Charter Commission Memo (Miller) Oct 2012

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Assessment District: This definition is confusing. Did it come from statutes? What is a Local Improvement Plan? It's "capped" so is there a corresponding definition? The following phrase seems particularly difficult to translate: "Upon Council approval of the Local Improvement Resolution, the collection of all benefitted properties specifically identified by County Property Record number in the resolution and notice sent to the property owner of record prior to the Council action to approve the resolution." After reading that three times, I'm fairly certain something is missing because as it reads, it's not even a complete sentence. Benefitted Property: This definition needs to be tweaked as well. It says, "The property or properties which will be improved or maintained as a result of the improvement being completed." With very limited exception, the city will not undertake any improvement upon private property, which this definition seems to suggest. I also have questions about the "procedural" language that follows but will refrain from commenting until such a procedural section has been prepared. City Services. The word "sited" in the first sentence should be "cited". Dedicated Revenue. I think the definition is too broad. Does this include special assessment dollars? See comments above. Local Improvement. The change proposed by adding the words "or by other dedicated revenue" negates the need to have a separate definition. The Charter presently defines a local improvement as "a public improvement financed partly or wholly from special Assessments." The proposed change makes "Public Improvement" and "Local Improvement" the very same thing, in essence. Local Character. I disagree with the definition as proposed. Local character simply means that the improvement is one in which the benefits are limited to a smaller area of the City and thus warranting or justifying the use of a special assessment against the benefitting properties. The City determines the benefitting properties and the resident has the right to appeal any such inclusion or assessment, per statute, 429.081. It is NOT in the City's best interest to broadly interpret a benefitting area as appeals cost the City money and will often delay the implementation of a project. Public Improvement. As I've stated previously, I think the definition is overly broad. Work done to increase value or bring about a more desirable condition? Cutting the grass in the right of way, plowing the streets, replacing a sidewalk panel, fixing a pothole would all be considered public improvements according to the definition. Granted, the statutory definition of Improvement in statutes (429,081) is quite extensive in and of itself, so not sure what to suggest. Public Improvement Project. This definition builds on an overly broad definition of Public Improvement and City Services, and includes procedural steps, which I'll refrain from commenting upon until that section is prepared and considered. That said, a Public Improvement Project is specifically defined as multi -year project completed in segments or steps. That being the case, in reality, almost all projects undertaken by the City would NOT be a Public Improvement Project, since most projects are completed in one year or less. One could argue ONLY the Street and Utility Improvement Program would be considered a Public Improvement Project. Was it the Commission's intent to create such a limiting definition? I fear however that the narrow definition could be construed to include normal maintenance operations (city services) which may be segmented over many years, such as testing 20% of stormwater ponds on an annual basis, or inspecting 25% of the rental units on an annual basis, or striping 30% of the roads on an annual basis, or seal -coating roads every five years, etc. E