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Mounds View City Council May 28, 2024 Regular Meeting Page 4 1 Andre Koen, 7951 Greenwood Drive, stated he was proud of the community for stepping up and 2 recognizing that all histories matter and that all people are connected. He appreciated the fact that 3 Juneteenth would be celebrated in a celebratory manner. He was excited about the direction this 4 event was going. He appreciated all of the wonderful and amazing things that were occurring in 5 the community. He encouraged the public to stay tuned for future community conversations. He 6 stated the tag line for the Community Engagement Committee would be "Welcome. Home." He 7 indicated the goal would be to inform the community that this was a welcoming community that 8 was home. 10 C. Charter Commission council vacancy discussion — Council Member 1 1 Meehlhause & Administrator Zikmund. 12 13 City Administrator Zikmund reported the Charter Commission met last Tuesday and discussed if 14 there was an issue in the past year with not having five Councilmembers in place. He stated the 15 city attorney staffing the meeting could not come up with any concrete examples. 16 17 Acting Mayor Meehlhause indicated he brought this issue up to the Charter Commission back in 18 November. He stated the City Council operated for one year with four councilmembers. He 19 thought a lot about this situation and statutory cities are allowed to make temporary appointments, 20 if or when a vacancy occurs. He reported the City Charter requires that a special election be held 21 if a vacant position has more than 365 days left remaining on the term. He explained the Charter 22 Commission discussed this requirement for quite some time, but in the end recommended the 23 requirement remain as is. He was of the opinion some sort of temporary succession plan should be 24 put in place within the City Charter. He suggested the first person to be asked to serve in the 25 vacant role be the chair of the Charter Commission, then the chair of the Planning Commission, 26 the chair of the PTRC and then the vice chair of the Charter Commission. He stated the Charter 27 Commission was interested in hearing feedback from the Council on this proposal. 28 29 City Administrator Zikmund explained the Charter could state the Council determines the 30 succession plan. 31 32 Mayor Lindstrom indicated he thought about this and his only real concern was with the incumbent 33 advantage, if appointed to the seat. He commented he did like the idea of succession planning. He 34 did not believe it was appropriate to ask someone to not run for office, if appointed. He supported 35 the City pursuing some sort of succession plan with chairs of committees being appointed in the 36 event of a future vacancy. He was open to moving beyond the Charter Commission if need be. 37 38 Council Member Cermak supported the City having an order of succession in place. She indicated 39 she was uncertain if this should be commission chairs. She stated she would have to think on this 40 further, but she understood the Council had a tough time over the past year with only four 41 members. 42 43 Council Member Clark stated she supported the plan as proposed. She indicated she has met with 44 most of the commission chairs and she appreciated their commitment and dedication to the City. 45 She commented another alternative would be have the Charter Commission make the appointment. 46