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<br /> <br /> <br />principle or a law by which the conduct of a public officer may be guided. <br /> <br />Id. (emphasis added). General legislative acts lay down some permanent and uniform rule <br />of law, administrative acts relate to daily administration of municipal affairs, and quasi- <br />judicial acts are the product of investigation, consideration and deliberate human judgment <br />based upon evidentiary facts of some sort. Hanson, 529 N.W.2d at 488. <br /> <br />The Mounds View City Council adopted an ordinance authorizing the conveyance of real <br />property from the City to the EDA. Although Minnesota courts have not directly held that <br />the sale of real property is an administrative, rather than a legislative act, the case law <br />strongly supports this argument. As an administrative act, the sale of property is not <br />subject to referendum. <br /> <br />Moreover, the ordinance authorizing the sale is an ordinance authorizing a contract for the <br />conveyance of property. And, courts have held that entering into a contract is an <br />administrative act. The sale of property does not establish a permanent or uniform rule of <br />law; rather, it is an administrative act that is part of the day-to-day business activities of the <br />City. Also, the fact that the Council authorized the sale by ordinance should not change <br />the conclusion. In the Oakman case, the city adopted an ordinance approving a settlement <br />and the court, nonetheless, held that the ordinance was the exercise of an administrative <br />function. If administrative acts, such as the sale of property, were subject to referendum, it <br />would defeat not only the purpose of referendum, but make it highly impractical and <br />inefficient for the City to conduct its daily business affairs. <br /> <br />Under the case law, a court would likely find that the sale of real property is an <br />administrative, not a legislative, act. Thus, the ordinance authorizing the sale is not subject <br />to referendum and the City Council may deny the sufficiency of a petition on this basis. <br /> <br />II. State Law Allows the City to Convey Property Without Regard to City Charter <br />Provisions. <br /> <br />Two state statutes provide support for this argument. <br /> <br /> A. Minn. Stat. § 471.64. <br /> <br />The first statute, Minn. Stat. § 471.64, authorizes the City to enter into a contract for the <br />sale of real property to another political subdivision without regard to charter provisions: <br /> <br />Any county, city, town, . . . or other political subdivision of the state may enter <br />into any contract with . . . any other political subdivision of the state for the <br />purchase, lease, sale, . . . of real property, without regard to statutory or charter <br />provisions . . . <br /> <br />(emphasis added). Minnesota courts have not had an opportunity to construe this statute. <br />However, the Attorney General concluded in two opinions that a city may disregard charter <br />or statutory procedural requirements when entering into a contract with another <br />governmental entity. In both cases, the Attorney General decided that a city could <br />disregard statutory and charter bidding provisions when entering into a contract for the <br />purchase of electricity from the federal government. See Op.Atty.Gen., 59-A-15, March 30, <br />1965; Op.Atty.Gen., 59-A-15, July 7, 1945.