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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-19-16 Charter MinutesCharter Commission May 19, 2016 Page 1 1 APPROVED 1 CITY OF LINO LAKES 2 CHARTER COMMISSION 3 4 DATE May 19, 2016 5 TIME STARTED 6:30 p.m. 6 TIME ENDED 7:49 p.m. 7 MEMBERS PRESENT Aldentaler, Bretoi, Dahl, Damiani, Devaney, Johnson 8 (arrived at 7:00 p.m.), Juni, Stanek, Storberg, Stranik, 9 and Vanderpoel 10 MEMBERS EXCUSED Combs, Lyden, Poehling, Turcotte 11 MEMBERS UNEXCUSED None 12 STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT None 13 OTHERS PRESENT: Julie Pearson 14 15 16 CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL 17 Chair Dahl reconvened the meeting of the Lino Lakes Charter Commission at 6:35 pm on May 18 19, 2016. 19 20 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 21 Chair Dahl lead the Pledge of Allegiance. 22 23 SETTING THE AGENDA 24 Agenda was accepted as presented without additions 25 26 PROPOSED CHARTER WARD AMENDMENT, AMENDING SECTION 2.03. 27 COUNCIL COMPOSITION AND ELECTION, RELATING TO CITY WARDS 28 29 A. Discussion on Comments from City Attorney Mr. Langel 30 Chair Dahl stated that originally she was under the impression that Mr. Kaardal would be 31 attending the meeting tonight but noted that she received some information via email from him 32 prior to the meeting. She distributed the information to the Commission. 33 34 Commissioner Stranik stated that the Council recommendation would appear to be the easiest 35 method to amend the Charter and asked if it would make sense to go to a Council meeting to 36 open the conversation. He stated that perhaps a simple majority of the Council would be in favor 37 of wards and therefore the amendment could go forward in that method rather than follow the 38 costly process to amend the Charter outside of that option. 39 40 Commissioner Devaney stated that there was a discussion at the Council worksession at which 41 the question of the Commission obtaining help from the League of Minnesota Cities was 42 discussed and two of the Councilmembers were very vocal about their opposition to wards. He 43 noted that he himself is not sure whether he would vote to support wards but believed the item 44 should be placed on the ballot for voters to choose. 45 Charter Commission May 19, 2016 Page 2 2 46 Commissioner Bretoi stated that he would be open to that option if there was more time but 47 noted that if this item is going to go to ballot the Commission needs to continue to move forward. 48 49 Commissioner Stranik stated that there would need to be an advocate on the Council and noted 50 that he was not certain whether there would be such a person on the Council. 51 52 Commissioner Bretoi noted that the Commission attempted to do that the previous year and the 53 Council stalled until the point where the Commission did not have sufficient time to get the item 54 onto the ballot. He stated that he would not want to miss another opportunity. 55 56 Chair Dahl agreed that she would not want to have the Council delay and the Commission miss 57 another opportunity to place the item on the ballot. 58 59 Commissioner Juni stated that from the response from the City Council he would believe that the 60 Council would be open to continuing the discussion. 61 62 Commissioner Damiani stated that the Commission should just get things in order to place on the 63 ballot rather than wait around for responses and opinions of the Council. 64 65 Commissioner Vanderpoel stated that the decision on whether or not to have wards is not up to 66 the Commission or the Council and is the decision of the people of Lino Lakes. He suggested 67 that the Commission follow the steps for approval by election so that the residents can make the 68 choice. 69 70 Commissioner Bretoi stated that he would want to see additional language that would restrict 71 someone from drawing boundaries that would have self-serving purpose. He stated that he 72 would like to see enough restrictions so that members of the Council cannot be excluded or 73 included and it should be done in a fair manner. 74 75 Commissioner Devaney stated that he was impressed with the willingness of Mr. Langel to 76 provide the Commission with the information they would need to continue to move this forward. 77 78 Commissioner Devaney stated that there is language included in the proposed amendment which 79 would include sufficient restriction in creating boundaries. 80 81 Commissioner Storberg stated that her concern would be that people would not understand this if 82 the item were placed on the ballot. 83 84 Commissioner Stranik referenced the process to follow for approval by election, specifically the 85 third bullet point regarding legal. He asked for clarification on how the change would be 86 implemented. 