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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMisc Correspondence To: SAMANTHA From: MOUNDSVIEW/MICHELE Date: 23 Feb-93 17:26: 18 Subject: DUANE MCCARTY X-mailer: Pegasus Mail v2 . 3 (R2) . Just after you left yesterday, February 23, Duane McCarty called. He wanted to know if I had accomplished the photocopying. I assured him I did and then he asked me if we had been posting the meeting dates for the Charter Commission. I answered him, "Yes, they are posted on the glass on the left hand side of the lobby of City Hall" . His reply was, "Well we won't get into any trouble then. " I didn't go into any detail. I thought if he had further questions he would bring it up at the meeting last night. (Tuesday night) Michele Jan 4, 1993 Ms. Samantha Orduno, Clerk/Administrator City of Mounds View 2401 Highway 10 Mounds View, Minnesota 55112 Dear rduno: I have been appointed to the Mounds View Charter Commission. Please send me the following information to assist me in performing the duties of a Charter Commissioner. 1. Charter revision proposals recommended by the city. V. A copy of the 1993 city budget. ✓3. A copy of the current city Long Term Financial Plan. //‘. Copies of current utility enterprise budgets. Specific cites of state laws (referenced in the minutes of the October 6, 1992 meeting) used as basis sis (� for denial of the Greenfield Estates Petition. �/ , Thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter. Sin. ely, D • 'e W Mc arty 8060 ong Lake Road Mounds View, Minnesota 55112 a y Mounds View Charter Commission 2401 Highway 10 Mounds View, Minnesota 55112 April 27, 1993 Minnesota House and Senate Capitol Building St. Paul, Minnesota Re: S.F. 1512 and H.F. 323 Dear House and Senate Members: We understand the above-referenced bills have passed out of committee and are now on the floor. As members of Mounds View's Charter Commission we have some grave concerns about the provisions of these bills. The provisions which would repeal Minn. Stat. §410.21, which gives home rule charters authority over nominations, primary elections, and elections for municipal office, would be devastating to the effectiveness of our charter in the City of Mounds View. At this time we are in the process of reviewing and amending the charter. We are taking a hard look at election procedures in the city to see if improvements could be made. In addition, those election provisions are a vital component of our charter-given rights of initiative, referendum and recall and charter amendment procedures. We understand that there is a provision for mail ballots for special elections outside of general election time. However, in the last general election when mail balloting was made more available to people, we found it to be very time-consuming to our election judges and therefore probably would be more costly than a special election. When people came in, to vote at the general election, the ballots were run through machines which went quickly. Shortly after the polls closed, the results of machine balloting were in. However, at least four more hours were required to process approximately 300 mailed-in ballots. Of those, approximately 30 were rejected because of problems with insufficient witnessing by another party. Even of those not rejected, several votes for city level officials were thrown out because the voters mistakenly voted for four instead of two candidates. When that happened for people at the polls, the machine signaled the mistake and the people had a chance to go back and correct their mistake. However, there was no such chance for the mail-in voters. In addition, the polls gave people who were not already registered in the city a chance to do so at the same time they voted. There was a record number of people in Mounds View • registered at the polls during the last election. People were heard at the polls to comment that the reason they came to the polls instead of mailing in was to vouch for a neighbor or relative who was registering to vote. Moreover, mail-in ballots would be extremely costly to the city. Just the cost of postage and mailing alone would far exceed the cost of a special election. Therefore, we believe you should consider carefully whether these bill will really maximize voter participation by repealing home rule charter authority over elections and preventing special elections. In our opinion, they will not maximize voter participation if a mail ballot is required. Very truly yours, . Members of the Charter Commission r. c MEMORANDUM TO : CHARTER COMMISSION MEMBERS yr FROM : Julie Trude , Secretary DATE: February 15 , 1993 (mailed 2/16) RE : Minutes , By-Laws 6 Agenda Enclosed you will find the Minutes of the February 9th meeting together with a re-draft of the By-Laws I proposed and had mailed out with your last meeting packet . Absent members should also have received a separate mailing enclosing Duane McCarty 's re-draft of the proposed By-Laws (version #2) . If you have not received your materials ( 1/26 Minutes 6 By-Laws #1 ) , please call Michelle at 784-3055 , City Hall , and she will try again . She delivered everything to the New Brighton Post Office on the Thursday before the last meeting . We may need to follow up with post office complaints . The enclosed By-Law Proposal (version #3) was not designed to keep you forever reading legalese , or to entertain you , rather , I want this to get wrapped up quickly so we can devote our meeting time to the Charter Review . This By-Law proposal incorporates many of Mr . McCarty ' s suggestions into my original draft and hopefully represents a refinement of each draft . I have taken the liberty to shorten and simplify a bit of the language so these by-laws will provide us with guidelines for our operation and not be overly restrictive . For example , the annual report may occur at the semi-annual meeting in October but I prefer to not dictate this given that last year we conducted many meetings after that time and the annual report would then be most appropriately delivered near the year 's end . We can let the Chair 6 membership discuss this at the Fall meeting and set an appropriate schedule . Along the same lines , I think it is better to not enumerate the duties of each Officer so as to also appear to limit them only to the detai=ls outlined; how can we forsee the best way to maintain the records? Many of my friends carry everything around w/ them in a lap-top computer (maybe we could buy one of those for me to use??) For our next meeting I ' ll also have Michelle copy some materials the League of Minn. Cities provided us on the issues of Initiative , Referendum 6 Recall . We can pass those out to save on mailing expenses . AGENDA, 2/23/93 , 7 p .m. 1 . Discuss By-Laws 2 . Review Chapters 6 6 7 w/ Samantha Orduno 3 . Review Charter Chapters 7 , 8 6 9 -2- By-Laws and submitting approved minutes and relevant materials to the City Clerk-Administrator for the purpose of maintaining a permanent record for public review . On or before December 31 of each year , the Secretary shall submit to the Chief Judge of the District Court , the City Clerk-Administrator and the Commission members the Chair's approved annual report. Section 5 . Additional Personnel . The Commission may employ or designate an assistant to the Secretary. The Commission may employ or contract for personnel , as it deems necessary , to assist in framing , amending or revising the Charter as prescribed by Minnesota Statutes , Chapter 410 . Section 6 . Compensation. The members of the Commission shall receive no compensation. Section 7. Expenses . The cost of printing the Charter or any amendments or revisions to the Charter shall be paid by the City as directed by the Commission . The amount of reasonable and necessary Commission expenses shall be paid by the City , which expenses cannot exceed $1 ,500 in any one year unless the City Council authorizes additional expenses pursuant to Minnesota Statutes , Section 410 . 06 . Section S . Additional Duties . The officers of the Commission shall perform such other duties and functions as may from time to time be required by the Commission or its by-laws or rules . Section 9 . Elections . The Chair , Vice-Chair and Secretary shall be elected from among the members of the Commission at the first meeting after November 1st in even-numbered years , and shall hold office for two years or until their successors are elected and qualified . The Chair shall conduct the election . Officers shall be declared elected and qualified by a simple majority vote of those present and voting . Newly elected officers shall take office at the close of the meeting in which the election is held . Section 10 . Vacancies . A vacancy in the office of Chair , Vice-Chair or Secretary , including a vacancy pursuant to Minnesota Statutes , Section 410 . 05 or other provisions of state law or these by-laws , shall be filled by a special election by the Commission at its next meeting with the elected successor serving the unexpired term of office . Section 11 . Appointments . The Chair shall notify the City Clerk-Administrator at least three months prior to the expiration of any seat on the Commission , of the names of the incumbents and their expiration of office date so that the Clerk-Administrator may publicize the availability of openings on the Commission together with a summary of the application process . The Chair shall also notify members eligible for re-appointment at this time . -4- By-Laws Section 6 . Manner of Voting . The voting on all questions coming before the Commission shall be recorded in the minutes. The votes on resolutions , unless unanimous , shall state the number of "ayes , " "nayes , " and "abstentions . " When a quorum is in attendance , action may be taken by the Commission upon a vote of the majority of the members present unless another provision of these by-laws specifically states otherwise . Section 7 . Committees . The Commission may establish and appoint committees . Each committee must designate a Chair . Section 8. Discharge of Members . Any member who has failed to perform the duties of the office to which appointed or elected and has failed to attend four consecutive meetings without being excused by the Commission shall be discharged according to the provisions of Minnesota Statutes, Section 410 .05 , Subdivision 2 . ARTICLE IV - AMENDMENTS Section 1 . Amendment Procedure . The Commission By-Laws may be amended by a resolution , made in writing , and adopted by a two-thirds majority of qualified and acting members in attendance at a properly noticed meeting of the Commission . The Secretary shall number each amendment , note the date of adoption , and have it distributed to the members and the City offices. Section 2 . Records . The Chair shall ensure that each member receives a copy of the City Charter and the Commission By-Laws . The City Charter , the Charter Commission By-Laws and the Charter Commission Minutes shall be kept on file at the City offices and made available for public review . ADOPTED : Pr MEMORANDUM TO: CHARTER COMMISSION FROM: JULIE TRUDE, SECRETARY DATE: MAY 6, 1993 The Charter Commission will meet on Tuesday, May 11, 1993 at 7:00 p.m. at City Hall. AGENDA FOR MAY 11, 993 MEETING 1. Review Chapter 4 Set Asides 2. Discuss Two Year Vs. Four Year Mayoral Term 3 . Discussion Section 3 . 11, scheduled ordinance review Everyone's input is needed. Please make every effort to attend this meeting. APR-15-1993 12:48 FROM BOUSTEAD ELECTRIC TO 7843462 P.01 • • F C S i M l E A N S M I Ss 1 (DN LEONARD S. BURGERS Pbunds View, MI 55112 Telephone: (Mame) 612-784-8788 (Office) 612-544-9131 FAX No: (Office) 612-544-8530 . To: Michelle FAX No: 784-3462 Date: April 15, 1993 From: Len Burgers No. of Pages (Incl. This): 1 Subj: Message: Please type up the following memo and distribute to our. Charter Catmission members: To: All Charter Canmission Members Fran: Len Burgers, Chair ' Date: April 15, 1993 Re: Meeting Schedule Last Tuesday's regular meeting was canceled due to a number of people being unable to attend. Rather than trying to call a special meeting on Tuesday, April 20, we will simply meet at our next regular. meeting on Tuesday, April 27. Those-of-you-involved-in-the rewrite, I was unable-to-translate-the-disc I received frau Duane containing the Charter. I returned it to him and he is working on converting it to something we with IBM's can work with. As soon as it is available I will get a copy to each of you. Thank you, and if you have any questions please contact me. TOTAL P.01 MEMORANDUM TO: JULIE TRUDE, CHARTER COMMISSI N SECRETARY FROM: MICHELE SEVERSON, ADMINISTr ON SECRETARY DATE: SEPTEMBER 14 , 1993 RE: SCHEDULED CHARTER COMMISSION DATES The following is a list of scheduled meetings for the Charter Commission. Every meeting will be held in the City Hall Council Chambers at 7: 00 p.m. Tuesday, September 14 Tuesday, September 28 Tuesday, October 12 Tuesday, October 26 Tuesday, November 9 Tuesday, November 23 cc: Samantha Orduno, City Administrator Charter Commission Members