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SUBSCRIBER'S NOTE: The following was presented at the Charter <br />Commission's November 21, 2023 meeting during their Public Comment <br />session. <br />Gary Meehlhause, 7400 Park View Drive. <br />Even though my comments tonight are based on my experience as a City <br />elected official, they are being made as a resident of the City of Mounds View <br />and reflect my thoughts only and do not represent the City Council. In fact, <br />my Council colleagues are not aware of these thoughts nor my intent to <br />present them to the Charter Commission. <br />May 20th was a tragically historic day for the City of Mounds View with the <br />unfortunate passing of my Council colleague and personal friend Al Hull. For <br />the first time in the City's 65 year history, the office of Mayor became vacate <br />before the Mayor's term had actually expired. <br />As you know, both the City Charter and state statue provide a mechanism for <br />temporarily filling a Mayor vacancy with the requirement that the City <br />Council appoint a "Acting Mayor" at each year's first City Council meeting. <br />With the Acting Mayor temporarily filling the vacate Mayor's seat, the <br />question was asked what happens if the Acting Mayor isn't available to <br />conduct a Council meeting or sign documents that are time sensitive. The <br />Council obviously got out in front of the Charter Commission by adopting an <br />ordinance creating a "Vice Acting Mayor" appointment in the event the <br />appointed Acting Mayor had to temporarily fill the Mayor's position. <br />I want to thank the Charter Commission for also recognizing this need, and <br />passing a resolution updating the Charter to reflect this unfortunate scenario. <br />As an update, the Council has unanimously passed the first and second <br />readings for the Charter update. As an aside there was a situation where <br />documents involving a conduit bond financing project had to be signed on a <br />specific date, and this closing would have been impacted if the Acting Mayor <br />wasn't available and there was no appointed alternate. <br />When the Charter Commission decided to maintain the Charter's present <br />requirement that any Council vacancy would be filled through a special <br />election if there was 365 or more days left in the term, I thanked the <br />Commission for at least giving consideration to changing this time frame. I <br />