07-13-2006 Charter Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Ms. Julianne Bartell May 12, 2006 Page 2 proposed amendment and must do so within 60 days but can have an additional 90 days upon adopting a resolution that additional time for review is needed. Upon review, the Charter Commission shall approve or reject the proposed amendment or suggest a substitute amendment. The failure of the Charter Commission to take action should be treated as a rejection by the Charter Commission as it did not affirmatively approve the proposal or affirmatively suggest a substitute proposal. Should the Charter Commission fail to take action after expiration of the appropriate time period, the Council may .subrn't the matter to the voters. This vote by the Council need not be unanimous but a simple majority would suffice. Additionally, should the Charter Commission affirmatively take action to reject the proposal, the Council could nonetheless submit the matter to the voters by a simple majority vote. There is another procedure the City could follow to approve the Charter amendment without submitting it to the voters. This would be an amendment to the Charter under Section 410.12, Subd. 7 (2004). (The current process is utilizing Section 410.12, Subd. 5). Under Subd. 7, the Charter Commission could affirmatively recommend to the City Council to amend the Charter by ordinance. That ordinance could be adopted by the City Council by a unanimous vote after a public hearing with two weeks published notice. The ordinance would not become effective until 90 days after passage and publication. The time period is allow the opportunity for a petition requesting a referendum on the proposal to be circulated and filed. If a sufficient petition is timely filed, the ordinance does not become effective until approved by the voters. If the Charter Commission desires to follow this procedure, it should pass two resolutions. The first resolution would be in response to the referral from the City Council and would approve the proposed Charter amendment pursuant to Section 410.12, Subd. 5. The second resolution would be an affirmative recommendation to amend the Charter pursuant to Section 410.12, Subd. 7. These resolutions may seem redundant but they are not as the statute requires the City Council to proceed in different manners depending upon how the proposal is submitted to them. Should the Charter Commission adopt both resolutions and submit them to the City Council, then the City Council would have the option of either approving the first resolution by a Tess than unanimous vote and require a referendum or adopt the second resolution by unanimous vote and not submit the issue to the voters. - 16 -