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

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Charter Commission April 9, 1998 Page 7 Commissioner Sullivan agreed that it was a good idea to create a simple form, but the Commission did not want to give people the idea to petition everything. He added that there are many ways to address an issue with the City Council before a petition is necessary. Commissioner Sullivan then referred to Chapter 5, summarizing the use of petitions from the Charter. Commissioner Bening stated that he did not believe it was the function of the Commission to create the form, their function is to maintain the Charter. He agreed with Commissioner DeMotts that they did not want to deal with a large number of petitions. He believed that citizens would have more dedication to their cause if petitions were a bit difficult. Commissioner Turner explained that making it user friendly was a tool for marketing. She believed that creating a form would not make petitions easy. She suggested they preface the form with the steps required, with the last option being a referendum and petition. Commissioner Sullivan indicated they did not want to spell out the steps for a citizen to get to the City Council, stating that efficiency is a problem. He would like to get more information from the members who had previously obtained a petition. Commissioner Zastro noted that if things were going smoothly the forms would not be used. Commissioner Dunn stated that the Charter is very clear on the process of Referendum and Petition, indicating it was not up to the Commission to create a form but they should inform the City Council and Staff how difficult it is to obtain a petition. Commissioner Aldentaler explained that the roadblocks to his petition was the City, not the Charter. He believed the Charter was very clear. His petition got stronger as the City got harder to deal with. Commissioner Sullivan asked what the roadblocks were in the format, that is addressed in the Charter. Commissioner Aldentaler again indicated that the struggle was with the City, but they did make it work. The City determined that some of their signatures were not acceptable and they had to work within a stricter timeline. Commissioner Sullivan stated if that happened again to contact the Chair of the Charter Commission, as they would have had a meeting and possibly been able to help. Chair Montain indicated they were perceiving this to be harder than it should have been which is why they should create a form, handout, and instruction booklet. Commissioner Dunn indicated they should determine where the real problem is. 7