87 88 It was explained that beginning in 2017, the Councilmembers would be at-large and when each 89 term came up for re-election the ward system would come into play. 90 Charter Commission May 19, 2016 Page 3 3 91 Commissioner Stranik stated that he would like additional information from Mr. Langel on how 92 the implementation would apply. 93 94 Commissioner Devaney stated that he would suggest moving this forward to the City Council 95 and Mr. Langel. 96 97 Commissioner Bretoi noted that the comments from the Council were already received from the 98 submission the previous year and those are the responses that Mr. Kaardal responded to when 99 making the updates to ensure the language is compliant with State statute. 100 101 MOTION by Commissioner Devaney, seconded by Commissioner Stanek, requesting to move 102 forward the amended language to the City Council for review. 103 104 Further discussion: Commissioner Vanderpoel suggested that the memorandum letter be 105 submitted with the new draft amendment. 106 107 It was the consensus of the Commission that the memorandum letter be included with the new 108 draft amendment. 109 110 Commissioner Bretoi stated that the Commission could have Mr. Kaardal draft the language 111 proposed to be on the ballot and that could be forwarded to the Council. He asked that the 112 motion be amended to submit a version consistent with number one from Mr. Langel, 113 specifically the redline copy. 114 115 The amended MOTION accepted by Commissioner Devaney, seconded by Commissioner 116 Stanek, requesting to move forward the memorandum letter and the new draft amendment, 117 amended to be a redline version consistent with number one of Mr. Langel’s memorandum. 118 119 It was determined that the Commission would ask Mr. Kaardal to draft the redline version for 120 submission to the City Council and Mr. Langel. 121 122 Commissioner Bretoi called the vote to question. 123 124 Motion passed unanimously. 125 126 Motion passed unanimously. 127 128 MOTION by Commissioner Bretoi, seconded by Commissioner Damiani, requesting to ask Mr. 129 Kaardal to draft the redline version of the draft amendment, as long as the service is within the 130 original $500 budget approved for Mr. Kaardal. 131 132 Motion passed unanimously. 133 134 NEXT MEETING DATE 135 Charter Commission May 19, 2016 Page 4 4 Chair Dahl noted the next meeting date is Thursday, July 14, 2016. She stated that an additional 136 meeting may be needed between now and that time depending upon the response received from 137 the Council and Mr. Langel. She stated that if another meeting is needed she would send out an 138 email to coordinate the most convenient date for the group. 139 140 Commissioner Bretoi stated that the July 14th meeting may not be needed if the response from the 141 Council does not call for a special meeting. 142 143 It was the consensus of the Commission that a deadline should be placed on the response from 144 the Council to ensure a timely review. 145 146 It was the consensus of the Commission to schedule a potential special meeting for June 16th, 147 should that be needed. It was also decided that the information submitted to the Council shall 148 have a deadline for response prior to that potential meeting date. 149 150 OTHER 151 Julie Pearson asked what would happen if the ward system is implemented and asked what 152 would occur if no one from the open ward wished to run for the position. 153 154 Chair Dahl stated that in the case of the Commission the current Commissioners remains on the 155 Commission until the position is filled. 156 157 Ms. Pearson stated that while she likes the idea of wards she was unsure that enough people 158 would want to run for the position. 159 160 Commissioner Stranik stated that the ward system usually encourages more participation and 161 interest. 162 163 Chair Dahl agreed that the ward system is less costly for the people campaigning. 164 165 Commissioner Johnson stated that if no one was interested in running he believed that someone 166 would step up and run. 167 168 Commissioner Juni stated that residents of each ward can encourage and support people to run 169 that they believe would appropriately represent their ward. 170 171 Commissioner Damiani noted that people could possibly be more encouraged to vote in the 172 election since they may actually know the person running. 173 174 ADJOURN 175 MOTION by Commissioner Devaney, seconded by Commissioner Johnson, to adjourn the 176 meeting at 7:49 p.m. Motion carried unanimously. 177 178 Drafted by: Amanda Staple, TimeSaver Off Site Secretarial, Inc. 179