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<br />WS – Item 5 <br />WORK SESSION STAFF REPORT <br />Work Session Item No. 5 <br /> <br /> <br />Date: April 3, 2017 <br /> <br />To: City Council <br /> <br />From: Jeff Karlson <br /> <br />Re: Charter Commission Request for Additional Funding <br /> <br /> <br />Background <br /> <br />The Charter Commission recently submitted a request for an additional $4,000 in its 2017 <br />operating budget. The Council has received many requests from the Commission in past years. <br />The Council amended the Commission’s budget in 2007 and 2014 for Council-initiated Charter <br />amendments. <br /> <br />The Charter Commission’s current budget is $1,500, which is established in state law for charter <br />cities that are not first class. Minnesota Statute 410.06 states the following: <br /> <br /> The amount of reasonable and necessary charter commission expenses that shall be so <br /> paid by the city shall not exceed in any one year the sum of $10,000 for a first class city <br /> and $1,500 for any other city; but the council may authorize such additional charter <br /> commission expenses as it deems necessary. <br /> <br />Commission Chair Caroline Dahl points out in her letter that the Commission’s current budget is <br />substantially less than what it was in the 1990’s. Staff researched previous budget years going <br />back to 1995 and found the City had budgeted as much as $6,710, but none of those funds were <br />directed by the Charter Commission. The Charter Commission’s budget for legal services has <br />been $1,500 since 2007. <br /> <br />Since 2007 the Council has approved three budget amendments. The first amendment was in <br />2007 for $5,250, due to a study conducted in 2007 by the Citizen’s Task Force, which proposed <br />amendments to Section 8. The second budget amendment occurred in 2013 when the Council <br />agreed to provide $1,000 for TimeSaver, Inc. to take minutes at Charter Commission meetings. <br />The Council budgeted for this expense starting in 2015. The third amendment included <br />additional funding of $1,325 in 2014 for two Council-initiated amendments to Section 8. <br /> <br />Requested Council Direction <br /> <br />Consider Charter Commission’s request. <br /> <br /> Attachments <br /> <br />Letter from Lino Lakes Charter Commission