Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-08-2010 Minutes1 CITY OF LINO LAKES CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING APPROVED FINAL DATE : April 8, 2010 TIME STARTED : 6:30 P.M. TIME ENDED : 9:35 P.M. MEMBERS PRESENT : Carlson, Dahl, Lyden, Storberg, Trehus, Turcotte, Williams, Minar, Sutherland, Drennen and Aldentaler MEMBERS EXCUSED : Penn, Bretoi, Gunderson and Zastrow MEMBERS UNEXCUSED : None STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT : None CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Dahl called the meeting of the Lino Lakes Charter Commission to order at 6:35p.m. on April 8, 2010. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE APPROVAL OF AGENDA No changes were made to the agenda OPEN MIKE No one addressed meeting APPROVAL OF MINUTES Commissioner Trehus asked if changes to the minutes be shown in the context of the revised minutes and that we would then receive the minutes as a final approved copy with changes in place. Secretary Gunderson will be asked if this can be done. MOTION TO TABLE by Commissioner Trehus, seconded by Commissioner Drennen, to table the minutes of January 14, 2010. Motion carried. OLD BUSINESS Presentation of Plaque for Commissioner Maher Commissioner Maher was not present at the meeting, we have not receive a response from her. 2 6. A Mayor Reinert's response to Section 3.01 of the Lino Lakes Charter Mayor Reinert addressed the Commission regarding Section 3.01 of the Lino Lakes Charter and citizen's right to speak on agenda items at public council meetings. Reinert was asked to the meeting to explain why a person attending the January 11, 2010 council meeting was not allowed to speak and why he said they would be taking no public comment. Mayor Reinert explained that he knew the person who asked to speak, that he was a Union Rep. and that he was not a resident of Lino Lakes. Reinert said he should have explained at that time that the person was not allowed to speak because he was not a Lino Lakes resident and that Lino Lakes residents would be allowed to speak on agenda items Comm. Drennen asked Mayor Reinert if he had contacted the PRESS to clarify why the person was not allowed to speak? Mayor Reinert said no clarification had been made. Comm.Lyden is concerned that residents living on Lino Lakes borders would not be allowed to address issues that would have an effect on them due to happenings in Lino Lakes. Mayor Reinert said that due to the sensitivity of the topic with this particular situation, with a Union Rep., he felt it was not the best way to resolve this situation. With border issues, such as the Vikings or Airport he may handle the situation same way, with only residents allowed to speak. Comm. Lyden said he is concerned that the Mayor is determining what the person is going to say even before they speak. Mayor Reinert stated the person was not allowed to speak because he is not a resident. Comm. Sutherland addressed the issue that our charter does not have exclusive language that the definition of the word citizen is meant to be only residents of Lino Lakes Comm. Trehus suggested that the in the charter the word citizen would probably be a citizen of just Lino Lakes. Comm. Dahl stated the person should have been allowed to talk and that the right to speak at public meetings should not be restricted to Lino Lakes citizens only. Comm. Drennen had three issues he would like to address. What is the definition of the word citizen in our charter? He is also concerned that the Mayor exercised his prerogative because he knew what the person might say and that the Mayor does not use his position of authority to censor speaking. Mayor Reinert assured that there will be no censorship of Lino Lakes citizens. Comm. Carlson stated that he was satisfied with the Mayors explanation of the issue and that it had addressed his concerns. Due to the question of the term citizen in our charter, we will make a formal request to determine if citizen is meant to be inclusive of Lino Lakes residents only. 6. B Attorney Bills Chair Dahl and Comm. Trehus asked Mayor Reinert to address the on going issue of the council taking the position that they will not pay our attorney's bill. Mayor Reinert said he is only one of the five persons on the council that decides the issue. He would like to address the issue at a joint meeting. The City attorney would be asked to address this. Also, the council has been directed by their attorney that it would not be legal to authorize payment of this bill. Comm. Sutherland said that the position taken by the city is that they will pay for frame and amend only. Most of our attorney's bill is due to our need to respond to the audit initiated by the city council. We cannot even include a professsional secretarial service because that would not be included in frame and amend. Mayor Reinert said we could address our issue with the League of MN Cities. Commissioner's comments were that this could be a biased source of information, as they are being funded by the city. The League may just comment back to our city attorney. Mayor Reinert 3 stated that the issue would be put on the agenda for the next work session. Comm. Sutherland stated that even the amount that had been agreed to have been paid has not yet been paid. In our out standing bill, $107.30, was in agreement to be paid and has not. The $1,570.35, is due to our need to respond to the audit initiated by the city council. Mayor Reinert said the $107.30 portion of the bill would be paid. Mayor Reinert was informed that the Five Year Plan, as per Section 7.05 of the Lino Lakes Charter, for years 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 has not been passed. Mayor Reinert will also try to set the schedule so as to have the joint meeting of the council and commission at our regularly scheduled July 8th 2010 meeting. Having concluded his response to the commission, Mayor Reinert left the meeting at this point. The commission thanked him for being present. 6. C Budget, Five year plan, and Dougherty bill to Lino Lakes for council authorized audit of the Charter Commission. Five Year Plan has not been adopted. The Commission read the copies of the bills presented by Dougherty's law firm to the city of Lino Lakes for the council requested Investigation / Audit of the Charter Commission. As per the bills sent the city has paid $9,289.00 to the Dougherty firm for their charter investigation 6. D Annual letter to the Judge for 2009 Commission liked the draft letter as amended, with an explanation of the council ordered audit, and that the council had not adopted the Five Year Plan beginning in 2009, as per Section 7.05 of the charter. Motion to approve the letter with amendments was made by Commissioner Trehus and seconded by Commissioner Minar. Motion Passed. 6. E Code of conduct Report Commissioner Sutherland would like to know where the Commission stands on this issue before more time is spent on a new code. The response from the commission was mostly favorable. It was suggested that it would be put on the agenda for our joint meeting in July, that the code would include the council, city staff, and boards, and that a conflict of interest section be prominent in the code. Motion was made by Commissioner Sutherland and seconded by Commissioner Drennen that we include the code of conduct in our July 8th joint meeting. Motion passed with Commissioner Storberg voting no. 6. F Tax Cap Amendment Commissioner Trehus said that if we plan to have this (the tax cap amendment) on Fall ballot we are going to have to get this started. Commissioner Sutherland stated we should get this on the agenda with the council. Commissioner Minar agreed now would be the time to get started. Commissioner Sutherland said that if this were presented to the council now they would probably agree to share. Commissioner Carlson suggested that we could also present this as an amendment by ordinance. There were also suggestions that it go right to a referendum, timing being an issue. It was decided we will look at the three options from other cities; this will be 4 discussed at a special meeting in June so we would be able to present this at the joint meeting in July. June 3`d at 6:30 is the date and time set for the special meeting to discuss the amendment. 6. G 2010 Goal Setting. Suggestions were, tax cap, code of conduct, and a better use of Roberts Rules of Order. We would also set 2011 goal setting as an Oct. agenda item. NEW BUSINESS 7. A Joint meeting with council A joint meeting date has been set for our regular July 8th meeting. Items for discussion will be the charter budget and unpaid bills from attorney Marty, Code of Conduct / Conflict of Interest, and a tax cap amendment. A motion was made by Commissioner Storberg and seconded by Commissioner Lyden to send a thank you letter to Mayor Reinert for attending our meeting. Motion carried. ADJOURN MOTION TO ADJOURN was made by Commissioner Sutherland, seconded by Commissioner Trehus. Motion carried. Respectfully Submitted, Harry Carlson, Acting Secretary Lino Lakes Charter Commission