Minutes - 2000/05/08 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mounds View City Council May 8, 1999 Regular Meeting Page 16 Mayor Coughlin stated he would agree to have legal staff research this issue and conduct a survey for discussion and informational purposes, if nothing else. Council Member Marty stated he would like to see statistics in this regard. Council Member Stigney stated this would be acceptable if the elected official was properly representing the public, however, if not, and that individual was elected to a four or six-year term, the City would be stuck with them until the electoral process could change that situation. He stated he favored the terms of office as the currently are. Council Member Quick pointed out that the City could recall an elected official. Council Member Stigney stated a recall would only be warranted in a very drastic situation, however, if someone simply did not care for the manner in which an individual was representing them for four to six years, there would be very little they could do about it. Mayor Coughlin commented he has not been particularly pleased with the President of the United States during the past seven and a half years, and he has dealt with this. He explained that this is simply the democratic process in action. Mayor Coughlin stated there was partial consensus of the Council to direct legal staff to conduct research in this regard. City Attorney Long stated staff could provide some statistics for the Council, in terms of average term lengths, and staff would also prepare some draft language that would accomplish four year terms for Mayor and six-year terms for Council Members, so that if they desire to move forward in this process, it could be included with the other changes that are being contemplated. Council Member Marty suggested that rather than tying up legal staff time, the Council could direct Assistant to the City Administrator Reed to contact the League of Minnesota Cities regarding the statistics. City Attorney Long agreed, adding that legal staff would prepare the draft language. C. Highway 10 Study Process. Community Development Director Jopke stated on March 13"', the Council approved a general work plan and allocated funds to have Springsted & Associates facilitate discussions regarding the future of Highway 10. He indicated that as staff has worked with Sprinsted to put some detail to the study process, and they have come to the conclusion that changes to the work plan and process originally proposed may be necessary. He explained that the original work plan focused almost entirely upon community discussions to identity issues and priorities, however, as they have examined all of the previous studies, it has become apparent that there has been considerable community input, and it appears that most, if not all of the issues have been identified at this point, therefore, it might be more appropriate to build upon those studies and • prepare a specific action plan that would focus upon those common elements, and allow them to proceed to the next step of implementing improvements. He indicated a finance plan could also be developed to assist the City in this regard.