12-02-1993 Charter Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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ADDITIONAL TOPICS FOR CHARTER COMMISSION REVIEW IN 1994 1. Section 8.04 - "A period of 60 days shall lapse after the public hearing before any further action shall be taken by the City Council on the proposed improvement" . This is a long period of time and stops a project completely during that time. A 30 day waiting period would allow sufficient time for any petitions against an improvement. 2 . Section 8 . 04 - "All improvements to be paid for by special assessments against the benefitted property shall be instituted by either, (1) a petition of at least twenty-five percent (25%) in number of the benefitted property owners. . . . . . . . " . The Charter does not provide for a fee for the cost of obtaining a project cost estimate (feasibility study) . Sometimes the fee for the cost estimate can be as much as twenty-five hundred dollars ($2, 500. 00) . When the costs are known and the public hearing is conducted, the landowners can petition against the project. If they petition against the improvement, there are no assessments or any other funds to pay for the feasibility study. The Charter says such costs cannot come from the General Fund. The suggestion is to amend the City Charter to include a certain fee for a feasibility study. 3 . Section 4. 05, Subd. 2 This subdivision requires that the Clerk-Treasurer give 60 days published notice prior to a special election. Subd. 1 requires that the election be held within 90 days. This allows less than 30 days for absentee balloting. Also state statutes require that there be eight (8) weeks between the last day for filing affidavits of candidacy for office and the actual election day. This requirement cannot be met if current Charter requirements are enforced. A proposal for Charter amendment could be as follows: 1. Once a vacancy occurs, the special election shall be set 100 days from the date of vacancy. 2 . The City Clerk-Treasurer shall give immediate notice of the special election. 3 . The Clerk-Treasurer shall give published notice that candidate affidavits shall be accepted no earlier than 70 days and no later than 56 days before the election. (Per state statute) This allows for a 30 day notice of special election.