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Charter Commission April 17, 2008 Page 8 DRAFT 308 than getting the changes that the Commission would like to see approved. He thought that if they 309 could stop the amendment from the City Council they could then propose their own amendment 310 then next year to make the changes they see necessary. 311 312 Commissioner Storberg advised that the biggest issue in the last 25 years was that the charter was 313 ridged and prevented them from getting the roads fixed. She advised that if the Commission's 314 amendment was approved it would get the roads fixed. She advised that it is going to be 315 confusing either way. 316 317 Commissioner Drennen thought that the biggest difference between the two amendments was the 318 issue of referendum. He advised that the amendment proposed by the Commission allows the 319 citizens to hold a referendum within 60 days of a proposed assessment. He advised that it comes 320 down to whether the citizens would like a say or not. 321 322 Commissioner Vacha advised that the charter does not prevent the City from maintaining the 323 roads. 324 325 Commissioner Lyden advised that it comes down to an issue of budget priority and stated that 326 roads have not been the priority for quite a while. 327 328 Commissioner Vacha advised that the Commission should not have spent the time and money if 329 they were not going to present their own amendment. 330 331 Commissioner Drennen advised that they need to move forward. He stated that the time and 332 money that they spent is gone and they should not proceed with something just because of that. 333 334 Commissioner Storberg advised that they could either put out their amendment, let the Council 335 put their amendment out or leave the charter as is. 336 337 Commissioner Trehus questioned if it might be better for the Commission to conduct their own 338 survery. He thought it would be logical to have a professional company conduct the survey to get 339 unbiased results. He suggested forming a subcommittee to ask for funding and also develop 340 questions for the survey. 341 342 Commissioner Zastrow advised that the Council spent about $30,000 on their survey. 343 344 Chair Duffy advised that it was a longer survery and stated that they could keep their survey 345 under ten questions. She advised that ballot language has to be worded clearly so that a simple 346 mark of yes or no would show. She advised that the complete amendment must by published 347 once a week for two weeks in the City prior to adding the question to the ballot. She stated that 348 she had spoken with someone from Anoka County election office and was advised that the City 349 would have to approve finalized ballott language. She advised that she is also going to check 350 with the Leauge of Minnesota Citieson ballot question language. She advised that the City 8