Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-31-1979 11110 MOUNDS VIEW CHARTER COMMISSION MINUTES WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1979 I. Meeting called to order by Chairman, Bill Doty, at 7:35 P.M. II. ABSENT MEMBERS: Lowell D. Nygaard James H. Wills III. As Minutes of January 3, 1979, meeting were mailed to all Commission members, in order to save time, the minutes were not read by the secretary. Neil Loeding suggested that a modification be made of Point VI. 9 to more clearly explain the attendance of Mr. Wills at the Executive Committee meeting held on December 20, 1978. It was pointed out by Mr. Loeding that Mr. Wills was under the impression that December 20, 1978, was a regular meeting date of the Commission, such assumption being made from a copy of the December 4, 1978, Agenda, which he received in the mail. Further, Mr. Wills made an especial effort to attend by • foregoing a previously scheduled meeting out-of-town, and obtained a substitute to attend in his place. Thereupon, a motion was made by Dick Lykke and seconded by Neil Loeding that the Minutes of January 3, 1979, be approved, as amended. Carried unanimously. IV. Curt Schmidt suggested that a motion be entertained to formally excuse Jim Wills from attendance at regular meetings', until such a time as his business commitments will permit him to attend Charter meetings. Thereupon, a motion was made by Duane McCarty and seconded by Milan Illig that Jim,Wills be excused from attending meetings until further notice. Carried unanimously. V. Chairman Doty recessed (7:50 P.M.) the Commission meeting, temporarily, in favor of the General Plans & Purposes Committee. VI. At 10:45 P.M., ChairmamDoty reconvened the Commission meeting. VII. Report of the Rules Committee by Chairman, Duane McCarty. Mr. McCarty advised that it was the recommendation of the Rules Committee that the Rule, "a simple majority of the Commission would be considered a Quorum to do business" be amended to read, "a simple majority of the "active" members be considered a Quorum to do business,however, a smaller IIPnumber of members may adjourn from time to time". • • Mounds View Charter Commission - Minutes - (continued) Page (2) E VII. Report of the Rules Committee by Chairman, Duane McCarty (continued) Thereupon, motion made by Milan Illig and seconded by Curt Schmidt that the recommendation of the Rules Committee, amending the Quorum requirement, be adopted. Carried unanimously. VIII. Motion made by Carol Ziebarth and seconded by Dick L,ykke that the City Council be advised to appoint two new members to the Charter Commission to fill the vancancies left open by the non-acceptance of appointment by Cathy Roth and Blanche Abbott. There was much discussion as to whether or not the Court should make the appointments based upon the Commission's recommendations and request of November 23, 1978 - - that, perhaps, out of courtesy, the Court should be contacted by the Chairman and given an opportunity to respond. Thereupon, Neil Loeding made a motion to amend the motion of Carol Ziebarth to add that Judge Hachey be contacted to ascertain whether or not the Court.. intends to fill the vacancies. .If there is a negative response, or no response, then the City Council should be advised to • appoint two new members to fill the vacancies. Motion seconded by Bill Werner. Motion carried. (Two "Nays") IX. Report of the General Plans & Purposes Committee by Curt Schmidt Mr. Schmidt advised that it was the recommendation of the Committee that the Charter Commission undertake the task of writing a Charter - for the City of Mounds View. Thereupon, a motion was made by Duane McCarty and seconded.by Milan 'Illigthat the recommendation of the General Plans and Purposes Committee be accepted, arid that the Commission proceed in the matter of writing a Charter. Carried unanimously. X. Motion made by Duane McCarty and seconded by Carol Ziebarth that the meeting be adjourned. Carried unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 11:10 P.M. • Air • Rut J•'te,—Secretary rw MOUNDS VIEW CHARTER COMMISSION MINUTES General Plans & Purposes Committee WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1979 I. Meeting called to order by Chairman, Curt Schmidt, at 7:55 P.M. II. As all members received a copy of the Minutes of the General Plans & Purposes Committee meeting held December 13, 1978, a motion was made by Milan Illig and seconded by Duane McCarty that a reading of the Minutes be waived and accepted as written. Carried unanimously. III. Evaluation of Municipal Government Subcommittee Chairman, Milan Illig, requested deferment of his report. IV. Public Opinion Subcommittee Chairman, Dave Notaro, reported that their Committee felt the work of their Committee