statements of Interest has yet to be set. Those wishing to apply should fill out a Community Activity Form (CAF), available here.

GOL Chair Ana Devlin Gauthier will develop a timeline with the due dates for Statements of Interests and dates for interviews. She expects interviews to take place in early May. Because of the size of the pool, interviews will be conducted over two days. George Ryan suggested that applicants be interviewed one at a time, each being asked the same set of questions in succession. The suggestion was viewed favorably by the rest of the committee. The committee is working on finalizing the questions.

Finance Committee Opening
GOL has received no applications for the vacant position for a nonvoting member of the Finance Committee. Those interested should submit an application here.

Proclamations for Jewish American Heritage Month and Children’s Mental Health Acceptance Week Forwarded for Council Approval.
The proclamation declaring May to be Jewish American Heritage Month was sponsored by Councilors Andy Steinberg (at large), Lynn Griesemer (District 2), and Jennifer Taub (District 4) and community sponsors Hilda Greenbaum, Rabbi Benjamin Weiner, and Rachel Vigderman. Minor changes were made to the draft proclamation, which will be voted for approval at the April 8 council meeting.

Steinberg and Mandi Jo Hanneke (at large) sponsored the Children’s Mental Health Acceptance Week proclamation, which designates May 5–11 for awareness of children’s mental health. This proclamation will also be voted on at the April 8 council meeting.