Saturday, March 25, 2023

Charlestown Town Council plate runneth over

Upcoming Town Council Meetings - Mar 27, 29

From Charlestown Residents United

From left to right: Susan Cooper (CCA), Rippy Serra (vice-president), Deb Carney (president), Grace Klinger, Steve Stokes

We have three, yes THREE, Town Council meetings coming up on Monday, March 27, and Wednesday, March 29. Here is your preview.

Monday's meeting will start at 7 pm in the town hall council chambers as usual. The agenda and backup materials can be seen here.


Here are some notable topics from the agenda:

  • The Council will be considering new Zoning rules for Public Storage Facilities and perhaps schedule those rules for the formal public hearing on April 24. Public Storage Facilities were removed as an allowed use on April 11, 2022 with that restriction set to expire on April 30, 2023. This proposal would extend that restriction for another year. More details can be read here.
  • There has been previous discussion about Cannabis regulation (reported here and here). At this meeting there will be a discussion of draft ordinance changes for that purpose. Starting here in the agenda packet, you can read the history in Town Council minutes, the new draft, and comments on that draft by Joseph Warner, the Town Building Official (dated March 20, 2023).
  • There has been a ongoing issue with bills for "out of scope services" from our financial auditors, that total about $56,000. The Town has been struggling to receive adequate explanation of the work and the authorization for it. This will be discussed again. The agenda packet section for this topic, starting here, does not appear to include any new information.
  • The Council will consider directing the Parks and Recreation Director to obtain quotations for lighting and electricity for Puchalski Field, behind town hall. The agenda packet gives a paragraph of rationale here.
  • Scott Keeley proposed new signs for our Town Beaches at the February 27 Council meeting (reported here). This meeting includes an agenda item to consider developing new signs. The details can be read in the agenda packet here.
  • The South Couth County Tourism Council has proposed something called the South County Troll Trail as a tourism initiative. The Council will discuss whether to participate in this. The details are in the agenda packet starting here.

On Wednesday, March 29, there will be two Council meetings:


The first Wednesday meeting will start at 6 pm and will be held jointly with the Planning Commission to discuss Commercial and Village Design Standards. This is an outcome of the February 27 Council meeting here there was some concern about how the bid process was handled and how the work would be done, reported here. The agenda packet has details including the detailed minutes of that section of the February 27 meeting.


The second Wednesday meeting will start at 7 pm and will be devoted to discussion of a report on Operational and Organizational Assessment of the Town’s financial processes and internal controls by consulting firm Clifton Larson Allen LLP. The agenda packet includes the report.


As usual public attendance in person in town hall is allowed for these meetings. They will be offered as a live stream to view through WebEx as described in the agenda. People watching online will not be able to comment or ask questions. The video of the sessions should be available for viewing on the morning after each meeting, on the meetings page. It will be down the page in the Past Meetings section.