09-08-2009 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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SPECIALCOUNCIL MEETING September 8, 2009 APPROVED 2 CITY OF LINO LAKES 3 MINUTES 4 SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 5 6 DATE : September 8, 2009 7 TIME STARTED : 5:35 p.m. 8 TIME ENDED : 6:25 p.m. 9 MEMBERS PRESENT : Council Members Reinert, Stoltz, 10 Gallup, O'Donnell and Mayor Bergeson 11 MEMBERS ABSENT : none 12 13 Also Present: Acting City Administrator Dan Tesch; Community Development Director 14 Michael Grochala; Public Safety Director Dave Pecchia; Director of Finance Al Rolek; City 15 Planner Jeff Smyser; City Clerk Julie Bartell 16 Mayor Bergeson called the meeting to order at 5:35 p.m. in the Council Chambers at Lino 17 Lakes City Hall. 18 The only agenda item was consideration of Public Hearing and First Reading of Ordinance 19 No. 06-09, amending the City Charter to require that council meetings 20 be televised. 21 City Clerk Bartell explained that the charter amendment proposal before the council was 22 brought forward by the Lino Lakes Charter Commission on July 13. The amendment would 23 add language to Section 3.01 of the Lino Lakes City Charter requiring all regular open council 24 meetings, the Open Mike portion, and council work sessions to be televised. 25 The charter commission requested that the amendment be considered a proposal under 26 Minnesota Statutes, Section 410.12, Subd. 7 Amendment by Ordinance. That statute sets forth 27 a schedule for consideration that the city must follow. A public hearing notice is required 28 within one month of receiving the proposal (published on August 11), and a public hearing is 29 to be held between Aug 25 and Sept 11 (hearing being held tonight, Sept 8). Looking 30 forward, the council must vote on the proposal within one month of the public hearing 31 (October 8 deadline). The remainder of the schedule for consideration, including two readings 32 at least 14 days apart,was reviewed. It was noted that the city attorney had provided an 33 opinion and some changes clarifiying the text of the amendment, however, the charter 34 commission had rejected any change. Ms. Bartell also outlined information included in the 35 staff report on how the amendment could be implemented. 36 Charter Commissioner Connie Sutherland explained that the commission brought forward the 37 proposed amendment to promote transparency in local government. The verbage of the 38 amendment includes adding the "Open Mike"portion to the televised portion of the council 39 meeting. It will also require televising of the council work sessions to give citizens the 40 opportunity to see how the council discusses and reaches its decisions for the city. 41 Mayor Bergeson opened the public hearing. 1