07-12-2012 Charter Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Search

Charter Commission July 8, 2010 Page 4 _35 Mayor Reinert agreed to have the attorney look at the question again and provide some legal 136 precedent. 137 138 Chair Dahl pointed out that the commission will have difficulty moving ahead until this bill is 139 paid and would appreciate a legal review and another opinion. 140 141 C. Code of Conduct/Conflict of Interest 142 Commissioner Gunderson explained that the Commission at one time decided to review the code 143 of conduct language in the city code especially in light of their desire to have a code for the 144 Commission. In reviewing the language, the Commission felt it needed some revision. Using 145 examples of codes of conduct from other cities in Minnesota, the Commission began to draft 146 revised language. Before completing a draft, the Commission seeks to get input from the 147 Council. 148 149 Mayor Reinert noted that the passing of laws, policies, and ordinances are generally done to solve 150 a problem or to pave the way to improvement. There is a code of conduct in the City's code and 151 as well a council produced code from 2006 and he doesn't see an issue with what's in place or 152 issues in the area of conduct. 153 154 Commissioner Dahl explained that there didn't seem to be any language on conflict of interest x.455 and as well they have found in doing research that some codes seem to cover better the Boards 56 and Commissions. 157 158 Commissioner Drennen noted that the language of the current code of conduct does not include 159 the words "conflict of interest" or deal with gifts and favors, therefore stronger language was 160 sought. 161 162 Mayor Reinert suggested that if the language isn't complete, then perhaps an update is possible. 163 164 Council Member O'Donnell suggested that bringing the codes of conduct together is a fine idea 165 but in the interest of maintaining the original intent of the code that the council adopted which 166 was to focus on how the council interacts within its body and with staff and he wouldn't want to 167 see that intent lost with any revisions. 168 169 Commissioner Lyden remarked that a change in the enforcement process may be warranted; the 170 body policing itself doesn't always work well. 171 172 D. Tax Cap Amendment 173 Commissioner Trehus noted the information provided in the packet that indicates that the 174 increases in the city levy have outgrown the population increases. Lino Lakes is a little different 175 in that there is no budgeting for road improvements, therefore he has added an estimated cost for 176 those improvements into his figures. A number of cities in the region have enacted measures to '\77 cap tax increases. Commissioner Trehus feels a cap is strongly needed with the pending end of 78 the state levy limits at the end of 2011. When looking at the adopted levy for 2008-2010, 179 Commissioner Trehus complimented last year's council for decreasing the 2010 levy. He also 4