WESTFIELD – The City Council last week approved the first reading of an amendment to the ordinance establishing and regulating the city’s Cultural Council and is expected to vote on the final approval at its Dec. 2015 meeting.
Several Members of the Cultural Council, which requested the ordinance amendment, met with the City Council’s Legislative & Ordinance Committee and reported that while the current ordinance establishes the Cultural Council as a 19 member board, there are only six active members.
Assistant City Solicitor Shanna Reed, speaking to the L&O members who voted 3-0 to give the amendment a positive recommendation, said that state law allows communities to establish Cultural Councils of between five and 22 members and that it also provides for a sliding quorum.
“We wrote the amendment to match existing state law,” Reed said.
Ward 2 Councilor Ralph Figy, who is chairman of the L&O, said the Cultural Council “has been having a hard time getting a quorum because right now they need 10 members to conduct a meeting.”
“That is an issue because the state awards the city a $22,000 grant each year to support cultural activities and organizations, but if they can’t meet the quorum requirement, they can’t vote to disperse those funds,” Figy said.
“This is a volunteer board. They receive no stipends and give their time in support of cultural activities in our schools, to support the downtown and other quality of life programs in the community,” Figy said. “This is an issue that was identified by members of their board.”
The proposed ordinance mirrors the language of the state ordinance in that the committee can be comprised of between five and 22 members and a quorum is based upon a formula of (½ + 1) of the members present for a voting majority.
“The amendment will allow them to act on motions identifying to whom those funds will go and to appropriate that money,” Figy said.
The ordinance amendment was approved by an unanimous voice vote of the City Council members at the Nov. 19 session.
