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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-13-2006 Charter Minutes Charter Commission APPROVED July 13, 2006 Page 1 1 CITY OF LINO LAKES 2 CHARTER COMMISSION 3 4 5 DATE July 13,2006 6 TIME STARTED 6:30 P.M. 7 TIME ENDED 9:30 P.M. 8 MEMBERS PRESENT Dahl,Aldentaler, Trehus,Handrick,Vacha,Bening, 9 Duffy, Storberg,Warren,and Carlson 10 MEMBERS EXCUSED : Bor and Zastrow 11 MEMBERS UNEXCUSED : Rosemary Williams,Richard Williams and Montain 12 STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT : None 13 14 15 CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL 16 17 Chair Warren called the regular meeting of the Lino Lakes Charter Commission to order at 6:40 18 p.m. on July 13, 2006. 19 20 APPROVAL OF AGENDA 21 22 Item 9E, Surface Water Management was added under New Business. 23 24 The agenda was approved as amended. 25 26 OPEN MIKE 27 28 No one was present for open mike. 29 30 APPROVAL OF MINUTES 31 32 April 13,2006—Commissioner Duffy referred to line 69 and corrected the sentence to read, 33 "She thought this item deals with invoice". She referred to line 124 and corrected the word 34 "effect"to "affect". She referred to line 248 and removed the word"she". She referred to line 35 317 and corrected the sentence to read Commissioners Dahl, Duffy and Trehus". 36 37 Commissioner Dahl referred to line 264 and corrected the sentence to read"Commissioner 38 Dahl". 39 40 MOTION by Commissioner Trehus, seconded by Commissioner Storberg,to approve the April 41 13, 2006, Charter Commission meeting minutes as amended. Motion carried. 42 1 Charter Commission APPROVED July 13, 2006 Page 2 43 OLD BUSINESS 44 45 Ordinance Amendment regarding Council Members on the Charter Commission—Chair 46 Warren stated everyone received information on the process and options that were to be read 47 ahead of time. 48 49 Process: Information Only (Refer to line 286 &287 in April 13,2006 Minutes): 50 -Copy of May 12th Letter from Attorney,Mr. Hawkins and Letter from Chair Warren— 51 Chair Warren reviewed the options that were summarized in the memo dated June 23, 2006. 52 53 Recommendation(s) of Sub Committee: Citizen Charter Amendment—Commissioner 54 Trehus advised the sub committee is recommending changing the language and slightly changing 55 the proposal from the Council. The change would state a Council Member could serve on the 56 Charter Commission but could not vote. It would also state that Council Member would be 57 appointed the official liaison and include there would be no compensation. 58 59 Commissioner Bening stated that would limit the number of votes to fourteen members and 60 could result in ties. He noted there is no place in the Charter that indicated there is an appointed 61 liaison. 62 63 Commissioner Duffy stated if the amendment goes through, the Commission may want to change 64 the by-laws to state that there are fifteen voting members and one non-voting member of the 65 Commission. 66 67 Commissioner Trehus advised state statute says there are only up to fifteen members on the 68 Charter Commission. 69 70 Commissioner Vacha stated he does not see any issue with a Council Member being on the 71 Commission and being able to vote. 72 73 Commissioner Carlson indicated support for the proposal as submitted by the Council. 74 75 Chair Warren clarified that the proposed change by the sub committee does not mandate a 76 Council Member serving on the Commission. 77 78 Commissioner Carlson suggested the Commission appoint its own liaison to the Council to 79 attend Council meetings. 80 81 Commissioner Trehus stated he does not believe there would be as much participation from a 82 liaison from the City Council compared to one that is a member of both boards. 83 84 MOTION by Commissioner Bening seconded by Commissioner Carlson to proceed with the 85 amendment as proposed by the City Council. 86 2 Charter Commission APPROVED July 13, 2006 Page 3 87 Commissioner Trehus stated the Commission does have the option to say no to putting the 88 amendment on the ballot and recommending the proposed change be adopted as an ordinance. 89 He stated he believes the Commission should vote no and offer a recommendation to adopt the 90 amendment by ordinance to keep it off the ballot. 91 92 Chair Warren clarified the Commission has to vote on the proposed amendment. Then a vote 93 would be taken on the process that should be recommended to the Council to move forward. 