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Charter Commission January 11, 2007 Page 6 DRAFT 226 to want to dialogue with Council but not the Commission. Mr. Thomas answered he 227 went to visit them. 228 229 Commissioner Storberg inquired if any mailings were distributed. Mr. Thomas 230 1 responded that there were no mailings; however, a statement was made and was replayed 231 several times a week. As a result, 78% of the voters were in favor of the amendment, 232 which was more than voted for the mayor. 233 234 Ms. Thomas stated Council was financially very supportive of the limitations. It was an 235 eight-year process to have it come together. Mr. Thomas stated taxes were not raised 236 more than 5% per year. 237 238 Commissioner Trehus asked for clarification. Mr. Thomas answered the lesser of the 239 consumer price index, and was explained in three pages. It was the most difficult part in 240 the Charter, but it was not the most important accomplishment. The most important 241 accomplishment was the rest of chapter 7 that was clarified so that anyone could 242 understand the process. 243 244 Chair Warren inquired if they ever had difficulty with accessing City staff. Mr. Thomas 245 admitted the tension was high when he began on the Commission. With the election of a 246 new mayor, there was a fresh start. It took time to change the environment. 247 248 Ms. Thomas stated at that time there was a new mayor and new City Attorney. Mr. 249 Thomas added that some Commissioners would work with the mayor, but they were 250 outnumbered. 251 252 Ms. Thomas noted that the term for mayor was only two years. Mr. Thomas indicated 253 there were originally 15 members on the Charter Commission, now there were only six 254 members because many resigned. 255 256 Commissioner Dahl inquired if the success rate was attributed to televising the meetings. 257 Mr. Thomas answered that the impact of the meetings being televised was very small 258 because less than 50% of the residents had cable. 259 260 Commissioner Dahl questioned the guests concerning the impact of web streaming. The 261 Charter Commission was not on the web as yet. Mr. Thomas responded it was on during 262 the recent past, but they were in the process. He explained that five years ago they had 263 joint meetings with Council to identify concerns that they could agree on. It was 264 apparent that staff had concerns dating back 15 years that had not been addressed. Those 265 were the first the Commission worked on. The second category was to identify things to 266 be done, and define a process to go to voters for the decision. The third category was the 267 concerns that were too much work, such as the system of taxation, upgrading chapter 7, 268 chapter 5 referendums and recall. 269