should be deferred until a later date, after the drafting of a Charter. It would then be a matter, at that time, to • inform the public on the proposed Charter, and, perhaps, arrange for a Public Meeting. It was felt the best way to inform the public was via their Utility Bill - - that the legal paper, The New Brighton Bulletin, was not the best medium of public education, as only about 30% of the residents in Mounds View subscribed to the paper. V. Present and Alternative Local Government Organization Subcommittee Report given by Neil Loeding in the absence of Chairman, Lowell Nygaard. Oral presentation was given by Neil, as well as a written report dated 1/28/79, which was passed out to all Committee and Commission members. (Copy attached) . After discussion, Neil requested that one revision be made in their Committee Report, i.e. , "Subdivision 2. Other Duties - As Revised.", should read, "Subdivision 2. Other Duties - As Revised (Proposed) ." VI. Chairman, Curt Schmidt, surveyed each member of the General Plans & Purposes Committee to solicit their views and opinion as to whether or not a Charter should be written for the City of Mounds View., • • Mounds View Charter Commission Page (2) General Plans & Purposes Committee - Minutes - Continued VI. Following is a summary of the views expressed: a) In favor of writing a Charter. Something should be in Charter so as to maintain tighter control of government spending. Felt total annual budget should be submitted to voters each year for approval. • b) Felt a Charter was not necessary. Present government organization functioning satisfactorily. c) In favor of writing a Charter. In favor of public referendum only for large Capital improvements or expenditures. In favor of Initiative, Referendum and Recall. d) In favor of Charter. In favor of referring large expenditures to voters for approval. In favor of Initiative, Referendum and Recall. Feels Recall mechanisim necessary to have as a "safety valve". It's a good feature to have, even if never used, but great to have, if necessary to use. • e) In favor of Charter. Feels there should be a limit on spending. Does not believe in Deficit Spending. People should vote on all large Capital Expenditures. f) In favor of Charter. Best way to assure proper "checks and balances" in government. Operating Budget should be left to the discretion of the City Council within the framework of the City Charter. Should have Initiative, Referendum and Recall. Present government organization could be kept intact, with only minor modifications. Capital Expenditures should have approval of voters. g) In favor of Charter. Felt it was the best way to have citizen involvement and participation in decisions that affect their lives and families. It's the best tool for having proper "checks and balances" in government. People should have more to say about their local government. Local government should be more sensitive to the ideas and opinions of the people. There should be better communication between government and the people. h) In favor of a Charter, however, has some reservation concerning Initiative, Referendum and Recall. Feels there should be more study. More input by the general public. Recall should be used spareingly - - only under grave circumstances. Mounds View Charter Commission - Page (3) General Plans & Purposes Committee - Minutes - Continued VI. Summary of views - continued i) In favor of Charter. In favor of Initiative, Referendum and Recall. Annual Operating Budget, with limitations, left to discretion of City Council. However, large Capital Expenditures, or City Improvements involving bonding, should be voted on by the people. A Preamble should be written in conjunction with a City Charter. VII. Motion made by Neil Loeding and seconded by Milan Illig that the General Plans and Purposes Committee recommend to the Commission that a Charter be written for the City of Mounds. View. One "Nay". Motion carried. VIII. Chairman, Curt Schmidt, called a meeting of the General Plans & Purposes Committee for Wednesday evening, February 7, 1979, at • 7:00 P.M., and asked each member to have ready their ideas of what they would want incorporated in a Charter. XI. Motion. made by Dick Lykke and seconded by Neil Loeding that the meeting of the Committee be adjourned. Motion carried unanimously. • Meeting adjourned at 10:40 P.M. Ruth Ste, Secretary rw Attach. REPORT OF THE. "PRESENT AND ALTERNATIVE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION" SUBCOMMITTEE 1/28/79 The assignment of this subcommittee was to look into the follow- 4/kng questions: 1. What kind of city government is presently in effect. 2. What are the various departments and officers, and what are their functions. 3. How• much does the present government cost the people. 