07-09-2009 Charter Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION APPROVED 133 Mr. Bob Bening, 6788 E. Shadow Lake Road, in regard to a statement that the council 134 cannot make appointments to the commission, pointed out that state law allows the 135 council to do so if the chief judge doesn't do it. 136 137 The council discussed the history of receiving instruction regarding charter commissions 138 from the League of Minnesota Cities (LMC). Both the council and the commission have 139 had the benefit of those presentations. In this case, it would be appropriate to take full 140 advantage of those services. 141 142 When asked if his appointed task has been completed, Mr. Doherty responded yes with 143 the exception of following through on the data practice request for information on how 144 the contract for services was let. 145 146 Rosemary Storberg, speaking as a citizen of Lino Lakes, noted her concern that the audit 147 wouldn't have happened if the referendum hadn't lost. She suggests that too much 148 money has been spent already on these issues (the referendum) and she doesn't think the 149 citizens of Lino Lakes would welcome yet more publicity. It would not be good for the 150 city. 151 152 A council member clarified that the council never took a stand on how they wanted the 153 referendum to turn out. The citizens need to have as much information as necessary for 154 them to understand what is going on. The effort should be to continue to provide 155 proactive information that is helpful to the public in understanding the charter. 156 157 A council member noted the history of the referendum that includes a citizen task force 158 recommendation that was more moderate than what was on the ballot. The process of 159 bringing that thorough and thoughtful recommendation to the people was high jacked. 160 161 A citizen in the audience remarked that the citizens of the city have every right to know 162 when something runs afoul. It appears the commission worked outside the boundaries of 163 their authority whether they knew or not. 164 165 A council member remarked that the council needs to be pro active on communicating 166 how the charter works. How do we communicate what our charter means? That's 167 another task for the council to consider. 168 169 ANNUAL FINANCIAL AUDIT 170 171 Finance Director Rolek introduced Michelle Bruley and Craig Poppenhagen of the city's 172 financial auditing firm, LarsonAllen, LLP. Mr. Poppenhagen distributed a summary of 173 the 2008 audit and reviewed the content (summary and all audit reports on file). 174 175 The audit will be considered for approval by the council at their meeting on June 8, 2009. 176 Once the document is approved, it will be posted on the city's Web sit. 177 June 1, 2009 4