09/08/2008 Council Minutes (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Search

CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION September 8, 2008 APPROVED •1 CITY OF LINO LAKES 2 MINUTES 3 CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION 4 5 DATE : September 8, 2008 6 TIME STARTED : 6:03 p.m. 7 TIME ENDED : 6:30 p.m. 8 MEMBERS PRESENT : Council Members O'Donnell, Reinert, Gallup, 9 Stoltz and Mayor Bergeson 10 MEMBERS ABSENT : none 11 12 13 Staff members present: City Administrator, Gordon Heitke; Director of Public Safety, 14 Dave Pecchia; City Clerk, Julie Bartell 15 16 Ballot Language for Charter Amendment — City Clerk Bartell distributed an e-mail 17 communication from concerned citizen Michael Trehus that includes his recommendation 18 for ballot language. Mr. Bubul suggested that, in his opinion, the proposed language 19 would not be appropriate because it is too slanted. 20 21 The Council had received a memorandum from Attorney Steven Bubul, Kennedy & 22 Graven law firm, who is providing counsel to the city in matters relative to a charter 23 amendment. Based on previous council direction, Mr. Bubul provided the council with • 24 three options for ballot language for the citizen petitioned charter amendment: simply 25 stating the text of the amendment; describing the text of the amendment and indicating that 26 the amendment would change assessment procedures; and describing the text of the 27 amendment and highlighting that two features of the existing charter would change. He is 28 recommending either Option A or B because Option C includes specifics about the change 29 to the current procedure and that could raise questions about whether or not the ballot 30 language should also include specifics about Chapter 429. As an example of the reasoning 31 not to include specifics, Mr. Bubul noted that when a charter is originally passed, 32 according to statute, the ballot question includes no specifics about the charter but just 33 whether or not the charter is approved. There should also be consideration that the 34 amendment comes forward as a petition. 35 36 The council discussed the possibility of adding some explanation of the referendum 37 process that is the cornerstone of the current procedure. It is important to provide enough 38 information to the voters and still remain neutral. 39 40 It was noted by a council member that school referendum questions include a reference to 41 a tax increase and that may be appropriate in this case. There was not council concurrence 42 on including that type of reference. Mr. Bubul noted that there is not a specific amount of 43 money involved as there is with school referendums. 44 45 There was concurrence to consider at the regular council meeting the following ballot .46 language: 47