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s Li I - 3490 Lexington Avenue North League of Minnesota Cities St. Paul, MN 55126-8044 August 19, 1994 Ms. Julie Trude Councilmember City of Mounds View 2401 Highway 10 Mounds View, MN 55112-1499 Dear Ms. Trude: I am writing in response to your request for an informal review of the proposed new charter that the City of Mounds View is considering adopting. It is my understanding that the City has retained Greg Herrick of the Barna-Guzy law firm to provide a formal legal review, but you wanted the League's input as much of the charter is based on our model. In addition, you had a few specific questions that you wanted addressed. I have read everything that you sent to me and I hope that the following provides the information for which you are looking. First, from a general perspective, the proposed charter looks good. I did not spot any provision that should create any significant legal problems. While a legal challenge is always a possibility, the risk of such a challenge to any of the proposed charter provisions seems low and the risk of the city not prevailing in such a case seems even less likely. There are, however, a few provisions the city may wish to consider fine tuning. These sections are as follows: Section Potential Problem/Suggestion 1. 01 Fails to address boundary changes ' stemming from annexations, detachments, etc. Current charter's language in regard to name, location, and boundaries is more comprehensive. 2 . 03 Literal interpretation of the "and/or" provision for term of office creates a conflict with the vacancy provisions as it literally reads that a successor must be elected not appointed as would occur in a vacancy. Provision could simply provide that term would continue until successor qualifies for office. AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY/AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EMPLOYER (612)490-5600 1-500-925-1122 plus your city code TDD(612)490-9038 Fas i 612)4904