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and Mr. Meehlhause state that the City Council has not submitted any amendments to correct their
<br />perceived Charter language issues they believe needs clarity. In the letter, Attachment 8 "Letter July
<br />11, 2019 to Brandon Clawson, signed by Mayor Mueller", the mayor describes how the Council sees
<br />the Commission acting, and states that the City Attorney should be the primary drafter of Commission
<br />Ianguage. In the "Letter", the Mayor provides another half-truth to the Court by including minutes,
<br />which are a test of a service, but not the Commissions official draft minutes (see my explanation in
<br />Answer -Amendment referring to the Plaintiff's Letter Attachment 8). City Council members Mayor
<br />Mueller, Mr. Bergeron, and Mr. Hull verbalize similar bias during the June 18, 2019, open meeting
<br />recording (Answer -Amendment Attachment 3)
<br />City Administrator Mr. Zikmund displays personal bias towards me as is evidenced by his conduct &
<br />interaction (or lack thereof) with me. City Administrator Zikmund testified that he had not brought any
<br />concerns or City Council priorities to me for the Charter Commission to address, though I was
<br />Commission chair in 2017 and 2018. Mr. Zikmund's testimony exhibits his bias since he states (Tr. Pg.
<br />26 23) that he has had extensive interaction with the charter Commission and that the Commission is a
<br />top focus (Tr. Pg. 26 18-20). However, later in his testimony (Tr. Pg. 33 7) he admits that he has had
<br />no conversations with me as chair, until May 2019, 17 months after his hiring as permanent City
<br />Administrator. As the liaison to the Commission, and believing that there were significant
<br />inefficiencies with the Commission, I would have expected him to initiate some contact with me,
<br />regarding his thoughts and those of the City Council. Mr. Zikmund also testifies (Tr. Pg. 29, 8) that at
<br />the May 21, 2019, Commission meeting "they belabored the agenda for 45 minutes". However, the
<br />actual time stamp of the video shows the agenda discussion started at 0:52 and was adopted and
<br />approved at the 14:46 time -mark, just 14 minutes later. That 14-minute conversation had multiple
<br />members in the conversation, including the City Attorney, whose presence is not typical and was
<br />requested by Mr. Zikmund as stated by City Attorney in the video. Mr. Zikmund did testify that he had
<br />a conversation with me on May 16, 2019, which is correct, but stated it was about my concerns. In fact,
<br />this call occurred after I contacted Mayor Mueller to report that Mr. Zikmund was not returning my
<br />phone calls or emails for over two weeks.
<br />Further bias was exhibited on the stand by Mr. Zikmund when I asked if another Commissioner had
<br />been asked to resign, he was evasive. When I questioned Mr. Zikmund about Letter Attachment 2 and
<br />the quorum standard used, he was non descript, even though he testified he had read all the Charter
<br />Commission documents back to 1978, which include the older quorum standard. In March 2019, the
<br />Mr. Zikmund and City Attorney conducted training for the whole Commission, which included Mr.
<br />Clawson. Yet Mr. Clawson testified (Tr. Pg. 62, 2-10) that he was confused about the process for
<br />Chapter 4 now that the Commission finished its draft proposed amendment.
<br />At the May 21, 2019 Charter Commission meeting (time stamp 1:41:00), the City Attorney stated that
<br />he would have his comments back for the Commission's July meeting. However, in Mr, Zikmund
<br />history file (Letter Attachment 5), Mr. Zikmund states that City Attorney was directed to use City
<br />Council discussion for drafting a chapter 4 amendment, instead of the Commission's proposed
<br />language or resolution, which is City Council subversion of Minn. Stat. 410.12 subd. 7 for an
<br />amendment the City Council is proposing, not the Commission. This was after the Commission
<br />meeting. This again creates an obvious conflict of interest, similar to the one Your Honor noted at the
<br />hearing. It is difficult, if not impossible, for the same Attorney to serve different parties, City Council
<br />and Charter Commission, who may be pursuing different proposed amendment language. One last
<br />example, Mr. Zikmund included in City's Letter (Letter, Attachment 4), a forwarded partial email from
<br />Case File: 62-CV 19-4965 Page 7 of 11
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