94 95 Commissioner Bening called the question. 96 97 MOTION failed with Commissioner's Warren, Duffy, Dahl,Vacha,Handrick and Trehus voting 98 no. 99 100 Commissioner Bening excused himself from the meeting at 7:30 p.m. He advised he is opposed 101 to the proposed change to the amendment from the sub committee. 102 103 Commissioner Handrick referred to the proposal from the Council and suggested it be changed to 104 say that no Council Member shall be a voting member of the Commission. 105 106 Commissioner Trehus suggested the Commission go with the proposal from the Council adding 107 an amendment that states a member of the City Council may serve as a non-voting liaison to the 108 City Charter Commission. He stated he believes putting the amendment on the ballot implies 109 something bad happened in the past regarding this issue. 110 111 MOTION by Chair Warren, seconded by Commissioner Trehus, to approve the proposal 112 submitted by the Council adding an amendment that states one member of the City Council may 113 serve as a non-voting liaison to the City Charter Commission. 114 115 MOTION carried with Commissioner Vacha voting no. 116 117 MOTION by Commissioner Handrick, seconded by Commission Trehus,to recommend the 118 revised amendment be approved by ordinance. 119 120 Commissioner Dahl stated Mayor Bergeson has indicated this does not qualify for a special 121 election. 122 123 Commissioner Carlson made a friendly amendment to the motion to include "per Chapter 410.10 124 Subdivision 7. The makers of the motion agreed to the amendment. 125 126 MOTION carried with Commissioner Vacha voting no. 127 128 Road Reconstruction and Council Response—Chair Warren stated everyone received the 129 City's response in regarding to road reconstruction. 130 3 Charter Commission APPROVED July 13, 2006 Page 4 131 Commissioner Dahl stated she requested the information for the purpose of being updated only. 132 She suggested the Commission receive another update at the October meeting. 133 134 Five Year Plan Response—Chair Warren read the response from the City and stated there is no 135 public end date to the Five Year Plan. She stated there needs to be a plan to complete the plan. 136 137 Commissioner Duffy stated she does not believe there will be any new information on this until 138 January or February when the budget process is completed. 139 140 MOTION by Commissioner Duffy to table the Five Year Plan to the January 2007 meeting. 141 142 Commissioner Dahl and Trehus suggested another update should be given at the October meeting 143 to keep the City on task with the Plan. 144 145 Chair Warren suggested Commissioner Dahl requests clarification from the City regarding the 146 completion of the Five Year Plan. 147 148 Commissioner Duffy withdrew the motion. 149 150 MOTION by Commissioner Trehus, seconded by Commissioner Dahl,to send a memo to the 151 City Administrator asking for clarification on the completion of the Five Year Plan. Motion 152 carried. 153 154 Quality of Life Survey-_Chair Warren referred to the written response from the City regarding 155 this issue. 156 157 Kennedy and Graven Charter Review: YMCA and Legacy—Trehus (Refer to Line 76 in 158 April 13,2006 Minutest- Commissioner Trehus provided the background on this issue noting 159 the headings on the expenses have white out on them and the services were not paid for one year. 160 He added he is not aware of any concerns raised over this issue but more investigation could be 161 completed. 162 163 Chair Warren stated it appears that staff got legal opinions about the Charter. Staff can do that as 164 long as the fees do not come out of the Charter budget. 165 166 Commissioner Carlson read a memo from the Finance Director regarding this issue. The memo 167 stated the auditor indicated the expenses were handled in the proper manner. The auditor also 168 recommended the titles of the line items be changed to avoid confusion in the future. 169 170 Commissioner Dahl stated if staff is obtaining legal opinions related to the Charter the 171 Commission should have access to that information. 172 173 MOTION by Commissioner Dahl, seconded by Commissioner Storberg,to request copies of 174 information related to Charter inquiries and legal opinions when available. 