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III9111 IIlI Mg league of minnesota cities September 4, 1979 Jeff Nelson City Administrator City Hall 2401 Highway #10 St. Paul , Minnesota 55112 Dear Jeff: At your request, I called the city attorney in Duluth to discuss their recall provision and its interpretation. The Duluth provision is not limited in its terms to incidents of nonfeasance or malfeasance in office. However, on the strength of the case Jacobsen v. Nagel and as recommended by the city attorney, the city council in that recent case involving former councilor Thomas Agnew, permitted a recall election only in circumstances where malfeasance arguably was involved. In that case, the petition alleged fcurreasons for the recall , three of which related to matters of judgment and quality of performance. How- ever, an election was called only to decide whether there should be a removal for violation of a charter provision which prevented interference by individual councilors with departmental operations. This one involved a statement that a particular employee should be dismissed. Since the charter prohibited this activity, the city attorney's office advised that an election should be permit- ted on this issue with the electorate sort of functioning as a jury to make the determination. The election resulted in a recall , and though a couple of avenues of litigation were commenced and later dropped, they were ineffective in giving us case law confirming the power of the council to decide whether reasons stated for recall on a petition are sufficient,is a matter to be judged by the council . Neither did they resolve the question whether conviction of a crime that amounts to nonfeasance or malfeasance is a prerequisite to recall . Thus, there presently exists a good deal of uncertainty as to the extent of powers conferred upon the citizenry by a broadly drafted recall provision. We hope this answers your question satisfactorily. Sincerely? "4416, Stanley 7Peskar General Counsel 300 hanover building, 480 cedar street, saint paul, minnesota 55101 C6123222-2861 SGP/rj Encs.