Meeting postponed until Thursday, May 31st, 7 PM.
Agenda:
http://www.taunton-ma.gov/pages/TauntonMA_CityCouncilAgendas/Agenda%20May%2031%202012.pdf
Taunton City Council sets new date for budget, casino meetings
TAUNTON —
The mayor’s budget presentation and the City Council’s discussion of the casino agreement between Taunton and the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe have been moved back until 7 p.m. Thursday to avoid violating the open meeting law.
“It just pushes us back a couple days,” Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr. said. “It was an inadvertent mistake. We’ve got to follow all the rules and necessary requirements.”
After considerable discussion, the Taunton City Council decided to reschedule the Tuesday night meeting. The Massachusetts Open Meeting Law requires that a public meeting be posted at least 48 hours in advance, excluding weekends and legal holidays. The council agenda was posted at City Hall Thursday, but wasn’t put on the city’s website until Friday morning. The Friday web posting failed to meet the 48-hour requirement because Memorial Day fell on Monday.
More than an hour after the council was scheduled to begin its committee meetings, City Solicitor Jason Buffington made the announcement that no meeting would be held Tuesday. The city, he said, was being “abundantly cautious.”
Well....not exactly! Every elected official receives a copy of the Open Meeting Law and signs indicating that they have received it.
Approximately 10 people, including some members of anti-casino group Preserve Taunton’s Future, had come to the meeting.
The intergovernmental agreement between the city and the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe calls for the tribe to provide Taunton with $33 million in mitigation and infrastructure payments, followed by annual payments of approximately $13 million in exchange for agreeing to host the casino.
The agreement cannot go into effect until it is ratified by the City Council.
A study from the city’s consultants predicts that there would be 4.7 million annual visitors to the tribal casino. In order to upgrade city services to address the impact, Taunton would need to make $6 million in upfront capital improvements and $4.77 million in additional annual operating expenditures, according to the report, which was generated by HR&A Advisors.
The study, dated May 23, was posted on the city’s website over the weekend.
Taunton residents will vote June 9 on whether to accept a tribal casino in the city. Although the vote is technically nonbinding, Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr. has said he would withdraw his support of the casino should the ballot question fail to pass.
Although the City Council isn’t technically required to vote on the intergovernmental agreement before the citywide referendum, some councilors have stated they think it would be best to do so.
“I feel councilors have had the opportunity to do their homework and ask a lot of questions,” Councilor Donald Cleary said. “I think people want to know where city councilors stand.”
“It just pushes us back a couple days,” Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr. said. “It was an inadvertent mistake. We’ve got to follow all the rules and necessary requirements.”
After considerable discussion, the Taunton City Council decided to reschedule the Tuesday night meeting. The Massachusetts Open Meeting Law requires that a public meeting be posted at least 48 hours in advance, excluding weekends and legal holidays. The council agenda was posted at City Hall Thursday, but wasn’t put on the city’s website until Friday morning. The Friday web posting failed to meet the 48-hour requirement because Memorial Day fell on Monday.
More than an hour after the council was scheduled to begin its committee meetings, City Solicitor Jason Buffington made the announcement that no meeting would be held Tuesday. The city, he said, was being “abundantly cautious.”
Well....not exactly! Every elected official receives a copy of the Open Meeting Law and signs indicating that they have received it.
Approximately 10 people, including some members of anti-casino group Preserve Taunton’s Future, had come to the meeting.
The intergovernmental agreement between the city and the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe calls for the tribe to provide Taunton with $33 million in mitigation and infrastructure payments, followed by annual payments of approximately $13 million in exchange for agreeing to host the casino.
The agreement cannot go into effect until it is ratified by the City Council.
A study from the city’s consultants predicts that there would be 4.7 million annual visitors to the tribal casino. In order to upgrade city services to address the impact, Taunton would need to make $6 million in upfront capital improvements and $4.77 million in additional annual operating expenditures, according to the report, which was generated by HR&A Advisors.
The study, dated May 23, was posted on the city’s website over the weekend.
Taunton residents will vote June 9 on whether to accept a tribal casino in the city. Although the vote is technically nonbinding, Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr. has said he would withdraw his support of the casino should the ballot question fail to pass.
Although the City Council isn’t technically required to vote on the intergovernmental agreement before the citywide referendum, some councilors have stated they think it would be best to do so.
“I feel councilors have had the opportunity to do their homework and ask a lot of questions,” Councilor Donald Cleary said. “I think people want to know where city councilors stand.”
Read more: http://www.tauntongazette.com/news/x1832954648/Taunton-City-Council-sets-new-date-for-budget-casino-meetings#ixzz1wLbbaRkH
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