July 8 Draft Letter_to_Judge_regarding_Charter_Commission Brian Amundsen

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DRAFT July 8, 2019 The Honorable John H. Guthmann Chief Judge Second Judicial District Room 1470 Ramsey County Courthouse 15 Kellogg Boulevard West St. Paul, MN 55102 Re: Mounds View Charter Commission Membership Your Honor: The Mounds View City Council (the “Council”) by unanimous decision has directed me to request your help in considering the removal of Mr. Brian Amundsen from the Mounds View Charter Commission (the “Commission”) effective immediately. Mr. Amundsen’s expires on October 1, 2020. The Council’s unprecedented request is based on a substantive effort over the past 16 months to achieve a full complement of Commission members in order for the Commission to address a number of issues and concerns involving the Mounds View City Charter (the “Charter”). Unfortunately, after achieving a full complement of the Commission in January of this year, following the most recent Charter Commission meeting on May 21, 2019, the City received an abrupt resignation from the chair of the Commission and has notice from two more of the new members that their resignations are forthcoming as well. Additionally, a third member has now shared while they will not resign, upon conclusion of their term, they will not serve again unless changes are made. Thus, council has received one resignation and has the equivalent of 3 pending for a total of 4 out of 9 commission members. The Council has reviewed historical data, emails, legal opinions, and the May 21, 2019 Commission meeting and subsequently discussed the situation at its June 4, 2019 Council workshop and as a council agenda item at their June 11, 2019 meeting at which time substantive public input was given. Following the June 11, 2019, a subset of council and/or the City Administrator met with 5 of the commissioners and at their workshop on July 1, 2019 unanimously concluded that absent a removal of Mr. Amundsen, the City and Commission will continue on a path of high turnover resulting in a continuation of a dysfunctional Commission. While possibly well-intended, the conduct and behaviors of Mr. Amundsen has indisputably resulted in individual after individual leaving the Commission, with the result being that full Commission membership and quorums being unobtainable. The attached data details that reductions in Commission membership, via a change in the Commission’s bylaws, from 15 to 11 members in 2003 was insufficient to achieve a full complement for the Commission and a quorum. Similarly, from 2004 through 2016, a full Commission and quorum were seldom achieved, with the years of 2014, 2015, and 2016 exemplifying the situation, as out of 11 required Commission members, only 3 members remained.