4. How do our costs compare to neighbouring cities. • 5. What are the defects and strengths of our present system of city government. 6. What are the defects and strengths of alternative forms of governzment presently in effect in other cities in Minnesota. Question #1: The form of city government is given under 5.03 of the Mounds View Municipal Code as Optional Plan A. Questions {x2 through 4: An item that should be of immediate concern to the Charter Commission is' the present practice of public funding of pre- liminary engineering, legal and other costs for development, followed by special assessment to recover these costs. This practice has result- Mid in some 40,000 of outstanding charges from cancelled Projects 1978-1 and 1978-3. These charges may be difficult, if not impossible , to re- cover. A more acceptable approach is to require that all "front end" costs be paid out of an escrow fund provided by the developer. Secondly, it should be realized that general or special assessments for improvement protects can greatly increase the "out of pocket" cost of local government. It is therefore recommended that a committee of the Charter Commission be established to look into what restrictions, addi- tional to those now provided by law, should and can be placed on the authorization and financing on improvement projects. Mayor McCarty will be able to provide input on any further changes that may be needed under these questions as he gets further into his job. Question #6: Among the recognized and tested staturtory and charter forms of city government in Minnesota, the strong mayor-council type seems best fitted to large cities which can afford a full time political lead- er in additional to professional staff. As indicated by Mr. Peskar from •he League of Minnesota Cities , the commission form is most appropiate . for small cities which lack professional staff. Of the three weatc mayor- council types, as previously indicated, Mounds View is technically under • . PAGE 2 Optional Plan A. This plan normally prescribes a clerk-treasurer but allows for an administrative officer), (see p.67 of the Handbook of •tatutory Cities, 3rd Edition. - - ' •• : - 1 •. •, - - = . ••• - _ _ • . • . - - ..- . t thi rrnvi 4i cin 11,44- nQIT .r ham,, i pevIty' tucted The "standard plan" mainly differs from Plan A in specify- ing the election of the city clerk -- a feature that we consider to be best suited to communities smaller than Mounds View. The distinctive difference in the last choice, Optional Plan B, is the provision for a city manager who has autonomy in administrative matters. Question #5: From observation it is apparent that Lounds View functions e,Pie-va+B oil Nh.iGr pcai"fy , 44(Dv,tAS V: es.. s -xi/0-v-ir..t..its dej174 essentially asAPlan B government, with a de facto city manager, has not been popular with many citizens. This form does have the advantage of providing professional administration, howeiter-,.. a feature that is in- creasingly needed with exermore complex government at all levels. A factor to consider in relation to professional administration is the impact this has,or can have,on the city council-staff relationship. Many citizens have expressed concern that policy as well as administre- -Sc ;r..e✓ tion has been unduly influenced by^Clerk-Administrator Achen. Evidence Wan be seen that the Council has become overly dependent on an admini- strator from the insistence of several Council Members on the appoint- mentethis month)of an acting clerk-administrator, rather than a clerk even though the appointee lacked formal qualifications. The essential problem then appears to be to retain professional admtnistration while providing needed checks and balances in the office. It is recommended that this be done by retaining the basic Optional Plam it ttigQ-s A structure with the following implement the provisions on p.68 of the Pandbook of Statutory Cities which provide that department managers be directly responsible to the council and report directly to both the council and the public. This should make the managers more re- sponsible and more accountable while preventing one individual standing between the council and staff. Secondly, the clerk-administrator post- tion should be, titled clerk-coordinator and the uties of the .position /A;edt., lite_/0 s:f-.c. . e`S 7"re�esdr�.V ii 4/ b•z4<ja;s:lo.