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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-14-2010 MinutesCharter Commission Januar- 14, 2010 Page 1 DATE TIME STARTED TIME ENDED MEMBERS PRESENT MEMBERS EXCUSED MEMBERS UNEXCUSED STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT OTHERS PRESENT: FINAL DRAFT CITY OF LINO LAKES CHARTER COMMISSION January 14, 2010 6:40 P.M. 9:50 P.M. Bretoi (departs at 8;30pm), Carlson, Dahl, Gunderson, Lyden, Penn, Storberg, Trehus, Turcotte, Williams, Minar (arrived at 7:28pm), Sutherland (arrived at approx. 8:OOp) Drennen, Stockman Maher, Zastrow None Julie Bartell, City Clerk John Sullivan CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Dahl called the meeting of the Lino Lakes Charter Commission to order at 6:40 pm. on January 14, 2010. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE APPROVAL OF AGENDA Commissioner Carlson added item 7A: City Council meeting from January 11, 2010. OPEN MIKE No one was present for open mike. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Commission viewed the draft minutes from the October 8, 2009. Commissioner Trehus stated that line 145 needed to be removed, as he did not state the question listed. MOTION by Commissioner Trehus, seconded by Commissioner Carlson, to approve the minutes of October 8, 2009, as amended. Motion passes with Commissioners Lyden, Turcotte and Penn abstaining. The Commission then viewed the draft minutes from December 3, 2009. The time of the meeting ended was entered as 8:40pm. At line 59, Commissioner Lyden's name needed to be added as the person who made the statement. Line 77 the word "out" needs to be replaced with "how". Charter Commission January 14, 2010 Page 2 46 47 Line 106 and 107 needs to be amended Commissioner Trehus stated that there is an issue with 48 draft language pertaining to conflicts of interest. Commissioner Trehus also stated that the City 49 Council may be in conformance with section 12.03 of the City Charter. 50 51 Line 122 needs to be corrected as motion made by "Vacha" and seconded by "Aldentaler" at 52 "8:40pm." 53 54 MOTION by Commissioner Lyden, seconded by Commissioner Gunderson, to approve the 55 minutes of December 3, 2009 as amended. Motion passes with Commissioners Turcotte and 56 Penn abstaining. 57 58 59 INTRODUCTION OF NEW COMMISSIONERS 60 Margaret Penn and Shawn Turcotte are introduced as the newest members of the Charter 61 Commission. 62 63 Commissioner Penn stated that she has lived in Lino Lakes for 21 years. She holds dual 64 citizenship as she was born in Canada and became a United States citizen in 2000. She is a 65 Management Consultant for a personnel consulting firm. She is very interested in learning more 66 about the Commission. 67 68 Commissioner Turcotte is a union ceramic tile setter. He has a large interest in local government 69 and is excited to be a member of the commission. 70 71 NEW LAW: Contact information of commissioner contact information becomes public 72 Julie Bartell explained a new law that recently went into effect that all members of any public 73 board must have contact information made public. Ms. Bartell stated the public information of 74 the Commission will not listed on the city's website. 75 76 Commissioner Gunderson asked Ms. Bartell if the City Council has looked into making e-mail 77 addresses for themselves public. 78 79 Commissioner Storberg asked about the status of a permanent City Administrator. Ms. Bartell 80 said the Council was continuing the process of searching for a permanent Administrator. 81 82 OLD BUSINESS 83 84 A. Code of Conduct 85 Commissioner Sutherland was not available at this point of the agenda for an update. 86 MOTION by Commissioner Penn, seconded by Commissioner Carlson to table the update until 87 April meeting. Motion passes unanimously. 88 89 Charter Commission January 14, 2010 Page 3 90 B. Update on Possible Charter Amendments 91 i. Tax Cap 92 Commissioner Sutherland was not available for an update. 93 94 ii. Powers of Charter Commission 95 Commissioner Trehus stated there was no update. 96 97 iii. Televised Meetings 98 Chair Dahl stated that at the November 2, 2009 City Council work session, the Council decided 99 to immediately begin televising the "Open Mike" part of City Council meetings. Further, Chair 100 Dahl stated that Councilmember O'Donnell suggested that the Council members take a cut in pay 101 to cover the costs to televise the work sessions of the City Council. 