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i .=, 1 , ' still •alive e rule: is itCityholm•in Minnesota? Stan Peskar, LMC General Counsel For the first time in the state's eek regress of withingrouagovernmental the city, or from anywhere. ccommunity to from the council, from the electors of history, a city has abandoned a cityproblems without going to the Legisla- Minnesota home rule charters have charter. Another is considering doing P about four forms of government. They theta Since no y in Min- ture to seek courta sdecision the city man - home has adopted a city charter. Since recalla eltionstfewer charters with a city administrator;�cil (72), often There appears to a trenaway from orinclude n uand referen- rule for Minnesota cities. The d and(J thisSeaninitiative�. There have council(four)cil 30); the strong and the commission yor vitality of Minnesota home rule move- anent is the decreasenfrom mrpreviousbeen successfulUtrecalls e Jacobsen decision, form, (one). The most mayor-council and mange plans pular forms. years, as shown by the number of New with election at large, are available to cities using the concept. but few citieseuse the device. `- Initiative and referendum or the sim- statutory cities. Statutory cities have x`>_ substantial latitude in addition to the Why Cities use home ea process to amend the charter oy _. petition and election have on occasion three optional plans, with some choice I. , ]e roven to be troublesome, especially tion dates,to cil size, mayoral separate boardsforutilities, , elec- €- Most cities adopt home rule to pro- when the charter allows these to apply t and other land use ordi- parks, hospitals, and planning. vide for the governmental structure to zoning s need. and powers which most appropriately manses. It may also prove to be expen- Minor variation are sometimes use ful The impetus for sive now that the courts are more to meet a particular cthe cityommunity's fielded. ri€.' fit that community. of the concept of inverse For example, , , the volunteer e s . home rule is often from people within accepting the community who are dissatisfied condemnation for over-zealous land use an ordinance allowing • _ with municipal activities. These people regulation. Bloomington d has o just had an o board,departmentto choosing itscfunction as a separate p rate r seek to limit or curb council and may- election onapproval, keeping a chief separate ,f,. the results council - � oral power as well as improve municipal limit high rise construction, and disbursing own f of which are not known at this writing. treasury, their0. The O is a performance.Thesitu, a The situation in much citizen incude Other examples of initiated mischief funds up to a Rochester charter amend- similar to that in many other Minnesota • trates this point. After the number of consecu- cities without charters where these dissatisfaction with special assessment meet limiting Moundsview saw five terms the mayor can serve. In practices are emt in keeping with of the statu- powers and policies, rim Because of e k � the creation of a charter commission. Mankato, full-time firefighters were tory if the:, The Excelsior provisions on referen- aot to responsible replace the publicr a ttion on safety direct charter authority, operations ,reg egal 'w dum and recall followed community opposition to proposed city land acqui- tor with separate tarhat eight full-time - requirements charter and ordinance "' sition and commercial development. and requireat times. The tees be on duty 4' i: ' To authorize activities and provide limit Other considerations R powers cities generally don't have proposition saw defeat when the city another reason for home rule. Many submitted a proposed levy °1 s home rule cities were promoting com- increase at the same election to pay for Leg islature,orereh one aof nnual sessionsmoscoma► .> before and industrial lac dev authorintzed the proposal. of changes in power � f. , before general legislation authorized Structure home rule permits cities reasons for home rule was the tmme almost unlimited latitude to design their diate availability ear- many such activities. mai-, -' The provisions of initiative, referee- structure. However, state law does or structure. Cities could avoidsP • ' tum, and in many cases recall, have require that there be a mayor. It also legislation when s�gtthome wanted�eo H0 i-, =° been major reasons for cities to adopt requires the people elect a council. a change by __ selects a mayor either least once every year so changes b:. charters, at least in recent years. Theoretically, a charter could provide ever, now the Legislature meets •� Charters may provide a way for special that the council Minnesota Citie-