01-11-2007 Charter Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Memorandum Date: January 4, 2007 To: Charter Commission Chairperson Warren and Commissioners From: Gordon Heitke Re: Meeting Request As requested in Chairperson Warren's e-mail of Tuesday, the subsequent memo related to road reconstruction and requesting staff to be present at the January 11, 2007 Charter Commission meeting was distributed to the Council at their January 3 work session meeting. The Council reacted very positively to the suggestions contained in the memo and complimented Chairperson Warren on initiating this communication. The Council, however, is proposing an alternative approach to addressing the issues raised in the memo. First, the issue of "whether the Commission and the City are able to develop a process and plan together..." is something that will need to be determined by the Commission and the Council. The staff will carry out whatever directive they receive from the Council. In response to the points in the memo regarding "better understanding the pitfalls of our current process", receiving input on "where the process gets bogged down", "ideas...for overcoming these gateways", and "where we might improve the process", the Council and staff agree that Mr. Grochala and Mr. Studenski are not the most appropriate resource persons to address these issues. Mr. Studenski's involvement in road reconstruction is limited to the design and engineering aspects of the improvements and Mr. Grochala carries out the directives of the city's bond counsel. Due to the complexity of the interrelationship of the present charter provisions and statutes, and ambiguities within the charter, the city's bond counsel interprets the charter and advises staff on all charter - related activities. Therefore, the Council feels that a more appropriate and effective approach to addressing the intent of the memo is to have the Council members involved and to have the city's