Framingham Councilors, Solicitor Disagree Over CPA Committee

FRAMINGHAM, MA — The Framingham City Council may take a key step Tuesday in the Community Preservation Act (CPA) adoption process by approving an ordinance governing the act — but a key provision over appointments to the CPA governing board has sparked a disagreement between the Council and Mayor Yvonne Spicer's administration.

The Council Rules and Ordinance Subcommittee, chaired by District 8 City Councilor John Stefanini, has been working on a draft of the CPA ordinance for several weeks, and on Jan. 14 unanimously approved a draft version of the law. In it, the subcommittee has given the City Council power to appoint key members of the CPA committee, typically a duty of the mayor.

The CPA committee would be made up of nine members, according to the draft ordinance. The Planning Board, Conservation Commission, Parks and Recreation Commission, Historical Commission and Framingham Housing Authority each get to appoint one member. The remaining four members would be appointed by the City Council under the draft law.

But in a memo, City Solicitor Christopher Petrini told the subcommittee he disagrees the Council has the authority to make the appointments. That's because the City Charter gives the mayor power to appointment citizens to "multiple-member bodies."

Typically, state law supersedes the City Charter when there's a conflict. The state CPA law doesn't specify whether a mayor or city council makes the appointments, just that the "ordinance or by-law shall determine the composition of the committee, the length of its term and the method of selecting its members." However, the state CPA law does give a community's "legislative body" the power to write the local CPA ordinance.

Stefanini said the Council would use the four slots to improve the diversity of the CPA committee. The five committees that will appoint one member each don't include a diverse array of candidates, in particular people who live south of Route 9, he said. The Weymouth City Council also appoints four members, Stefanini said.

District 2 Councilor Cesar Stewart-Morales put forward the proposal that Council pick four seats. He said the mayor appoints the members of the Planning Board, Conservation Commission, Parks Commission, Historical Commission and Housing Authority — effectively giving Spicer five picks for the CPA committee.

"In order to help with diversity issues and to have a balanced approach here, it would make sense the Council select the four additional members," Stewart-Morales said.

Ultimately, Framingham's CPA committee will get to decide how to spend the city's CPA revenue. Voters in November approved the adoption of the CPA act, which collects a 1 percent surcharge on property tax bills. The revenue — plus matching funds from the state — may be used on items like buying open space, refurbishing or building affordable housing and historic preservation.

The City Council approved the ordinance on a first reading — a second and final reading will happen at the next Council meeting — unanimously with District 1 Councilor Christine Long abstaining.