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Charter Commission November 15, 2007 Page 8 APPROVED n 307 Commissioner Rosemary Williams stated she preferred to keep the blanket referendum 308 provision. 309 310 Commissioner Richard Williams stated it was his preference to keep anything that isn't 100% 311 paid for by property owners, adding if road improvements or reconstruction were done without a 312 referendum, then everybody's taxes would go up disproportionately. 313 314 Commissioner Storberg stated she felt she was on the fence regarding the issue. She stated she 315 liked the way it was currently written, but felt it needed to be changed. 316 317 Commissioner Zastrow stated he felt it was okay to give the City Council some authority, but it 318 appears that the City wants to assess everybody. 319 320 Ms. Marty asked whether the Charter should allow smaller projects and projects that don't 321 involve streets, with major projects and street projects requiring a referendum. 322 323 Commissioner Carlson reiterated that at the last Commission meeting, there were two nay votes 324 on this issue. He stated there are currently millions of dollars in projects going on in the City and 325 it is against human nature to vote to raise your taxes, and some things have to be mandated. He 326 felt the 12% requirement gives citizens an option, and added he did not feel it was necessary to 327 put a cap on the number of signatures required on a petition. '28 329 Commissioner Bor stated that she wants the City roads to be maintained and to be safe. She 330 stated the proposed Section 8.09 allows all residents to vote on a referendum whether to 331 reconstruct a road or not; the amendment simply adds a component that allows initiation of the 332 process. She stated she is in favor of leaving the requirement at 12%, with no cap. 333 334 Commissioner Dahl stated she has always been an advocate of giving the power to the people 335 and the right to vote on important issues. She stated she voted for the 12% requirement at the last 336 Commission meeting. She indicated a particular neighborhood always has the option to pay for 337 an entire project, with or without the Charter; the proposed amendment makes the Charter very 338 unique and allows residents to actively take part in voting. 339 340 Commissioner Trehus stated it is a big responsibility to get signatures on a petition. With the 341 rapid growth in the City, the bar is going to be raised and could require over 1,000 signatures at 342 some point in the future. He questioned whether residents would go out and obtain that many 343 signatures. 344 345 Chair Duffy reiterated her preference to keep the 12% requirement with a cap up to 500 346 signatures. She stated the current draft includes a number of steps that provide for public input; 347 these steps are not a part of the current Charter. She indicated that if we were to require that all 348 projects get put on the ballot, she did not feel any road projects would get completed. She felt X49 there were sufficient safeguards in the proposed amendment giving more power to the residents. 350 8