& Wiz». (4w vt Ckfk-4,0rd,•.c� cr, rewritt eny as shown in the attaci-„d revision.AA.4 inally, the practice of having a council member as liaison to each staff department, which has recently been adopted by the City Council , should be formalized. . It should be plain after the experience of the past year that. we . can find ourselves in the position where citizens have no real recourse against arbitrary decisions by three or four individuals on the city PAGE 3 council even when these decisions are opposed by a large majority. The power of election can be meaningless in this situation because it will always come after the fact. The only statutory way that citizens can inter- vene when necessary in policy making is through a charter which pro- vides initiative, referendum and recall. It is therefore recommended that we formulate a charter and that the indicated provisions be written in. Lowell Nygaard, Subcommittee Chairman Neil Loeding Wally Sxiba • • S 5.02 OF THE MUNICIPAL CODE: DUTIES OF THE CLERK-ADMINISTRATOR Subdivision 2. Other Duties-As-Revised. (1) Coordinate the administration as provided by Council action, state and federal statutes. (2) Participate with affected Municipal departments in the preparation of reports and summaries relating to contemplated mun- icipal projects and/or improvements and submit them with recommendations as may be required to the Council for study and subsequent action. 1►��s (3) Participate with Municipal department in the prepara- tion of an annual fiscal budget and capital improvement plan for sub- mission to the Council. Maintain financial guidelines for the Municipal- ity within the scope of the approved budget and capital program. (4) Participate with the Municipal treasurer in the preparation of the annual financial statement. (5) Attend all Council meetings. Attend by invitation other com- mittee and commission meetings. (6) Coordinate municipal programs and activities as authorized by ',the Council. (7) Participate in the submission of quarterly reports to the Council on the financial condition of the Municipal accou ts. (8) Supervise the conduct of local elections in accordance with the prescribed laws and regulations. (9) Coordinate the activities of all Municipal department heads in the administration of Municipal policy. May participate with the Coun- cil in decisions affecting the employment or removal of department heads. (10) Work in cooperation with the Council' s appointed attorney and engineer. E11) Participate in the preparation of news releases and public relations material. Maintain along with the rest of the Staff good public relations with the general public. (12) Consult as directed by the Council with appointed officials and with other public or private agencies as may be required. • (13) Be fully informed regarding federal., state and county programs which affect the Municipality. (14) Participate with affected Municipal department heads in the negotiation of the terms and conditions of employee labor contracts for presentation to the Council. (15) Perform all duties required of him by ordinances or resolu- tions adopted by the Council Subdivision 2. Other Duties ---las presently set out . (1) Direct the administration as provided by Council action, state and federal statutes. Coordinate with the Council in administering Municipal affairs. (2) Prepare reports and summaries relating to contemplated munic- ipal projects and/or improvements and submit them with recommendations as may be required to the Council for study and subsequent action. '3) Prepare an annual fiscal budget and capital improvement plan for submission to the Council. Maintain financial guidelines for the Municipality within the scope of the approved budget and capital program. (4) Prepare the annual financial statement and perform other duties as required in Liinnesota Statutes 412.141 and of the code. (5) Atte— and participate in all Council meetings. Attend at his discretion or by invitation other committee and commission meetings. (6) Coordinate municipal programa and activities as authorized by the Council. (7) Submit quarterly reports to the Council on the financial con- dition of the Municipal accounts. (8) Supervise and conduct the local elections in accordance with the prescribed laws and regulations. (9) Supervise the activities of all Municipal department heads and the administrative staff in the administration of Municipal policy with authority to effectively recommend their employment and removal. (10) Wort in cooperation with the Council'-s_ -appointed attorneyand engineer. (11) Prepare news releases, develop and discuss public relations material with all concerned as required. Maintain good public relations •with the general public. • (12) Consult with appointed officials and with other public or private agencies as may be required. • (13) Be fully informed regarding federal, state and county pro- grams which affect the Municipality. i (14) Negotiate or delegate the negotiation of the terms and condi- tions of employee labor contracts for presentation to the Council. (15) Perform all duties required of him by ordinances or resolu- tions adopted by the Council.