Trustees review near-final Liswick bylaws and IMA; adoption set for February

The Village Board reviewed a near-final set of bylaws and an intermunicipal agreement for Liswick, the Long Island Sound watershed intermunicipal council, and agreed to delay any adoption until the board’s February meeting to allow additional municipal review.

The Mayor said the draft is “the next to final version” and that the 14 Long Island Sound communities will each need a resolution from their boards to participate before signoff later in February. The board was asked to send comments to staff before a scheduled Wednesday review by Liswick members.

Village counsel Steve told trustees he had reviewed the draft and flagged two legal issues for further analysis: provisions that would allow the group to use funds (including potential grants) for certain purposes and the proposed distribution of voting power among municipalities. He referenced Baker v. Carr while noting it raises questions where municipalities of widely differing sizes would hold equal votes.

Trustees asked for clarification on whether the draft lets Liswick change bylaws without sending revisions back to municipal clerks, and on who would be eligible to serve as representatives. One trustee said previous language had used the term “representative board” and warned the current draft’s repeated use of “members” could create ambiguity; the Mayor said draft language requiring participating municipalities to appoint elected or employed officials (rather than volunteers) came from participating communities.

Board members also asked how grants would be handled; the Mayor and counsel said grants could be pursued collaboratively and that specific grant applications would be brought back to member municipalities for approvals and agreements.

The board agreed to collect comments for staff counsel to incorporate and to return the item for final review and a potential adoption vote at the February meeting.