Judge Stephen Rideout (ret.)
swrideout@aol.com

Dear Readers:

The Charter Commission made its presentation on Charter Change recommendations this past Monday to the County Council. The presentation went well with Phil Reed doing most of the talking. All but one member of the Commission was present for the meeting. In addition about 7 members of the public appeared to present their views on the recommendations.

All of the speakers praised the Charter Commission and the work that they had done in such a short period of time. There were a few concerns about some of the recommendations; but on the whole, those members of the public who were speaking supported the issues that the Commission was trying to address.

As the report, under normal circumstances, would have been due to the County Council in May, which is about when the Commission was allowed to start, this report in mid July has put some time pressure on County Council to make any decisions on their recommendations, as any proposed charter amendment needs to be at the State Elections Board by August 5th in order for them to make final approvals as to language for the ballot question to appear on the ballot in November.

The County Council voted to place these recommendations on the agenda for the County Council meeting on August 2nd at 6:00 p.m. for final decisions. If any of the recommendations are adopted, lawyers for the county will have just a few days to prepare appropriate language unless directed otherwise in order that the ballot question can be sent to the State Board of Election by August 5th.

We were advised that future meetings of County Council will be televised and not conducted over the phone. I am not aware how they will be televised – over the Internet or on a cable channel – so you may want to check the county web site for information on that issue. You, of course, are welcome to join the public at the meeting itself.

Steve

Judge Stephen Rideout (ret.)
swrideout@aol.com

Dear Readers:

For those of you living in Cambridge and are registered voters, I am attaching a copy of the form and directions to request an absentee ballot in the event you are away on election and/or run off day or do not want to vote in person.

The link to this information can be found on the city website at

https://www.choosecambridge.com/DocumentCenter/View/2056/2022-Special-Election—Absentee-Ballot-Request

The first vote is scheduled for August 23rd. If none of the candidates have 50% plus one of the votes, there would be a runoff election at a later date.

For everyone on this email, even if you are unable to vote in this election, please share this information with anyone you know who lives in the city so they can be aware of this opportunity.

Thanks.

Steve

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Judge Stephen Rideout (ret.)
swrideout@aol.com

Dear Readers:

The Charter Commission Report has been posted on the County Council Website. I have downloaded it, and it is attached. If you prefer to go directly to it on the County Website, I found it at

https://secureservercdn.net/104.238.71.109/c4d.327.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Charter-Review-Commission-Public-Hearing.pdf

You can copy the link above and search for it directly.

I leave it to each of you who live anywhere in the County to make your own decisions about the recommendations. Each of them has with it or separately an explanation by the Charter Commission as to its reasoning. At the final Charter Commission meeting most of these recommendations were adopted 6-0. I think one was 5-1 and one was 4-0-2 with the 2 being abstentions.

I attended most of the Charter Commission meetings, and I want to compliment the Commission Members on the work that they did, especially given the short time that they were given to do their job. While I see a couple of their proposals that I would have worded differently, they worked hard and did a very good job. I think that all of the recommendations deserve consideration by you and by the County Council. Understand that any of the recommendations that are approved would be placed on the November ballot for the voters to approve or not as they choose.

The Council needs to hear your thoughts – for or against – and why. If they do not hear from you, they may think that you do not care; so email them, call them, or show up at the meeting on July 18th before 6 p.m. and sign up to speak. Under the notice, you will have 3 minutes to speak. If lots of people show up, that may be cut back.

If you are going to speak, prepare in writing what you want to say and test it out a couple of times to be sure it is no more than 3 minutes long and bring it with you.

Below is contact information of each of the the County Council Members that is found on the County website:

Council Member Newcomb
Cell: (443) 521-6957
E-Mail: jnewcomb@docogonet.com

Council Member Nichols
Home: (410) 221-1371
E-Mail: wnichols@docogonet.com

Council Member Travers
Work: 410-228-4313
Home: 410-228-1532
E-Mail: rtravers@docogonet.com

Council Member Pfeffer
Cell: 443-521-3690
E-Mail: lpfeffer@docogonet.com

Council Member Nagel
Cell: (443) 521-5469
E-Mail: lnagel@docogonet.com

Please let them know what you think.

Thanks.

Steve

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