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February 14, 2022 <br />Page 6 <br />states in relevant part the requirements for a petition requesting a referendum on an ordinance <br />amending a city charter: <br />Within 60 days after passage and publication of such an ordinance, a petition <br />requesting a referendum on the ordinance may be filed with the ci clerk. The <br />petition must be si ed by registered voters a ual in number to at least five percent <br />of the registered voters in the city or 2,000, whichever is less. If the requisite <br />petition is filed within the prescribed period, the ordinance shall not become <br />effective until it is approved by the voters as in the case of charter amendments <br />submitted by the charter commission, the council, or by petition of the voters, <br />except that the council may submit the ordinance at any general or special election <br />held at least 60 days after submission of the petition, or it may reconsider its action <br />in adopting the ordinance. As far as practicable the requirements of subdivisions <br />1 to 3 applygpply to petitions submitted under this section, to an ordinance amending a <br />charter, and to the filing of such ordinance when approved by the voters. <br />(Emphasis and bracketed information added). "'Shall' is mandatory." Minn. Stat. § 645.44, subd. <br />16. <br />The "requirements of subdivisions 1 to 3," as they apply to City Clerk Ewald here, are <br />found primarily in Minn. Stat. § 410.12, subd. 3, which, as follows, states in relevant part (1) that <br />the city clerk has the duty of verifying petitions filed with City and (2) what those duties entail: <br />Within ten days after such petition is transmitted to the city council, the city, cle <br />shall determine I whether a each a er of the petition is 12werly attested <br />and b whether (lie petition is signed by a sufficient number of voters. The city <br />clerk [(2)] shall declare any petition paper entirely invalid which is not attested by <br />the circulator thereof as required in this section. Upon completing an examination <br />of the petition, the city clerk shall 3 certify the result of the examination to the <br />council. If the city clerk shall certify that the petition is insufficient the city clerk <br />shall 4 set forth in a certificate the particulars in which it is defective and shall <br />at once notify the committee of the petitioners of the finding.§. <br />(Emphasis and bracketed information added). City Clerk Ewald completely failed, nevertheless, <br />each of her above duties. <br />First, City Clerk Ewald ignored her responsibility to personally verify the Citizens' Petition <br />by immediately forwarding it to the Elections Office. Elections Office staff member Emily Hunt <br />(Hunt), when contacted by Amundsens, admitted the Elections Office staff did not consider the <br />Citizens' Petition under the requirements of Minn. Stat. § 410.12, subd. 7 because they were not <br />aware that it was a petition for referendum and not a ballot initiative. Hunt also told Amundsens <br />that City did not have to base its determination that the Citizens' Petition was insufficient on the <br />Elections Office's finding that a form requirement of Minn. R. 8205.1010 was allegedly not met <br />