04-09-1998 Charter Minutes (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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Charter Commission April 9, 1998 Page 4 MOTION by Commission Turner, seconded by Commissioner Dahl, to form a subcommittee headed by Commissioner Turner and Commissioner Bening to assist. Motion carried with Commissioner Sullivan voting no. Chair Montain requested they report back in July with the bylaw revisions. NEW BUSINESS CHARTER LANGUAGE Commissioner Sullivan explained that because the Charter was difficult to understand, especially Chapter 8, he had volunteered to suggest revisions. He had met with a codification attorney to discuss the language of the Charter and they had determined Lino Lakes was a Class 3 City, as it is over 10,000 people. After meeting with the attorney, he had discovered that it is feasible to clarify the intent of the Charter without changing the substance. However, if even one word was changed it would have to go before the voters. They are able to hire this codification attorney for $60.00 per hour or they could rewrite the Charter themselves and then have the attorney review it, for the lower fee. Chair Montain asked if he had an idea of how many hours it would take to rewrite Chapter 8. Commissioner Sullivan stated that the attorney was familiar with Chapter 8 so he guessed five (5)to six (6) hours. He will find out for sure. Commissioner Aldentaler asked if that was to rewrite or to just review what they had rewritten. Commission Sullivan stated that he was not sure but would find out. Commissioner Dahl suggested they call other cities that are making this change and find out from them how much time and money it took to rewrite their charter. Commissioner Trehus agreed the Charter should be "user friendly", but noted any change had to go before the voters, which would be too time consuming and expensive. Commissioner Kenfield pointed out that there are many typographical errors in the Charter which made it look very unprofessional. She asked if it was on a computer program and if there was a time frame in which they were looking to accomplish this. Chair Montain explained that there was no particular time frame, but this issue does come up frequently. Commissioner Kenfield stated that she would rather not use an attorney as they are not always user friendly. She then suggested a vote which would include a question and answer form. Commissioner Zastro indicated that the Charter should be changed. 4