09/08/2008 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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conservative members recognized that this was a large shift and it would be more likely that a revision to the current charter would be either be accepted by the charter commission or pass through election. Unfortunately our amendment was not embraced by the charter commission. It was hoped that by this years election that either the amendment would have been accepted by the charter commission or been reworked in an acceptable manner by the charter commission. When it was apparent that the amendment was not going to make it onto this falls ballot another group began to meet that proposed a stronger change. They proposed moving straight to State Statute 429. These are the provisions that are in place for virtually every other city in Minnesota. There are occasional issues, the ones that you hear about, in using these provisions. No system is going to be perfect. I need to applaud this citizen effort. They organized and collected the necessary signatures to put on this years ballot a proposal to use State Statute 429 instead of Lino Lakes City Charter Section 8. It is certainly more tried and true and used by the bulk of the state. I have to recognize that through the gaining of over 400 signatures that the city may be more ready for this change than our task force recognized. I further recognize that it would be confusing to try to put multiple proposals for how to amend the charter on the same ballot. At this point it is not up to the city council to decide whether or not to put the proposal to move to State Statute 429 on the ballot, it must be on the ballot according to current law. The decision is whether to also include the proposal to merely amend section 8 of the City Charter. The inclusion of both proposals on the ballot would be confusing and likely split voters that recognize the need for change and are ready for it. Therefore, it is my wish and the desire of the citizens who have signed the petition to please place only the proposal to adopt State Statute 429 on the ballot this fall. Thank you for your time and consideration.