[[1]HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Selectmen of the Town
of Bethel as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
[1]
Editor's Note: Former Ch. 18, Permanent Building Committee,
adopted by the Board of Selectmen 10-10-1972, was repealed 2-8-1999.
[Adopted 9-2-2014]
The Town hereby joins with such other adopting municipalities
of the Western Connecticut Planning Region to create a regional council
of governments, to be known as the Western Connecticut Council of
Governments ("WCCOG"), by adopting the provisions of C.G.S. §§ 4-124i
through 4-124P, as amended by Public Act 13-247, and further amended
by Public Act 14-217, §§ 228 and 256.
A.
Upon certification by the Secretary of OPM that at least 60% of the
municipalities in the Western Connecticut Planning Region have adopted
ordinances creating a regional council of governments, as required
by the Connecticut General Statutes, the Western Connecticut Council
of Governments shall be established.
B.
Upon such certification, a transitional period (hereafter the "Transitional
Period") shall commence, and shall conclude no later than January
1, 2015. During such period, the First Selectman shall participate
as a member of the Transitional Executive Committee, as defined and
for the purposes set forth in C.G.S. § 4-124I(b), as amended
by Public Act 14-217, §§ 228 and 256. The legislative
body of the Town shall appoint, in the manner provided by ordinance,
an elected official to serve as an alternate member of the Transitional
Executive Committee in the absence of the First Selectman. The First
Selectman also may send a representative in his or her stead; however,
such representative shall not be a member of the Transitional Executive
Committee.
C.
Except as provided in § 18-6 below, at the conclusion of the transitional period, the Transitional Executive Committee shall cease to exist, and the Western Connecticut Council of Governments shall succeed to and be responsible for all of the rights, privileges and obligations of HVCEO and SWRPA, whether statutory or contractual, relating to such active programs as may be recommended by the Transitional Executive Committee and adopted by the Western Connecticut Council of Governments following appropriate due diligence and good faith negotiations during the Transitional Period.
At the conclusion of the Transitional Period, the Town shall
be a member of the Western Connecticut Council of Governments.
Except as provided in § 18-6 below, the Western Connecticut Council of Governments shall have such powers, purposes, rights, duties and responsibilities of regional councils of governments as are set forth in the Connecticut General Statutes, currently and as they hereafter may be amended.
The First Selectman shall be the representative of the Town
to the Western Connecticut Council of Governments. The legislative
body of the Town may appoint, in the manner provided by ordinance,
an elected official to serve as an alternate representative in the
absence of the First Selectman. The First Selectman may send the alternate
to meetings in his or her stead, and the alternate in that instance
shall be entitled to the same rights and privileges as the First Selectman.
The Town shall notify the Western Connecticut Council of Governments,
in writing, of the appointment of an alternate under this section.
Each city/town shall be entitled to one vote in the affairs of the
Western Connecticut Council of Governments.
The Town shall remain a member of HVCEO as it continues to operate
and wind down as a regional council of elected officials and regional
planning agency until the end of the Transitional Period. After the
Transitional Period ends, the Town also may create, together with
the other former HVCEO member municipalities, an unincorporated association
to assume and administer all rights, privileges and obligations of
HVCEO that the Transitional Executive Committee, in its sole discretion,
deems unacceptable for assumption by the Western Connecticut Council
of Governments. The First Selectman shall be the Town's representative
to such association.
The First Selectman shall serve as a member of the Transitional
MPO Board, which has been created by HVCEO to temporarily perform
the functions of the MPO for the municipalities in the former Housatonic
Valley Planning Region beginning on January 1, 2015, and until such
time as the Governor redesignates an MPO to serve that former region
or the Western Connecticut Planning Region pursuant to 23 U.S.C. § 134.
Pursuant to C.G.S. § 8-36a, the Town hereby withdraws as a member of HVCEO, effective as of the expiration of the Transitional Period. The following ordinance provisions regarding HVCEO are repealed effective as of the end of the Transitional Period, Ordinance RE: Council of Chief Executives, dated and approved on December 12, 1968, except that the Transitional MPO Board referred to in § 18-7 hereof shall continue in existence for such time period as determined by its members.
