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a � s <br /> • DATE: May 11, 1993 <br /> MEMO TO: MV Charter Commission <br /> FROM: Jerry Linke, Commissionmembej <br /> SUBJECT: Mayors term of office / <br /> I asked the League of Minnesota Cities [LMC] to provide me with <br /> their current information on cities that changed the term of <br /> office for the Mayors position. The list I received from them was <br /> dated August 1, 1991 and did not include Blaine, so it is <br /> incomplete. Blaine not only changed the Mayors term from 3 years <br /> to 4, but changed the terms of office for their Councilmembers <br /> from 2 to 4 years. This change was suggested and researched by <br /> the Blaine Charter Commission, per Don Poss, the City Manager it <br /> was a unanimous decision as they felt that the change would not <br /> affect the accountability of the elected officials, but would <br /> provide a continuity to the decision making process, and let the <br /> elected officials have more time to accomplish what they were <br /> elected to do. The residents of Blaine voted on this issue in the <br /> November 1992 election, it passed 60% to 40%. <br /> • The LMC list showed that 8 cities [East Grand Forks, Owatonna, <br /> Fridley, Ortonville, Granite Falls, Wabasha, Hastings, & Brooklyn <br /> Park] changed their City Charter, and 12 cities [Elbow Lake, Eden <br /> Prairie, Maple Plain, Independence, Rockford Oakdale, Spring Lake <br /> Park, Karlstad, St. Anthony, Woodbury Arden Hills, & St. Paul <br /> Park] made Ordinance changes. Only the city of Lexington, by <br /> Ordinance, changed the term of the Mayors office from 4 th 2 <br /> years. This list is only of the cities that changed the term of <br /> office between about 1986 and the date of the letter, and does <br /> not address the cities, such as Edina, that made the change in <br /> the 70 's, or have always had 4 years as the term for the position <br /> of Mayor. <br /> One of the reasons that have been stated in opposition to the <br /> change has to do with the idea that by keeping the Mayors office <br /> every other year, the Mayor would be more easily held accountable <br /> to the voting public. Since, per the charter, the Mayor has no <br /> more or less authority that any other councilmember, why should <br /> that office need any more accountability ? If the Mayors Office <br /> is one that is to show and give the council leadership, would it <br /> not be better to be able to have 4 years of continuous leadership <br />• <br />