11/10/2008 Council Packet (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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6477.4.m. u,. ! t Complaints against the Charter Commission for Unethical Conduct. Submitted by: Joseph Meyer 6988 West Shadow Lake Drive. Lino Lakes, MN u) lod 1) Members of the Charter Commission have violated the City's Code of Conduct and because of this they should be removed from the Charter Commission. Mike Trehus and Chris Bretroi both live on West Shadow Lake Drive (WSLD) and have been openly opposed to referendums to fix WSLD. Since the majority of the people on the road have been in support of these referendums they know the only possible way they can block improvements on WSLD is with the city wide referendum clause currently in the Chapter 8 of the Charter. Because of this conflict these two Commissioners should have abstained from any involvement with changes to Chapter 8 of the Charter, especially if it involves maintaining the city wide referendum. I sent an email to the Charter Commission on 10/9/08 warning of this conflict of interest. These members and the Charter Commission failed to act on this information. In fact both members have been very active in spearheading the effort to discredit the referendum with articles in the local papers, letter writing and putting together a website. This conflict has been going on for a few years now. Over the last couple of years they have made sure the city wide referendum clause has not changed. Section 204.a of the City Code of conduct allows for removal for intentional violation of the code. Both these members should be removed from the Charter Commission. 2) The Charter Commission tried to deny citizens the right to submit a petition. "Citizens for Safer Roads" used processes outlined in the Charter to initiate the petition/referendum. Before we started we contacted City Hall to make sure we followed the rules as set forth in the Charter. City Hall consulted their attorney to confirm our wording and that the process was proper. As outlined in the Charter, it is the City Clerk's duty to validate petitions. However, Charter Commission members overstepped their boundaries and responsibilities and went to great lengths to try to discredit the "Citizens for Safer Road" petition. They questioned the signatures, dates of birth, voter registration, the wording of the referendum, the use of the City Attorney, they questioned who collected the signature, their addresses, and they even questioned who the notaries were and what days they worked. All this in an effort to discredit a petition put forth using the Charter petition process they oversee. Validation of a petition is not the job of the Charter Commission. It was highly inappropriate for them to go to the extent they did to discredit the petition.