4 Charter Commission APPROVED July 13, 2006 Page 5 175 176 Commissioner Trehus added the Commission should also get a summary of verbal opinions. 177 178 MOTION carried. 179 180 The Commission asked Commissioner Dahl to write a letter to the City requesting that 181 information. 182 183 Accessible Proiects Process Update(Refer to Lines 450-451 in April 13,2006 Minutes) 184 Neighborhood Concerns- Commissioner Trehus advised everyone received a memo outlining 185 an option to get the neighborhood behind a road reconstruction project. He noted it is a rough 186 draft and believes the process would work. It basically adds an option for neighborhood input. 187 He suggested having a joint meeting with the Council to discuss this or send them a 188 recommendation. 189 190 Chair Warren stated she does not fully understand the current process for road reconstruction so 191 she does not know if this is the optimal solution. She suggested getting the City Boards or teams 192 of expertise involved in the process. 193 194 Commissioner Carlson stated he is not supportive of the proposal. He gave his reason why and 195 stated the proposal would make it harder to build roads within the City. 196 197 Commissioner Trehus stated this is just the first step to get neighborhoods together before City 198 dollars are spent on a project. This is a very rough draft and it would need revisions. 199 200 Chair Warren stated she would like the optimal process within the City for this issue. She stated 201 experts are needed to create that process. 202 203 Commissioner Handrick suggested an informational meeting with staff to better understand the 204 current process. 205 206 Commissioner Carlson asked if the previous memo was sent to the Council and if a response was 207 received. 208 209 Commissioner Trehus stated he did not send a memo with the options that were outlined at the 210 last meeting. 211 212 MOTION by Commissioner Trehus, seconded by Commissioner Dahl,to invite the City 213 Engineer and Community Development Director to make a presentation on the current road 214 reconstruction process. 215 216 Commissioner Handrick made a friendly amendment to include Commissioner Trehus draft a 217 letter outlining that request and submit it to the Chair and Secretary of the Commission for 218 review. 5 Charter Commission APPROVED July 13, 2006 Page 6 219 220 MOTION carried. 221 222 The Commission requested Commissioner Trehus review the April 8, 2004 minutes prior to 223 drafting that letter. 224 225 Commissioner Storberg requested that meeting be first on the agenda at the October meeting. 226 227 Commissioner Dahl requested packets of information be distributed at the meeting. 228 229 NEW BUSINESS 230 231 Discussion of Outside Services—Commissioner Dahl advised the Commission might want to 232 obtain second opinions on various issues. She stated she does have a list of other attorneys the 233 Commission could contact for information. 234 235 Discussion of Charter Budget—Commissioner Trehus stated the City of Ramsey has similar 236 Charter provisions. Their City Attorney attends all Charter meetings. He stated he believes the 237 Commission could request an attorney be present at all meetings as well as the $1,500 Charter 238 budget. 239 240 Chair Warren stated this item would be placed on the October meeting agenda. 241 242 Discuss By-Law Revision to Restructure Meeting—Chair Warren removed this item from the 243 agenda. 244 245 Surface Water Management—Commissioner Dahl referred to the City web page regarding this 246 issue. 247 248 Set Agenda for October 12,2006 Meeting—Chair Warren set the following agenda for the 249 October 12, 2006 Charter Commission Meeting: 250 251 1. Call to Order and Roll Call 252 2. Approval of Agenda 253 3. Open Microphone 254 4. Meeting with City Staff regarding Road Reconstruction Process 255 5. Approval of Minutes 256 A. July 13,2006 257 6. Old Business 258 A. Five-Year Plan 259 260 261 7. New Business 262 A. Discussion of Outside Services 6 Charter Commission APPROVED July 13, 2006 Page 7 263 B. Discussion of Charter Budget 264 C. Discussion of Three Charter Commission Meetings per Year 265 D. Set Agenda for January 2007 Meeting 266 8. Adjourn 267 268 ADJOURN 269 270 MOTION by Commissioner Vacha seconded by Commissioner Aldentaler,to adjourn the 271 meeting at 9:30 p.m. Motion carried unanimously. 272 273 274 Respectfully Submitted, 275 276 Kim Points 277 Timesaver Off-Site Secretarial, Inc. 278 7