102 103 Commissioner Trehus commented on city tax levy. Chair Dahl and Commissioner Gunderson 104 stated that the Commission can continue the agenda items not updated to the April meeting 105 106 C. Update from Commissioner Trehus on the ballot question, newsletter, ballot 107 language and related funding 108 109 Commissioner Trehus stated he had a conversation with staff of the State Auditor's office and 110 clue to so many requests for review of levy questions from around the state, the office did not 111 have the ability to review the any vague possibilities of local governments advocating for or 112 against a ballot question. 113 114 MOTION by Commissioner Carlson, seconded by Commissioner Lyden to close the agenda 115 item. Commissioners Bretoi, Lyden and Chair Dahl thanked the Commissioners that worked on 116 the report for the Commission. Commissioner Storberg asked if any beneficial information on 117 ballot questions was learned in the process. Commissioner Trehus reviewed some court cases 118 regarding the issue of ballot questions. Commissioner Trehus also stated the report may have 119 purpose later. 120 121 Chair Dahl calls the question. Motion passes with Commissioners Penn and Turcotte abstaining. 122 123 D. Goal Setting for 2010 124 125 Commissioner Minar arrived at 7:28pm 126 127 MOTION by Commissioner Bretoi, seconded by Commissioner Williams to table to April 128 meeting. Chair Dahl recapped the agenda item that Commissioner Sutherland suggested setting 129 goals for the year. Motion passes unanimously. 130 131 132 133 134 3 Charter Commission January 14, 2010 Page 4 135 NEW BUSINESS 136 137 A. Public Comment at City Council meetings 138 139 Commissioner Carlson watched a replay of the January 11, 2010 City Council meeting where a 140 member of the public was denied an opportunity to comment on an agenda item by Mayor 141 Reinert. Commissioner Carlson called Chair Dahl and reviewed to her Section 3.01 of the 142 Charter that states 143 144 Commissioner Carlson told Chair Dahl that he would like to draft a letter to the City Council. 145 146 Commissioner Storberg stated she also watched the replay of the council meeting. The agenda 147 item being discussed was the union contacts with the city employees. The issue with the contract 148 of a "no-layoff' clause. Commissioner Storberg stated that the Mayor stated that the council 149 meeting wasn't public meeting regarding the contracts. 150 151 Commissioner Lyden asked if this denial of public comment happened during "open mike". 152 Commissioner Carlson stated it was during an agenda item and it was not a closed meeting. 153 154 Commissioner Gunderson asked if the person being denied a chance to comment was a known 155 citizen of Lino Lakes or a known union represented. Commissioner Carlson said the man did not 156 have a chance to identify himself. 157 158 Chair Dahl stated she believes it does not matter who the person was who wanted to speak. The 159 Charter does not state that only citizens of Lino Lakes have the right to speak. Commissioner 160 Storberg disagrees. 161 162 Commissioner Trehus asked what the rationale of the denial. Commissioner Carlson said the 163 Mayor stated the meeting was not a public hearing on the issue. 164 165 Commissioner Gunderson stated the Council should be reminded of the section of the Charter 166 that allows for citizens to speak on agenda items, where as the person who was denied should 167 have been allowed to at least identify themselves for public record. 168 169 Commissioner Penn suggested we reference past practice in the letter to the Council. 170 171 Commissioner Carlson states that any agenda items cannot be discussed during the "open mike" 172 portion of the meeting. 173 174 A video of the part of the meeting where the person was denied to speak to the Council was 175 played for the Commission. 176 177 MOTION by Commissioner Bretoi, seconded by Commissioner Minar, to send a letter to the 178 council reminding them of Section 3.01 of the Charter regarding the rules of public comment 179 allowed for agenda items of City Council meetings. 4 Charter Commission January 14, 2010 Page 5 180 181 Discussion from several Commissioners further edits the letter being drafted to the City Council. 182 183 Commissioner Sutherland arrives at approximately 8:OOp 184 185 Commissioner Storberg objects to sending the letter to the Council. Commissioners Lyden, 186 Gunderson and Minar both state believes it is the duty of the Charter Commission to send this 187 letter of reminding the Council of public comment rules. 188 189 Mr. John Sullivan suggests the Commission table the issue and do more research. 190 191 Commissioner Trehus asked what would be discussed in a closed meeting in regards to union 192 contracts. Commissioner Lyden states personnel issues and negotiations would be discussed in 193 closed meetings. Commissioner Trehus stated the Commission should remind the council of the 194 charter and asked if there was any mitigating circumstances behind the denial of public comment 195 196 Commissioner Bretoi has concerns of dropping the issue, but asked if the Chair could approach 197 the Mayor off the record on this issue. 