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Charter Commission July 8, 2010 Page 4 135 having legal representation or seek legal advice. The Mayor stated he did not know the answer to 136 that situation. 137 138 Mayor Reinert agreed to have the attorney look at the question again and provide some legal 139 precedent. 140 141 Chair Dahl pointed out that the commission will have difficulty moving ahead until this bill is 142 paid and would appreciate a legal review and another opinion. 143 144 C. Code of Conduct/Conflict of Interest 145 Commissioner Gunderson explained that the Commission at one time decided to review the code 146 of conduct language in the city code especially in light of their desire to have a code for the 147 Commission. In reviewing the language, the Commission felt it needed some revision. Using 148 examples of codes of conduct from other cities in Minnesota, the Commission began to draft 149 revised language. Before completing a draft, the Commission seeks to get input from the 150 Council. 151 152 Mayor Reinert noted that the passing of laws, policies, and ordinances are generally done to solve 153 a problem or to pave the way to improvement. There is a code of conduct in the City's code and 154 as well a council produced code from 2006 and he doesn't see an issue with what's in place or 155 issues in the area of conduct. 156 157 Commissioner Dahl explained that there didn't seem to be any language on conflict of interest 158 and as well they have found in doing research that some codes seem to cover better the Boards 159 and Commissions. 160 161 Commissioner Drennen noted that the language of the current code of conduct does not include 162 the words "conflict of interest" or deal with gifts and favors, therefore stronger language was 163 sought. 164 165 Mayor Reinert suggested that if the language isn't complete, then perhaps an update is possible. 166 167 Council Member O'Donnell suggested that bringing the codes of conduct together is a fine idea 168 but in the interest of maintaining the original intent of the code that the council adopted which 169 was to focus on how the council interacts within its body and with staff and he wouldn't want to 170 see that intent lost with any revisions. 171 172 Commissioner Lyden remarked that a change in the enforcement process may be warranted; the 173 body policing itself doesn't always work well. 174 175 D. Tax Cap Amendment 176 Commissioner Trehus noted the information provided in the packet that indicates that the 177 increases in the city levy have outgrown the population increases. Lino Lakes is a little different 178 in that there is no budgeting for road improvements, therefore he has added an estimated cost for 179 those improvements into his figures. A number of cities in the region have enacted measures to 4