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Charter Commission January 13, 2011 Page 6 226 Councilmember Roeser to move the city elections to even -years, when general State and Federal 227 elections take place, in order to save the city money. 228 229 Commissioner Gunderson states the dollar figures of believed cost -savings is not listed on the 230 memo. Commissioner Turcotte said he found the estimated dollar amount of $14,000, a bi- 231 yearly expense. Commissioner Trehus stated the actual amount is about $8,800 or less. 232 233 MOTION by Commissioner Sutherland, seconded by Gunderson for purposes of further 234 discussion only, to refer this item to committee for further review to draft language for an 235 amendment. 236 237 Commissioner Trehus stated that before the item is given to a subcommittee, the Commission 238 needs to decide if it is in agreement with the proposal. 239 240 Commissioner Sutherland asks the Commission to vote to withdraw the motion. Commissioner 241 Gunderson states a vote is not needed. Commissioner Sutherland stated she believes it is needed. 242 243 Motion is withdrawn via unanimous vote of the Commission. 244 245 Commissioner Storberg stated her opinion of agreement of moving city elections to even -years. 246 247 Commissioner Trehus is not in support of the proposal and stated Mayor Reinert is also in 248 opposition. The attention city elections receive in odd -year elections is a service to the citizens. 249 The cost savings is not worth the effort of moving the elections. Commissioners Gunderson, 250 Carlson, Drennen concur. 251 252 MOTION by Commissioner Sutherland, seconded by Commissioner Carlson, that the 253 Commission draft a response to the City Council that the Commission concurs with the 254 sentiments stated in lines 37 — 41 from the October 4, 2010 work session of the City Council. 255 256 Motion passes unanimously. 257 258 D. Meetings per year of the Commission — By laws, Article 3, Section 1 259 260 Commissioner Gunderson read the section of the Commission by laws of how often the 261 Commission meets each year. After that, Commissioner Gunderson discussed the possibility of 262 adding more meetings each year, having a meeting every other month. The reasons given for this 263 include that the past several meetings have run long, agenda items are being tabled in order to 264 end meetings late in the evening and it is believed that with 15 Commissioners, some 265 commissioners may not be getting a fair amount of time to discuss items. Commissioner 266 Gunderson asked for discussion to include the opinion of Commissioners on meeting more often. 267 268 Commissioner Drennen believes that if Commissioners self -police discussions, stay on topic and 269 if meetings are run more efficiently, more meetings would not be needed. Commissioner 6