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Mounds View City Council February 18, 2022 <br />Special Meeting Page 4 <br />1 completely ignores the legal arguments that were made by Jack Perry and tries to distinguish the <br />2 cases saying the facts are not identical to the facts here but they do not address the legal <br />3 arguments. Such as the fact that the courts have said, in the Grand Rapids case from 2006, that <br />4 notwithstanding the form requirements of Minnesota Rule 8205-1010 and the verification <br />5 requirements of Minnesota Rule 8205-1050 the filing of the petition automatically suspends the <br />6 effective date of the ordinance pending the outcome of the referendum vote. The rules that they <br />7 keep trying to cite as the reason why this is insufficient don't even matter. The main one in the <br />8 memo now, because the dates of birth were not listed for every one of the people who signed the <br />9 petition, then that makes it impossible to verify the signatures within the petition. This <br />10 absolutely was not the case as I'm sure people on the City Council know. The City officials will <br />11 use the SVRS from the Secretary of State to verify signatures and that the SVRS lists the name <br />12 and registration information of every single legally registered voter in Minnesota and it was <br />13 regularly updated with address change information that is provided to the Secretary of State from <br />14 the DMV and many other places. He did not know how anyone could argue that because date of <br />15 birth is not there you could not verify people based on their name and their address. That <br />16 absolutely was enough. He stated in Butler versus the City of St. Paul the Minnesota Supreme <br />17 Court Case from three years ago, the Minnesota Supreme Court recognized that the information <br />18 within SVRS overrules the information contained in the petition and there they rejected a number <br />19 of signatures within petitions that listed valid St. Paul addresses because in the SVRS the <br />20 updated address showed they were no longer city residents. He noted the City Clerk had plenty <br />21 of information to go by to verify the signatures. A footnote in that memorandum it says this still <br />22 has not been done, four days after the deadline, they still have not verified. <br />23 <br />24 Bob King, 7408 Silver Lake Road, stated he had a couple of things. He indicated people have <br />25 stated this should be very simple and it is very simple. You follow the letter of the law and you <br />26 get what you need. Don't tell me the City didn't provide information when if you went to the <br />27 County website there it was. So it's up to you, not the City. It seems like some people want to <br />28 blame the City and he doesn't see that at all. Secondly, not all of the citizens agree as someone <br />29 stated. Thirdly, the City was not going to 9% right away, this was in case something happens <br />3o down the road. The City was not looking to jump to 9% and the City have to provide where this <br />31 money was being spent, because it was not being spent. It will be given to the citizens when it <br />32 was going to be spent. <br />33 <br />34 Karen Mills, 2280 Knoll Drive, stated she continued to appreciate the Councilmembers following <br />35 the advice and guidance of the City Attorney on making determinations that have legal <br />36 ramifications. Especially when considering any potential precedent ramifications of accepting <br />37 petitions that are technically deficient. She thanked the Council so much for all that they are <br />38 doing and for all of their time. <br />39 <br />40 6. CITY BUSINESS <br />41 A. Review and Consideration of Petitioner's Letter regarding Referendum <br />42 Petition Submitted February 14, 2022, regarding Ordinance No. 984. <br />43 B. Presentation of Certificate Regarding Petition. <br />44 C. Resolution Regarding Petition and Certificate. <br />45 D. General Discussion Regarding Above Agenda Items. <br />