Town of Halifax, Vermont

MINUTES

February 12, 2008

Call to Order

            The meeting was called to order at 7:32 PM.  Board members in attendance were Chair Christina Moore, Craig Stone, Allan Dacey, Frank Maltese, Paul Placentino, Paul Blaise, and William Pusey. Commission members Norman Fajans and Howard Alboum were absent.  Board Secretary Phyllis Evanuk was also in attendance.

Approval of Minutes

Mr. Dacey moved to accept the minutes of the January 8, 2008 meeting as written.

            Mr. Stone seconded the motion.

The question was raised regarding the number needed to approve the minutes. Only four members present were also present at the January meeting.  In order to allow time to research the proper procedure, Mrs. Moore moved to postpone approval of the January 2008 minutes to the March 2008 meeting of the Planning Commission.

Mr. Maltese seconded the motion.

The motion carried unanimously.

Review and discussion of Rules of Procedure & Ethics Manual

            Mrs. Moore reminded the members that they had completed the first six pages at the last meeting.  Review at this meeting would begin at Section VI. Managing the Public Hearing.

            Before they proceeded, they looked at approval of Minutes and agreed to add an asterisk for possible inclusion of a rule regarding approval when not enough members present had attended the meeting.  Mrs. Moore advised she would check Robert’s Rules for guidance, and they could revisit the issue at the next meeting.

            They made minor changes to Section VI, and moved on to Section VII. Making a Good Decision.  Under this section, they concurred on adopting Rule II (making decisions in deliberative sessions) and eliminating Rule I (making decisions in “public deliberations” which allow the public to observe but not participate).

            While discussing what constitutes a zoning board majority, they revisited the question of alternate members to the ZBA.  Having a 9-member ZBA any decision requires a majority of the entire board, which is five.  If members recuse themselves or are absent, the option of appointing alternates as voting members in order to have enough participants was discussed.

            Mr. Maltese moved to request that the Selectboard consider appointing alternate members to the ZBA to insure a quorum should some regular members be absent or recuse themselves from participation.

            Mr. Blaise seconded the motion.

The motion carried unanimously.

            Under Section VII a section was added at the end regarding site visits.  The 

wording is as follows:

Site Visits

            A board member is permitted to participate in a hearing if the member is familiar with the subject site even if the member did not attend the official site visit.

            The members went on to Section VIII Issuing the Decision.  After a short discussion it was decided that more research was needed before this section is finalized.  Questions of appeal periods, etc. will be reviewed.

            Mr. Blaise moved to adjourn the meeting.

            Mr. Maltese seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

Adjournment  

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Phyllis H. Evanuk

Secretary