V Amundsen IDR March 10 2022 #1 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

I hope you had a good weekend. We have been very busy since our conversation last Friday (2/4/22) regarding the Mounds View Citizen's petition. We have been researching, talking to lots of folks, and constructing a letter that we plan to deliver to the City Clerk, the City Attorney, and Mounds View Mayor very soon. We wanted to reach out to you again, to be sure that we correctly heard you, and didn't misunderstand anything. 1) We understood you to say that the City of Mounds View has contracted with Ramsey County Elections Office to conduct their elections duties. Is that correct? 2) Does that mean that they have also contracted for Ramsey County Elections to provide "CLERK" duties and responsibilities? 3) Has your office received any training or instruction on how to process petitions submitted under Statute 410.12 including those under Subdivision 7? 4) Was the Mounds View Petition presented as being submitted under 410.12 Subd. 7? Did the City of Mounds View give any instruction on how to process the petition, or was that process the decision of your office? 5) We understood you to say that Ramsey County Elections has been directed and trained by Secretary of State on how to validate petitions for elections. Is that correct? Did that training include any training on processing petition under MN Statute 410.12? 6) Has your office ever processed a petition under 410.12 Subd. 7 in the past? 7) Had your office known that this petition type was covered under Statute 410.12, would your office have proceeded differently? 8) On Friday you mentioned that you really like to talk to petitioners before petitions are started. How does that usually work? Who contacts who? Was you office aware that a citizen petition was in the works before it was submitted for evaluation? If so, do you know when were you informed? 9) You stated to us that the City was not required to follow the Ramsey County recommendation. Is the Ramsey County letter that accompanied that notification of insufficiency available to us at this time? We have submitted a Data Practices request to Ramsey County Elections, which we expect to contain that letter, but that request might take quite a while to receive. We wondered if that letter could be obtained right away since our city has given us a deadline of 2/14/2022 to respond to the notice of insufficiency. 10) In the second conversation with Brian, you suggested that we contact the Mounds View City Attorney and ask that the petition be re -submitted. We plan to do just that and are copying him on the letter we are currently drafting. We want to be sure we do not mis-interpret anything in our Friday conversation, so feel it best to confirm our understanding of those conversations. We will be referencing our conversations in the letter we are preparing, and believe accuracy is extremely important. We will definitely copy you via email on the letter when it is delivered to the City. We hope to finish up the letter today or tomorrow, so would appreciate a speedy reply to our questions, if at all possible. Thank you again for your help on this. You are a pleasure to work with, and so very helpful. 2