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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-14-2004 Charter Minutes Charter Commission October 14, 2004 Page 1 APPROVED CITY OF LINO LAKES CHARTER COMMISSION DATE : October 14,2004 TIME STARTED : 7:05 P.M. TIME ENDED : 9:11 P.M. MEMBERS PRESENT : Dahl,Aldentaler, Handrick, Storberg,Trehus, Warren, Duffy,Williams,Bor, and Carlson MEMBERS EXCUSED : Montain, G. Lane, S. Lane, Zastrow, and Vacha MEMBERS UNEXCUSED : None. STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT : None. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Trehus called the regular meeting of the Lino Lakes Charter Commission to order at 7:05 p.m. on October 14, 2004. OPEN MIKE No one was present for open mike. APPROVAL OF MINUTES July 8,2004—Commissioner Duffy, requested the following change: Page 2, change Reports of the Char to "Reports of the Chair". Commissioner Handrick requested she be moved from members unexcused to members excused. She noted she had sent an e-mail stating she would not be present at this meeting. MOTION by Commissioner Warren, seconded Commissioner Duffy, to approve changing Commissioner Handrick to an excused absence. Motion carried. MOTION by Commissioner Warren, seconded by Commissioner Duffy, to approve the July 8, 2004 Charter Commission minutes as amended. Motion carried. July 19,2004—There were no corrections made. Motion by Commissioner Duffy, seconded by Commission Williams, to approve the July 8, 2004 Charter Commission minutes as presented. Motion carried. 1 Charter Commission October 14, 2004 Page 2 APPROVED REPORTS OF THE CHAIR Member's Terms (Chair Trehus) - Chair Trehus handed out the current member list and when their terms expired. He stated the old State Statute was that Charter Commissioners could not serve more than two terms consecutively and that requirement had now been removed. He noted Charter Commissioners could now serve unlimited terms. He stated according to the By-Laws, the Chair was required to notify members of their terms expiration five months in advance. REPORTS OF COMMITTEES City Web Site/Commissioners' Group Photo (Commissioner Dahl) - Commissioner Dahl stated at their last meeting the Commissioners had agreed to have a group photograph taken. She indicated they would be taking that group picture tonight. Archives Report(Commissioner Dahl)— Commissioner Dahl stated they had not sent any more letters out to former Charter Commissioners because there were a lot of names and the current addresses were not in the City of Lino Lakes. She noted looking up the addresses took a lot of time so she asked if there were any Commission members who would be willing to look up five or ten former Charter Commissioner's addresses and phone numbers. Once the addresses were obtained, Ann Blair would send out the form letters. Commissioner Dahl stated the reason for the letters being sent out was to ask previous Commissioners for any old charter documents they had and were willing to give to the Commission. Commissioner Bor asked if Betsy Friesen had any history with the Charter Commission. Commissioner Dahl replied she did not believe Betsy had any documents. Commissioner Dahl asked for a Committee to be formed to find the previous Commissioners addresses and phone numbers. Commissioner Warren volunteered to look up five names. Commissioner Storberg stated she had located the original Charter and would give it to Commissioner Dahl to determine if there were additional former Commissioners who needed to be looked up. Commissioner Bor stated the City could also give the names to the Minnesota Historical Society to assist in looking up residents in Minnesota. Commissioner Dahl stated she did not mind looking up the names, but it was very time consuming. She noted she would get in touch with the Minnesota Historical Society for assistance before asking for the Committee members to look up addresses. 2 Charter Commission October 14, 2004 Page 3 APPROVED Charter Documents Letter(Commissioner Dahl)—Commissioner Storberg stated she had located newspaper articles from the Circulating Pines from ten years ago regarding the Charter Commission. She gave the original documents to Commissioner Dahl for the Charter files. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Five-Year Plan— Chair Trehus stated he had requested further information on the Five-Year Plan from City Administrator Gordon Heitke who indicated it was possible that a draft of the 5- year plan could be prepared in late 2004 with Council approval in early 2005. He asked if there were any comments with the five-year plan. Pavement Management Report—Chair Trehus stated he had requested further information on the Pavement Management Report from City Administrator Gordon Heitke who indicated in a memorandum to the Commission that the draft Pavement Management Plan will be completed and presented to the City Council for their initial review in November. Mr. Heitke's memorandum stated it was anticipated that the Pavement Management Plan, when completed in greater detail, would provide a general schedule for improvement of streets within each category. This general schedule will be further refined when incorporated into the Five Year Financial Plan update. The final project implementation schedule will not only be based on the condition rating, but will be influenced by other factors, including but not limited to available funding, sanitary sewer and water improvements, traffic volumes, drainage issues, etc. This