Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-30-2017 Charter MinutesCharter Commission March 30, 2017 Page 1 1 APPROVED 1 CITY OF LINO LAKES 2 CHARTER COMMISSION 3 4 5 6 DATE March 30, 2017 7 TIME STARTED 6:40 p.m. 8 TIME ENDED 7:23 p.m. 9 MEMBERS PRESENT Dahl, Damiani, Devaney, Johnson, Lyden, Stanek, 10 Storberg, Stranik, and Vanderpoel 11 MEMBERS EXCUSED Aldentaler, Bretoi, Juni, Turcotte 12 MEMBERS UNEXCUSED Combs and Poehling 13 STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT None 14 OTHERS PRESENT: None 15 16 17 CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL 18 Chair Dahl reconvened the meeting of the Lino Lakes Charter Commission at 6:40 pm on March 19 30, 2017. 20 21 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 22 Chair Dahl lead the Pledge of Allegiance. 23 24 SETTING THE AGENDA 25 Agenda was accepted as presented without additions. 26 27 OPEN MIC/PUBLIC COMMENT 28 No one present opted to speak for the open mike. 29 30 APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES 31 Chair Dahl noted on page three, line 121, it should state, “Chair Dahl stated that in the past all 32 three Officers of the Commission have signed agreements but noted that she could sign the 33 agreement, as the Chair, if the Charter Commission was comfortable with that asked if the 34 Charter Commission would be comfortable with the Chair signing the contract or whether all 35 three officers should sign the contract.” 36 37 MOTION by Commissioner Stranik, seconded by Commissioner Lyden, approving the meeting 38 minutes of February 23, 2017 as amended. Motion passed unanimously. 39 40 OLD BUSINESS 41 42 A. Attorney for Charter Commission 43 Chair Dahl stated that she had thought that there would be a signed agreement by this time but 44 noted that the agreement that she received from the potential attorney was drafted more as 45 Charter Commission March 30, 2017 Page 2 2 someone that would serve as the City Attorney rather than an attorney assisting the Charter 46 Commission. She explained that the potential attorney was requesting $5,000 and would keep 47 any unused funds. She stated that she responded to the potential attorney explaining that because 48 this is taxpayer money they would need any unused funds returned. She stated that the potential 49 attorney did agree to the amount of $1,500 but the agreement did not specify that amount. She 50 noted that she also stated that she was not sure that the Commission would agree to a retainer. 51 She noted that she also told the potential attorney that in the past previous legal representation or 52 potential legal representation have come to a Charter Commission meeting to answer any 53 questions the Commission may have at no charge. She stated that she thought that the potential 54 attorney was going to attend the meeting tonight but noted that she was unable to confirm the 55 meeting. She stated that she did forward the potential ward amendment along with the language 56 and comments from the City Attorney to the potential attorney. She stated that if the 57 Commission desires she could go to the potential attorney’s office in the next few days to obtain 58 an amended agreement. She stated that she would provide the agreement to the Charter 59 Commission members via email to review and if there are no concerns identified she would then 60 execute the agreement on behalf of the Commission as previously approved at the last meeting. 61 62 B. Potential Ward Amendment 63 Commissioner Johnson asked if the intent is to get the ward amendment on the ballot this year. 64 65 Chair Dahl noted that she is unsure of the timing for the potential ward amendment. She stated 66 that the Commission previously discussed that timing and had decided that even if the ward 67 amendment is not prepared in time for the election this year, the Commission could continue to 68 work on the language to ensure that it is ready for the next election. She stated that the timing 69 would depend upon the comments from the potential attorney. She noted that the Commission 70 could hold extra meetings in addition to the regular meetings. 71 72 Commissioner Stranik stated that in a process of negotiation you must identify the items that you 73 must have and the items that you are willing to compromise on. He stated that he did not feel 74 that the comments from the City Attorney were out of line and noted that he could agree to those 75 changes to the language for the ward amendment. He stated that in his opinion the best course of 76 action would be to amend the ward amendment language with the changes recommended by the 77 City Attorney in order to move that item forward and begin working on other items. He stated 78 that this is not the ward Commission and the Commission should choose their battles. 79 80 Chair Dahl used the City of Minneapolis as an example in regard to how the boundaries are 81 determined. She stated that in her opinion the Commission should hire out a third party to draw 82 the boundaries. 83 84 Commissioner Lyden stated that if the process was pure, meaning that both the Commission and 85 City Council were not involved in drawing the boundaries, he would think that is the best course 86 of action. He stated that if the potential attorney states that it is acceptable for the Council to set 87 the boundaries he would also be in agreement with Commissioner Stranik to just accept the 88 comments of the City Attorney and move the item forward and move on. 89 90 Charter Commission March 30, 2017 Page 3 3 Commissioner Stranik stated that if the potential attorney states that the comment of the City 91 Attorney is wrong that would simply place the Commission in the position of having to go 92 against the City Council and the Commission does not have sufficient funds to do that. 93 94 Commissioner Storberg asked how the Commission would be able to finance a third party to 95 determine boundaries. 96 97 Chair Dahl stated that she would assume that the City Council would need to authorize funds. 