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Mounds View City Council February 18, 2022 Special Meeting Page 2 1 represent the citizens, it did represent the citizens and had the necessary signatures. In justice, 2 the Council can accept this petition. Although the attorney did not give this as an option the 3 Council can say the petition was received and is sufficient, and will move this issue to the 4 general election so there is no further cost related to the subject. This would allow the voters 5 weigh in on, this or is this not an appropriate language change to the charter. He asked for this 6 justice, and the 500 signatures ask for this same justice. That they be allowed to provide input on 7 this question of the levy taxation limit. 8 9 Valerie Amundsen, 3048 Woodale Drive, thanked all of the people that were on the Zoom call, 10 the attorney, the press and all of the residents that care that are watching. She stated this petition i 1 is about justice, like Brian just said and it was a big deal for all residents. She indicated this was 12 not her petition. She reminded the Council that this was not her and Brian's petition. Rather, as 13 Brian said, she was representing the community. She explained she got 500 signatures in three 14 weeks and she could have gotten many, many more. She stated she was being respectful of City 15 Code and wanted to care for the people that wanted the petition. She reported justice needs to be 16 served here folks. There were technicalities that they (the Council) were playing into and the 17 Council was not listening to the will of the people but were looking for a way to dispute what 18 was submitted. She indicated there were so many things in the letter that were submitted in the 19 packet today that were just plain wrong. One of the things noted was that Ramsey County 20 provides guidance to potential petitioners and you said there was evidence of expensive 21 interaction with us and them. That was all done after you found the petition deficient, you 22 referred us to Ramsey County. We had been in touch with City staff right from the get go in the 23 middle of December, asking the City for guidance on how to prepare the petition so it would 24 meet all of the requirements. She asked so many questions through emails and finally saying 25 what else do we need to do, and she was referred to statutes. She was never referred to the 26 County or the supposed rules that the City has in place. It was never provided and it should have 27 been. She encouraged the Council to keep in mind City staff should work for the citizens as well 28 as the Council. She stated she was never given the proper guidance. In the packet today, it says 29 we had been in constant contact with the Secretary of State. The only reason she contacted them 30 was to find out how to get the list of registered voters so she could go to the list and make sure all 31 of the people that signed were registered voters. When she contacted them, they never ever, even 32 though your statement says that they always tell people about the rules, it was never mentioned to 33 us. She indicated they simply told us there was 7,623 registered voters so she could calculate the 34 5%. Lastly, when she has been asking for information about the number of signatures required, 35 she has been denied that information. 36 37 Andrea Shoup, 8330 Groveland Road, shared her frustrations with regard to the petition. She 38 stated using the words of the Council, you must follow the letter of the law and we know the 39 letter of the law was not followed with regard to Statute 410.12 which states within one month of 4o receiving a recommendation the City must publish a public hearing, which must contain the text 41 of the proposed amendment and not sooner than two weeks and not later than 30 days. That 42 public hearing was held 34 days after the publishing date. She can't help but feel there is a higher 43 expectation with regard to following policy and law for community members than it is for some 44 of our elected officials. She contended that if concessions can be made with meeting dates and 45 not providing timely follow up with requests for the number of signatures that are needed then