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Mounds View City Council May 22, 2000 Regular Meeting Page 15 charter cities that staff is familiar with, however, the verbiage is subject to the Council’s policy discussion. Council Member Marty stated he was somewhat concerned that the Council appeared to be relinquishing much of its authority. Council Member Quick stated this was correct. Council Member Marty stated the Mayor and the Council Members would not have the ability to question anything. Mayor Coughlin advised that the Council could question, however, they could not dictate. He pointed out that this was somewhat of a standing rule of the Council, which does not dictate to the City Administrator regarding purchases and items of this nature, but rather, these matters would go through the process. City Attorney Long stated this language clarifies what is expected of the City Manager, for example, the City Manager would conduct the hiring and firing, and the Council would not be directly involved in that process. He advised that once the City hires a City Manager, the responsibility for the hiring and firing of City staff would fall upon that individual, and in turn, the Council would provide direction to the City Manager. He explained that if a problem were to occur in a specific department, the Council would contact the City Manager to have this addressed, rather than contacting the Department heads directly. He indicated the language of this Section creates the official role of the City Manager to conduct the day-to-day management, however, it does not represent that the Council would be unable to provide direction to the City Manager with regard to a specific concern. He stated that depending upon the individual’s perspective, this could be viewed as a loss of power or clarification of the lines of responsibility. Council Member Quick advised that this form of government was similar to operating a business. He explained that in a business, there is a Chief Executive Officer who runs the day-to-day affairs, and a Board of Directors, which provides him with direction. Council Member Stigney stated the City Attorney had brought forward statistics from 106 charter cities pertaining to Mayoral terms, and he would like to see similar statistics to determine how many of the charter cities have the City Manager form of government versus the Clerk Administrator and other forms of government. City Attorney Long indicated Assistant to the City Administrator Reed had contacted the League of Minnesota Cities and performed this research, in order to save legal staff time. He stated staff could gather further information, if the Council so desired. Mayor Coughlin inquired if it was the consent of the Council to direct staff to obtain further statistics. The Council concurred. Council Member Stigney stated his primary concern with regard to this ordinance was that they have the cart well ahead of the horse. He explained that the Council was asking to propose this amendment on the ballot to the voters, however, there still has been no significant discussion or statistical reason for changing the City’s form of government. He noted some statements have been made pertaining to streamlining, giving the hiring and firing process more directly to the