Agenda Packets - 1994/09/26 - Laserfiche WebLink

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UNAP ' 1 Mounds View City Council Page Seven 2 Regular Meeting September 12, 1994 3 4 5 Mayor Linke asked if this proposed language was worded correctly. 6 7 Richard Oman, member of the Charter Commission, asked if this 8 addressed the clarification questions that were raised. 9 10 Councilmember Trude pointed out one word that had been changed and 11 does not change the content of the language. 12 13 Mayor Linke stated that the proposed charter amendment is the only 14 part of revising of the Charter that will appear on the ballot. The 15 Charter Commission has determined that this goes directly to the 16 ballot. This proposed amendment states that once you have served on 17 the Council or in the Mayor's position for more than eight years, or 18 if you have been elected as fill in for a partial term, the person 19 could not file for a second term if a partial term and full term was 20 served. This keeps the person from filing for more than eight total 21 years but the person can be elected as part of a write-in ballot. 22 Mayor Linke states that this negates the persons right to file for 23 how many terms the resident wants them to serve. 24 25 Richard Oman stated that this issue came up in Charter Commission 26 proceedings over one year ago. The Charter is being updated and 27 this would be an amendment to the Charter and, therefore, it should 28 be up to the people and should go on the ballot. This change would 29 begin in January of 1995. 30 31 Councilmember Trude stated that 7 persons were in favor of placing 32 this on the ballot and 5 persons objected to the language and to 33 placing it on the ballot. The Attorney for the Charter Commission 34 stated that according to the State Constitution this is an illegal 35 act. The Holmes and Graven law firm who represent the Council, 36 which is a separate law firm than represents the Charter Commission, 37 think it is an illegal ordinance as written. Trude stated that she 38 believes it limits her constitutional right from voting for who she 39 would want to vote for. The City could be sued if the Council 40 would decide not to put this on the ballot. The Charter lets the 41 City do administrative details but does not allow the Council to 42 limit the terms of service as Mayor or City Councilmember. 43 44 Councilmember Trude stated that is why the 2% increase was put in 45 the budget for these type of lawsuits regarding the term limits. 46 47 Orduno reported that the Minneapolis Charter Commission recommended 48 to their Council to not place it on the ballot, their 49 Intergovernmental Relations Committee recommended to their Council 50 to not put in on their ballot and this afternoon their City Council 51 voted to not put in on the ballot. 52 53 Councilmember Blanchard asked if the City could supersede the State 54 and Federal Governments by limiting term limits. Blanchard