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) <br /> <br /> <br />468078v6 AMB MU210-4 <br />Kennedy 470 U.S. Bank Plaza 200 South Sixth Street Minneapolis MN 55402-1458 <br /> (612) 337-9300 telephone (612) 337-9310 fax sriggs@kennedy -graven.com http://www.kennedy -graven.com <br /> Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity Employer <br />& <br />Graven <br />C H A R T E R E D <br /> <br />MEMORANDUM <br /> <br /> <br />DATE: February 10, 2016 <br /> <br />TO: Jim Ericson, City Administrator <br /> <br />FROM: Scott J. Riggs, City Attorney <br />Andrew M. Biggerstaff, Assistant City Attorney <br /> <br />RE: City of Mounds View – City Council and Charter Commission Membership <br />Compatibility <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />This Memorandum is provided in response to your request for more information about the <br />compatibility of city council and charter commission offices, particularly, the following <br />question: may a Mounds View council member concurrently serve on the city’s charter <br />commission? Please note the following discussion and response. <br /> <br />The Minnesota Constitution, Article 12, Section 5 holds that the legislature “shall provide by law <br />for charter commissions.” Further, the legislature may require that commission members be <br />freeholders, provide for their appointment by judges of the district court, and permit any member <br />to hold any elective or appointive office other than judicial. Based on this, there is no <br />constitutional prohibition on city councilmembers concurrently serving on the city charter <br />commission. Instead, the authority to make that decision is left to the Minnesota legislature. <br /> <br />The Minnesota legislature has exercised just such authority by enacting statutes which <br />specifically address this constitutional mandate. In Minnesota Statutes, Section 410.05, the <br />legislature has prescribed the rules for the creation and operation of charter commissions. In <br />relevant part, that statute reads “[e]xcept as otherwise provided in the charter, no person shall be <br />disqualified from serving on a charter commission by reason of holding any other elective or <br />appointive office other than judicial.” It is worth noting that this language was substantively <br />amended following a 1958 constitutional amendment which was categorized as authorizing the <br />legislature to “revise and consolidate provisions relating to local government, home rule and <br />&