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Home My WebLink About05-11-1993 k MOUNDS VIEW CHARTER COMMISSION MINUTES MAY 11 , 1993 I . Call to Order The meeting was called to order by Chair Len Burgers at 7 : 10 p . m. in the Mounds View City Hall . II . Roll Call Present : Len Burgers , Jerry Linke , Dave Long , Richard Oman , Pat Rickaby , Laurie Schley , Bob Toborg , Julie Trude , Arlene Werdien and Ruth White. Absent : Lloyd Bardwell ( excused ), Virgil Beyer (excused ) , Sue Hankner ( excused ) , Duane McCarty ( excused ) , and Ray Vandeveer ( excused ) . III . Approval of Minutes IIIMotion by Laurie Schley , second by Jerry Linke , to approve the Minutes of the April 27 , 1993 meeting as amended . Passed with 6 ayes and 3 abstentions . IV . New Business - Review of Set Asides , Chapter 4 §4 . 02 - Filing for Office The commissioners unanimously agreed to follow Mr . Kennedy 's memorandum in re-writing this section . The entire existing charter language will be deleted and replaced with the following : "An eligible voter of the city may file for election in the manner prescribed by law . " §4 . ?? - Should Charter Determine Precincts : Jerry Linke exlained the City Council ' s basis for reducing the city ' s precincts to only one precinct for the entire city. The main motivation was savings in election judges . The commissioners discussed the election process and whether the number of precincts affected the time in announcing election results . Other points were raised by commissioners who preferred the city be divided into a .number of precincts . The majority of commissioners present considered the issues raised ( such • as tracking how voters vote in various sectors , organizing political caucus meetings and analyzing election results ) to be politically driven and thus not appropriate charter a material . C . §4 . 03 - Should the Charter Require a Primary Election? The. percentage of voters voting in primary elections over the last several years .was presented by Jerry Linke . The • purpose and advantages of holding a primary were discussed by its proponents . These included narrowing the slate of candidates so that the public has a better opportunity to become informed of the persons running for office . Several commissioners did not think the 12-way council race would be repeated . Others considered political activism a social trend and believed the primary mechanism would only be used when more than a threshold filed for the offices of mayor or council member . After further discussion and a polling of the commissioners , Chair Burgers asked proponents to draft potential language for future review . Primary proponents suggested that the ratio of candidates to each seat exceed 4 : 1 before a primary would be required . Many commissioners considered this issue one appropriate for a public vote . D . §4 . 04 - Special and Advisory Elections : The consensus of the commission is to keep advisory elections in the charter but use Mr . Kennedy 's style of language . The consensus was to change the word " shall " to "may" and change the time from 15 days to 30 days . A reference to • state law should also be considered , see footnote 15 of Mr . Kennedy ' s memorandum. E . §4 . 05 , subd . 1 - Council Vacancies Although Jerry Linke pointed out, that other cities appoint to fill vacated council seats until the next municipal election , most commissioners wanted to make no change in this section of the charter . The majority of the commissioners present believed that the electorate should select their council members when a vacancy occurs with 365 days or more remaining in the term of the vacated office , asstated in the Charter . §4 . 05 , subd . 5 - Filling vacancies The consensus is to simply re-word this section so that it is clear that the third and fourth vote getters are filling "vacant" seats not those up for regular election . §4 . 05 , subd . 6 - Insufficient number of candidates Several commissioners suggested this subdivision could be combined with subdivision 1 because it deals with vacancies . However , it was noted that subdivision 1 - deals with vacancies -3- 5/11/93 while• subdivision 6 deals with insufficient numbers of candidates filing for election . • The commissioners agreed that this entire section would benefit from a re-write and re-organization _ of the subdivisions . Richard Oman "volunteered" to re-draft this section . V . Continuation of 2-year vs . 4-year Mayor Debate Jerry Linke presented his memorandum to the commissioners addressing the arguments against making a change froma 2- year mayor . His preference is to change the mayor ' s term to 4 years with the election occurring during the gubernatorial election rather than the presidential election . Julie Trude distributed copies of a survey from the League of Cities which listed cities who have changed the length of their mayor ' s term. Ruth White distributed an article from the local newspapers explaining Shoreview ' s decision to retain a two-year mayor after a task force reviewed the advantages of a two or four year mayor . The commissioners discussed the hand-outs and their positions on the issue . Chair Burgers noted that a consensus could not be reached and that this issue should be put to a public vote but not during a mayor ' s contest . The potential wording of this issue on a ballot was proposed as : "Should the term of office for the mayor be changed from two years to four 411 years commencing in 199_. " VI . Discussion of §3 . 11 - .Ordinance Review Julie Trude reported that she had discussed the interpretation of the first sentence of §3 . 11 with staff attorney Cheryl Heyl from the League of Cities . Ms . Heyl •stated that the current language mandates a review every two years and that the "as may be necessary" language authorizes this review to occur at 6 months or one year but not less than every two years . Ms . Heryl did not believe a comprehensive review was mandated , however , she noted that the the ordinances and resolutions would need to be reviewed sufficiently to note whether they were impacted by changes in law ( state law and case law ) . An alternative approach might be to direct the city attorney to review the ordinances to note which changes might be necessitated by changes in legislation and judicial decisions . A more thorough review of the code and • resolutions would reveal how changes in law impacted social policies . Julie Trude stated that she and Ms . Heryl developed the following alternative language for the commission to consider : "The City Attorney shall be directed by the City Council to review the municipal code. and resolution index after each legislative session and then advise the City Council of necessary or recommended amendments to the municipal code . " -4- 5/ 11/93 The commissioners discussed the report and alternative language as well as the language in Mr . Kennedy ' s memorandum and the Model Charter . Several commissioners favored the permissive ( "may" ) wording suggested by Mr . Kennedy. After additional411 discussion and polling of the commissioners the consensus was reached that this section should be re-worded to state : "The City Council must review , revise and rearrange its ordinance code and its resolution index with such additions and deletions as may be deemed necessary by the Council at least once every five years . " VII . Agenda for Meeting of May 25 , 1993 n The commissioners agreed upon the following agenda for the next meeting on Tuesday May 25 , 1993 at City Hall : AGENDA 1 . Review Chapter 5 Set Asides ( Sections 5 . 01- 5 . 05 and Sections 5 . 07 and 5 . 08 . ) 2 . Review Chapter 6 Set Asides ( §6 . 02 , subd . 3 ; §6 . 03 ) VIII . Adjournment Upon the motion of Julie Trude , seconded by Dave Long , the commission members voted unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 9 : 45 p .m . Respectfully submitted 411 (2/ -<-1) u.1 ie .Trude Secretary