Laserfiche WebLink
Mounds View City Council July 9, 2007 <br />Regular Meeting Page 2 <br />Barbara Thomas, Secretary of the Charter Commission, indicated she was present to answer any ~ <br />questions the Council may have as Mr. Thomas, the Chair of the Charter Commission, was <br />unable to attend. <br />Hearing no public comments, Mayor Marty closed the public hearing. <br />Council Member Mueller said that she read through this carefully and found no issues with it. <br />Council Member Stigney pointed out on the Resolution in Section 5.03 and 5.04 should be left <br />formatted to the left. <br />Ms. Thomas indicated that it will be properly formatted when the Attorney's put the language <br />into the Charter. <br />Council Member Stigney said that he agrees with the City Attorney's opinion regarding the <br />timeframe for publication and he would like to go back to the language "as soon as practicable". <br />Cauncil Member Stigney would like to clear up the ambiguity in the petition process itself and it <br />has to do with not having enough signatures because there could be a situation where they are <br />short of the required signatures and they are allowed more time to gather signatures. The other <br />issue he has is that a person can remove their name at any time up until the City Administrator <br />delivers the petition to the Council and he thinks that they should be able to remove their name at • <br />any time during the process. He further said that he would like to have a provision that the <br />petitioners can withdraw the petition. <br />Ms. Thomas said that one of the conversations among the attorney and Staff is that there are a lot <br />of scenarios where someone could choose to cheat the system and this is to address legitimate <br />situations of the resident. The City Attorney and the Charter Commission has agreed to look at <br />an amendment to grant the Council specific authority to allow further restrictions on petitions <br />and do that by Ordinance rather than the Charter. <br />Ms. Thomas said that language regarding the City Clerk Administrator allowing removal of <br />names there is no language regarding removal of names. <br />Ms. Thomas said that the length of time is a difference of opinion because there is no way to <br />have a timeline with language of "as soon as practicable." <br />Council Member Mueller said that now an insufficient petition has a defined tim~ to become <br />sufficient. With the cleanup of the language, the dates and the timing shown in the flow charts <br />match. It is a change in that the charter amendment allows 'not to exceed 21 days' instead of the <br />origina130 days. She then said that she thinks that this amendment has done a gaod job of <br />outlining how a valid petition should be handled. <br />City Administrator Ulrich explained that this would require a unanimous vote. • <br />