198 199 Commissioner Gunderson agrees the issue should not be tabled because the next meeting is three 200 months away and encourages sending the letter stating the section of the Charter on public 201 comments and asking for further details. 202 203 Commissioner Trehus suggests further editing of the letter to soften the tone of the letter. 204 205 Commissioner Bretoi withdraws his motion of sending the letter to the Council. Commissioner 206 Minar also withdraws the motion. 207 208 Commissioner Bretoi departs at 8:3Opm. 209 210 Commissioner Minar suggested asking the Mayor and City Attorney to attend the next Charter 211 Commission meeting. Further discussion continues to edit the letter. 212 213 MOTION by Commissioner Lyden, seconded by Williams to send letter with lines deleted by 214 Trehus, beginning at "so that you may have." in the last paragraph. 215 216 Commissioner Penn offers amendment to invite the Mayor and City Attorney to attend the next 217 Commission meeting on April 8, 2010. Commissioners Sutherland and Trehus further amend the 218 letter. 219 220 Commissioner Sutherland calls the question. Motion passes with Commissioners Trehus and 221 Storberg voting no. 223 224 5 Charter Commission January 14, 2010 Page 6 225 B. ELECTION OF OFFICERS 226 227 Chair Dahl opens nominations for the office of Chair of the Charter Commission. Chair Dahl 228 requests to continue as Chair. 229 Commissioner Carlson nominates Caroline Dahl for Chair. Commissioner Carlson states that 230 Chair Dahl has good relationships with city staff and Council. She is very dedicated to the 231 Charter and works hard for the Commission. Commissioner Sutherland seconds the nomination. 232 Commissioner Lyden calls the question. MOTION passes unanimously. 233 234 Chair Dahl opens nominations for the office of Vice Chair of the Charter Commission. 235 Commissioner Gunderson nominates Christopher Lyden for the office of Vice Chair. 236 Commissioner Carlson seconds the nomination. MOTION passes unanimously. 237 238 Chair Dahl opens nominations for the office of Secretary of the Charter Commission. 239 Commissioner Williams nominates Kelly Gunderson for Secretary. Commissioner Trehus 240 seconds the nomination. MOTION passes unanimously. Commissioner Trehus commends 241 Commissioner Gunderson on her diligence of minute taking and participating in the discussions 242 at the meetings. 243 244 C. AUDIT 245 i. Data Practice 246 Chair Dahl stated she requested other Charter ruled cities in Minnesota of how they conduct data 247 practice of their Charter Commissions. Chair Dahl received responses from 11 cities, either from 248 city clerks or city attorneys. Most responses stated the Charter Commission had no legal right to 249 appoint their own data practice authority. 250 251 Commissioner Lyden asked if we need to respond to the city in regard to the Data Practice 252 recommendation of the audit. 253 254 ii. Outstanding invoices for Charter Attorney 255 Chair Dahl reviewed the outstanding balance of Ms. Karen Marty, Attorney, who acted on behalf 256 of the Charter Commission. Total balance due at the time of the meeting was $1,644.30, with 257 $1,463.05 being a past balance. 258 259 Commissioner Sutherland stated the Commission should ask how Ms. Marty will collect and that 260 we request detailed invoices. It appears Ms. Marty may be adding fees for outstanding balance. 261 262 Commissioner Trehus asked if we are in danger of Ms. Marty refusing to take the Commission as 263 a client. Chair Dahl stated that Ms. Marty has stated she will continue to help us at our request. 264 265 Commissioner Storberg suggested we request the City Council put this balance on a meeting 266 agenda. 267 6 Charter Commission January 14. 2010 Page 7 268 Commissioner Sutherland suggested the Commission should inform the City Council that there 269 is potential litigation regarding these unpaid bills. She will contact Ms. Marty to get details of 270 the balance and then bring it to next work session of the City Council. 271 272 D. Legislation for $ 5,000 Charter Commission budget 273 MOTION by Commissioner Sutherland, seconded by Commissioner Penn to table to the April 274 meeting as part of Goal Setting. Commissioner Minar agrees. Motion passes with Commissioner 275 Storberg voting no. 276 277 E Next meeting date: Thursday April 8, 2010 278 279 280 ADJOURN 281 MOTION by Commissioner Trehus, seconded by Commissioner Williams, to adjourn the 282 meeting at 9:5Opm. Motion carried unanimously. 283 284 285 Respectfully Submitted, 286 287 Kelly Gunderson 288 Secretary 7