schedule will be continually updated on a yearly basis as conditions and factors usually change over time. Commissioner Bor noted there would need to be a City referendum for approving a pavement management plan. Chair Trehus noted the thirteen percent of the streets requiring a complete reconstruct would only increase in the future. Commissioner Storberg asked why they could not pay a little more taxes, which would go into the general fund to pay for street reconstruction. Commissioner Dahl noted the City needed to communicate the importance of a pavement management plan properly to the residents, which had not been correctly done the last time. Commissioner Bor stated they needed to make sure this was communicated correctly this time and they needed to keep on task on it. Commissioner Warren stated in the past the communication was poor and the referendum did not go through, but if the residents had sufficient communication, it might go through. She 3 Charter Commission October 14, 2004 Page 4 APPROVED expressed a concern that there was no timeframe set up and this might not be decided until the next election in two years. Chair Trehus asked Commissioner Dahl if the Council had any feedback to the Commission's letter. Commissioner Dahl stated the letter was received by the Council and there was a little discussion on it, but there was no response. Commissioner Duffy stated she got the overall sense that Mr. Heitke's memorandum was being polite, but thought of the Charter Commission as a hindrance. Commissioner Bor stated she had spoken with Mr. Heitke about the Pavement Management Plan and a communication plan, and he indicated that the actual participation in a process was limited to a very few people and it was difficult to get residents to come to public hearings. She stated she had told him not to "mess with the Charter". She stated those kinds of interactions were good for communication and she would like to see the Commission continue to communicate with staff and Council, so the residents could make an informed decision on any referendum. She stated she wanted more details given to the residents. Chair Trehus stated he did not believe the City was locked into a referendum for an overlay. Commissioner Bor noted she did not know if an overlay would be sufficient. She indicated she wanted to see the plan to assist her in understanding how the budget worked. Communication to the Residents—Chair Trehus stated he had requested further information on communication to the residents from City Administrator Gordon Heitke who indicated in a memorandum to the Commission that staff will be recommending that upon City Council determining that the proposed program is in a form suitable for public review,that various means of informing the public be considered and carried out. Mr. Heitke's memorandum indicated the obvious means of communication includes a detailed presentation at a televised regular Council meeting, articles in the City newsletter, special informational meeting(s),public hearing(s), information posted on the City's web site, detailed articles in the local newspapers, special mailings, etc. Mr. Heitke's memorandum noted staff would be discussing the various means of informing the public on both the proposed Pavement Management Plan and proposed 2005 general fund budget and levy with the City Council. At that time the Council will direct staff as to how to proceed with a public information effort. The Charter Commissioner's memo of July 8, 2004 has been provided to the City Council and will be provided again, along with any additional comments during this discussion. Chair Trehus stated he was disappointed nothing had been done regarding communication to the residents. 4 Charter Commission October 14, 2004 Page 5 APPROVED Commissioner Bor stated she had contacted the Quad Newspaper to ask if they wanted to prepare an article on this, but she had not received a response. Commissioner Warren noted it appeared nothing was going to be done until November. Chair Trehus stated these three issues would remain on their agenda as unfinished business. MOTION by Commission Warren, seconded by Commissioner Carlson that the Commission ask the Council to present to the Commission the Communication Plan and the communication itself prior to it being released to residents so the Commission could assist Council in making sure the residents of the City get as much of the information they need to make an informed decision if there should be a referendum. Commissioner Carlson requested an amendment to the Motion asked for the formula that would be used for cost-sharing, how it was determined, and how it was applied. Chair Trehus expressed concern that this amendment is a separate issue than what Commissioner Warren was requesting. Commissioner Bor stated she wanted to understand the formula in order to make an informed decision. Commissioner Bor asked if the Commissioners could be in attendance at the November Council work session to discuss these issues. Commissioner Dahl replied if the Commissioners wanted to be on the November agenda, she believed that was possible. She noted these worksessions were open to the public. Chair Trehus asked if the Commissioners wanted to attend the work session as audience members or should they ask for a special meeting with the Council either before or after this work session, or should they wait until a decision has been made and then request a meeting. Commissioner Storberg asked if anyone had checked with the other Cities