Committee reviews final draft of H.10 to update City of Barrie charter

The Government Operations & Military Affairs committee met Wednesday, March 19, to take a final look at H.10, a bill that would amend the charter of the City of Barrie to remove obsolete school-board language, change the city’s annual meeting date and separate the combined office of city clerk and treasurer.

Tucker Anderson, legislative counsel, told the committee that “these are amendments to the charter of the city of Barrie” and summarized three primary changes: removal of references to an extinct school board, shifting the annual meeting from the first Tuesday in March to the second Tuesday in May, and separating the office of city clerk and city treasurer so the municipality may appoint a treasurer. Anderson said the power to appoint the treasurer already exists in general law, referencing Title 17, and that “the act is set to take effect on passage.”

The committee discussed a remaining technical inconsistency: language in section 207 of the charter that still refers to the town meeting date as the first Tuesday in March. Committee members and staff noted that sponsors had flagged the omission earlier and asked staff to prepare a conforming amendment to correct the town-meeting date references. A staff member said the conforming amendment could be prepared in 15 to 20 minutes. Members gave informal assent and the chair paused the formal meeting so staff could prepare the corrected language.

There was no formal roll-call vote recorded in the committee transcript during this session. The committee’s next step, as recorded, was to reconvene after staff produced the conforming amendment for members to review.

Background: Anderson said the bill removes outdated references to a board of school commissioners that no longer exists and contains a repeal section to eliminate that language. The change to an appointable treasurer aligns the charter language with existing municipal authority under Title 17, according to Anderson. The committee did not take a formal vote during the excerpted discussion.

The committee left the item open pending review of the conforming amendment; members indicated they would consider the corrected language when it was presented later in the meeting.