BACC Governance Board/Commission
Work Session Discussion
August 23, 2011 4:30 pm
Present: Bruce Edwards, Debbie Flinkstrom, Karen Hambleton, Bob Manchester, Margaret Raymond, Jim Valiquet
Absent: Will Hurley, Ona Ruchti, Christine Waite
The meeting opened the meeting at 4:45 pm.
Bruce, Bob and Karen attended part of the Select Board meeting on the 16th. The BACC was removed from the agenda in anticipation of a letter from the Legal Government Center thus no discussion ensued.
The Select Board has forwarded the Committee/Commission a letter from Paul Sanderson at the LGC. This letter was the result of our meeting with Kerry Horne. LGC can only deal directly with the Town, thus all of our questions on how best to structure the Commission must go through Cheryl/Town Hall. The letter made some general comments but did not provide clear guidelines as to how the Commission should be structured and function.
Kerry Horne had forwarded us some information on how Bristol’s Community Center operates.
It remains unclear where things stand and what the next appropriate move is. Given that the Commission has been appointed, but not sworn in, this group must assume that it is still operating as a Governance Board. The same individuals that serve on the Governance Board are also members of the Commission. It was noted that the Governance Board does not fall under the Town’s insurance (as the Commission would), thus the results of our decisions and actions are not covered.
The question arose as to why we couldn’t serve as a committee of the Town as the Library Trustees do. The committee would submit a budget (as it has in the past) and go through the budget process.
Jim agreed to draft a letter to the Select Board addressing our questions and seeking clarification on how best to proceed. A Governance Board? A Commission? A Town Committee?
Bob brought up the Yellow Dot program. This allows vehicles to be identified with a yellow dot on the back window. The dot indicates that specific identification and medical information are located in a special folder in the glove compartment. This is to aid first responders in case of an emergency. Bob would like to work in conjunction with CAP on implementing this program in town. The group agreed this is a worthwhile effort and could be expanded to include all town folk, not just seniors.
Next meeting : September 13th 4:30pm
Next work session : September 27th 4:30
The meeting adjourned at 5:23.
Respectfully submitted, Karen Hambleton