98 99 Commissioner Storberg stated that if the ward system was put into place there would be limits on 100 who can run and who cannot, depending on which ward is represented by the vacant position. 101 She stated that right now any person could run for any position on the Council. 102 103 Commissioner Devaney stated that he has struggled with the idea of a ward system. He stated 104 that the benefit to having wards is that is ensures that there is equal representation of all residents 105 of the City. He stated that without wards five people could be elected from the same area of the 106 City and therefore other areas of the City would not be fairly represented. He stated that until 107 recently there was not representation from his area of the City but now that there is a 108 representative on the Council from that area, he feels better represented and feels that it is easier 109 to reach out to someone that lives closer to him. He noted that another struggle is that perhaps 110 there is not someone from a ward that wants to run for the Council. He stated that the job of the 111 Commission is not to debate whether or not they personally would like the ward system as the 112 Commission has voted to move forward with the ward amendment and let the residents choose 113 for themselves on the ballot. 114 115 Commissioner Stranik stated that the Commission has already voted to move this ward 116 amendment forward to the ballot to let the voters choose and therefore unless the Commission 117 would like to make a vote to rescind that decision, the item is moving forward and the 118 Commission should not spend time debating the topic. 119 120 Commissioner Lyden stated that if the ward amendment is approved, that would allow the 121 opportunity for more people to get involved on the local level. 122 123 Commissioner Stanek stated that Chair Dahl noted that there were some items from the 2014 124 draft amendment language that she would like to see included in the potential ward amendment 125 and asked for details. 126 127 Chair Dahl noted that she would like language included that the Charter Commission would hire 128 a third party to determine the boundaries of the wards to ensure fairness. 129 130 Commissioner Damiani stated that it appears the Commission is wasting their time discussing 131 this matter without the opinion and comments of the potential attorney and suggested 132 reconvening once the potential attorney provides his opinion. 133 134 Charter Commission March 30, 2017 Page 4 4 Commissioner Devaney stated that while he would like to meet the potential attorney he is 135 sensitive with the fund restraints the Commission has. He noted that the Commission has 136 already approved Chair Dahl executing the agreement and therefore was unsure that an additional 137 meeting to ask the potential attorney questions is necessary. He stated that if the potential 138 attorney is going to charge to attend the meeting he did not want to use the funds in that manner. 139 140 Commissioner Johnson stated that the potential attorney is well established and agreed that at this 141 point the Commission needs someone competent and the Commission should be smart about 142 their spending. 143 144 C. Other 145 Commissioner Johnson stated that he reached out to Roger, who is the head of the Tax 146 Committee at the legislature and therefore is very busy right now. He stated that Roger 147 mentioned that they discussed the topic at the legislature in the past and the topic is not as easy as 148 it seems. He stated that because this would be a change in State Statute that would increase the 149 minimum amounts, there would most likely be opposition. He explained that the Statute sets a 150 minimum amount that cities must provide to Charter Commissions but cities are able to provide 151 additional funds as desired. 152 153 Commissioner Storberg asked if there has been a response from the letter Chair Dahl submitted 154 to the City Council asking for additional funding. 155 156 Chair Dahl stated that the City Manager responded to her and had stated that the Council would 157 discuss the topic at the second meeting in March but followed up with her to state that the Mayor 158 wanted additional time with the Council to discuss the topic and therefore the Council would be 159 discussing the topic at their first worksession in April. 160 161 Commissioner Stranik stated that at the last meeting there was a comment that perhaps the City 162 elections should be bundled with the national elections in order to increase voter participation. 163 He stated that following the last meeting there was a Councilmember present that approached 164 him after the meeting and stated that he believed there would be support for the change in voting 165 cycles for City elections to match the national cycle. He noted that would save the City funds on 166 election costs and could be a good opportunity for the Charter Commission to pursue. He noted 167 that the action would be separate from the warm amendment. 168 169 Chair Dahl stated that she believes there are past sets of minutes that address that topic. 170 171 Commissioner Stranik stated that while that would provide history, the question would be 172 whether the Commission would like to pursue that action now. 173 174 NEXT MEETING DATE 175 Chair Dahl noted the next meeting date is to be determined. She stated that she will follow up 176 with the Commission members to determine the next meeting date. 177 178 Charter Commission March 30, 2017 Page 5 5 Commissioner Devaney asked the Commission to keep in mind the comments made by 179 Commissioner Stranik. He stated that he is not hung up on who draws the boundaries and would 180 just like this item to move forward so the Commission can move forward from this topic. 181 182 Commissioner Johnson stated that he would also support moving this forward on the path of 183 least resistance. 184 185 ADJOURN 186 187 MOTION by Commissioner Johnson, seconded by Commissioner Damiani, to adjourn the 188 meeting at 7:23 p.m. Motion carried unanimously. 189 190 Drafted by: Amanda Staple, TimeSaver Off Site Secretarial, Inc. 191