06-14-2007 Charter Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Citizen's Task Force Meeting Summary Tuesday, June 12, 2007 In attendance: Task Force: Peter Brown, John Latcham, Kathi Gallup, Judi Brunner, Laura Carlson City Council: Mayor John Bergeson, Jeff Reinert, Jeff O'Donnell, Donna Carlson View of issue by Mayor Bergeson- Our toolkit is limited by section 8 Council member Reinert- How can we work with the tools we have to make a difference? How can we work within our current laws? Council member O'Donnell- What is the city's responsibility to the citizens? About 5.5 +2.1 mil in new projects will be on the referendum again this next election. At some point in time these projects will continue to mount and create a huge burden on the city. We are pushing the problem down the road and that isn't responsible. Judi - As a group we don't feel that scrapping section 8 will be feasible. People are still going to want to have a say on the project and keep the petition process in place. Jamie - Even if we remove referendum does that fix all our charter issues? Likely not. Remove referendum piece on ballot as well as the $7.6 in spending? This is too much for one ballot and may confuse the issue. The street items should not be on the ballot. The city has been advised to keep the streets on the ballot as a liability issue but if we have an item on the ballot to fix the system (which will fix the streets) that should be even more evidence that there is an issue and the city wants it resolved. Council member Reinert - We could be accused of being irresponsible if we don't fix the roads or if we finance them wrongly. We won't be accused of being irresponsible if we start to establish a fund to use to fix the roads. This may be seen as a more expensive route but if we leave and haven't done anything how can they feel that they have done their job? Note: Source of fund would be property tax levy Peter - We will likely recommend a change to the charter in our recommendation. What can be done to "sell" this change? It was pointed out that the Charter Commission felt that one reason for the failure of the referendums was that not enough education/communication was provided. An educated electorate is required for this system to work. Why wasn't more communication/education delivered? From Mayor Bergeson - There are legal issues politicking a program. We can only provide information. This needs to be worked out closely with legal counsel.