who had charters to see how other cities repaired their roads. Commissioner Bor relied there were very few charters that had this particular clause in it. Commissioner Dahl stated staff was working on gathering this information. Commissioner Storberg stated she would like to see an independent professional obtain and analyze information on cities who had charters. Commissioner Carlson believed Council and staff should present their plan to the Commission after they had reviewed everything, but before it had been put in the paper. He stated the Commission should not get involved in this before that time. 5 Charter Commission October 14, 2004 Page 6 APPROVED The Commission agreed to not officially ask to be on the City Council work session agenda, but would wait until the Council had made their decisions before a meeting would be requested. Chair Trehus asked what form the Commissioners wanted to communicate their motion. The Commission agreed that Chair Trehus would draft a letter to the City Administrator and Council informing them of this Motion. Motion carried unanimously. Commissioner Handrick stated she would contact the Minnesota League of Cities to obtain information on how other Charter Cities paid for reconstruction of their road and would report back to the Commission at the next meeting. Commission Members Not Receiving City Council Minutes—Commissioner Dahl stated the Commissioner members could obtain the City Council Minutes from the City website. Commissioner Carlson stated he has not been receiving any minutes and he wanted a hard copy of both the City Council Minutes and work session Minutes. Commissioner Dahl replied she would inform Ann Blair of this. Review City Council Meetiny,Minutes for Charter Compliance—Chair Trehus asked if any Commissions had found any issues. The Commissioners had no comments. NEW BUSINESS Charter Commission Budget (Commissioner Dahl) - Commissioner Dahl handed out the budget to the Commission and reviewed it for the Commission. She stated there was a deduction for the use of an attorney, which she did not believe was accurate. She noted there was no budget for Timesavers, which has now been added. She stated she believed staff had gone to several attorneys and talked about the road issue, but she wanted the Commissioners to know it was not the Charter that did this. She stated staff had told her that since it was regarding road reconstruction, it could be taken out of the Charter budget, but in her opinion, they should have asked the Charter Commission if they could do that. She asked the Commission what they wanted to do about this. Commissioner Storberg asked which attorney was paid and for what. Chair Trehus replied he would check with City staff for this information and he would give an update at the next meeting. Commissioner Carlson stated he was skeptical when it came to the budget and he did not feel the attorney's fees being taken out of the Commission's budget was right. 6 Charter Commission October 14, 2004 Page 7 APPROVED Commissioner Dahl stated if the Commission needed more money,they could go to the Council and request more. She expressed concern that nobody knew about this and no permission had been requested. Chair Trehus stated he would ask who authorized the amount and who was paid. Commissioner Storberg asked what happened with the leftover funds from their budget from year to year. Commissioner Dahl replied the excess funds were put back into the General Fund. Commissioner Warren left the meeting at 8:52 p.m. Posting Charter Commission Meeting in the Official Newspaper—Commissioner Dahl noted Ann Blair had posted the Charter Commission Meeting in the City's official newspaper. Commissioner Dahl asked the Commission if they each wanted a binder for their Charter documents. She stated this was up to the Charter, but she wanted a binder to organize her documents. Commissioner Storberg stated she had given the City a lot of blue binders a couple of years ago and asked what happened to those. Chair Trehus requested the Chair and Vice Chair to see if there would be a budget shortfall in 2005. Commissioner Dahl stated there were already funds for Timesavers put into the budget and in her opinion, the Commission would not run short of money. MOTION by Commissioner Bor and seconded by Commissioner Handrick,to purchase the more expensive binders and when the Commissioners leave the Charter Commission, the binders get returned to the Commission. The Motion carried. Set January 13,2005 Agenda—Chair Trehus advised the following items would appear on the January 13, 2004, Charter Commission agenda: 1. Call to Order and Roll Call 2. Open Mike 3. Approval of Minutes A. October 14, 2004 4. Reports of the Committees A. Archives Report/City Web Site (Commissioner Dahl) B. City Website Update (Commissioner Dahl) C. Response to Charter Documents Letter(Commissioner Dahl) 7 Charter Commission October 14, 2004 Page 8 APPROVED 5. Unfinished Business A. Five-Year Plan B. Pavement Management Program C. Communication to the Residents D. Review City Council Meeting Minutes for Charter Compliance E. Update from League of MN Cities regarding other Charter Cities (Commissioner Handrick) F. Charter Commission Budget G. Application to Charter Commission 6. New Business A. Set April 14, 2005 Agenda 9. Adjourn ADJOURN MOTION by Commissioner Duffy, seconded by Commissioner Carlson,to adjourn the meeting at 9:15 p.m. Motion carried unanimously. Respectfully Submitted, Kathy Altman TimeSaver Off Site Secretarial, Inc. 8