From Kate Snyder, Mayor of Portland, Maine <[email protected]>
Subject Charter Commission - Public Hearing - Tomorrow, Wed. 7/28 at 6pm
Date July 28, 2021 12:16 AM
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Less social media, more email. 

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Tuesday, July 27, 2021

Hi Everyone,

Less social media, more email. This was my "preview" text in case you missed it.
This is something I'm thinking a lot about lately. I think social media is great for information sharing. Not so much as a forum for debate, dialogue, and, well, so many other things that happen there.
I will always be judicious about email blasts...but, I do plan to use email a bit more for info sharing and engagement. And, as always, please feel free to email me, request a meeting, join my Monthly Zoom, or attend Council meeting, or Council Committee meetings.

The reason for this email is to make sure you know that tomorrow evening at 6pm (Wednesday, July 28th), the newly elected Charter Commission will host their first Public Hearing.
It's a remote meeting - and the Meeting and Zoom Info is here ([link removed]) .
I urge your participation in this important - critical - work that will shape the future of our city's governance structures.
This Public Hearing will help to inform the Commission's priorities and goals as they work to make recommendations for change within our City's Charter ([link removed]) .
If you can't attend tomorrow's meeting (as I cannot), please consider sending written input to all Commissioners by using this email address: [email protected]. (I have included my written input below, FYI.)

Sincerely,
Kate

Dear Charter Commissioners,

I offer you these thoughts in writing, as I will not be able to attend your Public Hearing tomorrow evening.
Many thanks for your time, work, and consideration of these, and all ideas and priority issues for consideration that you will receive from our community tomorrow, and over the course of your work.

First, please know that I am happy to talk with you, at an appropriate time, as you take up the matter of the Mayor's powers and duties
Article 2, Section 5 ([link removed]) . As one of only three people who have served in this role since it was created by your predecessors, and approved by Portland voters, I'd be happy to talk - from my vantage point - about what works, what doesn't, what's clear, and what could benefit from greater clarity.
Many in the community have asked me what role former Mayors Brennan and Strimling, and I, may serve in your work to consider options for change. That's up to you all, of course. But please know I am receptive to working with you all to offer insights, observations and ideas.

Second, since the question of a Charter Commission was developed in response to the matter of a Municipal Fair/Clean Elections program, I'd urge you to explore that body of work thoroughly. As a candidate in the 2019 Mayor's race, I was and am acutely aware of the need to raise significant funds in order to be (and be perceived as) competitive in a local, at-large race in Portland. (Among the top three vote-getters at that time, I raised the least amount of money, and felt constant pressure to raise more!) I certainly believe this local option deserves deep exploration, and I urge your consideration.

Third, I would welcome your review of our process to elect multiple at-large candidates - at the same time - using rank choice voting. As you know from the City Council Workshop pre-June 2021 regarding RCV options for electing multiple people within a category, there are options.
I believe it would be a service to the community to explore this subset of RCV.

Fourth, I urge your review of the Citizen Initiative language in Chapter 9. After the success of 5/6 Citizen Initiated questions on the November 2020 ballot, there were many questions related to the "bridge" required between citizen language/drafting, and municipal ordinance implementation. Review of this ordinance represents a big body of work. At this time, I come to you without opinion, rather a suggestion that thorough review and process may yield options for consideration that could improve outcomes. (For example, use of a Revisor function, not for content, but for clarity and ease of implementation.)

Lastly, for now, I do urge review of the CoP // PPS relationship. This was reviewed by the last Commision, and several changes were made at that time which I think responsibly reflected changes needed, and community sentiment at that time regarding enhanced collaboration.

Again, thank you for your work, time and consideration of many important issues. Please let me know if I can help to inform your work as you go.

Very Sincerely,
Kate Snyder

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Mayor Kate Snyder . 389 Congress St . Portland, ME 04101-3566 . USA

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