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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-26-2019 minutes DRAFTMounds View Charter Commission Minutes 1 Tuesday, November 26, 2019 2 3 4 1. Call to Order – The meeting came to order at 6:30 p.m. 5 6 2. Roll Call – Present: B. Amundsen, B. Clawson, D. Erickson, J. Klander, J. Peterson, 7 M. Reyes-Johnson, J. Thomas, R Warren 8 Excused: 9 Absent: None 10 11 NOT PRESENT: None. 12 13 3. Approval of Agenda and Minutes 14 Motion by J. Peterson, seconded by B. Clawson, to approve the agenda as 15 presented. 16 Motion Approved 17 18 Motion by J. Peterson, seconded by D. Erickson, to approve the minutes of 19 September 27, 2019. 20 Motion Approved 21 22 4. Citizens Comments from the Floor 23 24 None. 25 26 5. Reports of Chair 27 28 Accept Brooks Staples resignation and thank him for his service on the Charter 29 Commission. 30 31 Thomas thanked Brooks Staples for his service to the community on the Charter 32 Commission. 33 34 Motion by __, seconded by __, to accept Brooks Staples letter of resignation. 35 Motion Approved 36 37 Discuss the Robert’s Rules of Order summaries in the packet. 38 39 Thomas reviewed Robert’s Rules of Order summaries with the Commission and noted 40 these could be used as guidelines. 41 42 6. Reports of Members 43 44 Mounds View Charter Commission November 26, 2019 Regular Meeting Page 2 Amundsen explained he appeared before the District Court and noted the petition to 1 remove him from the Charter Commission had been denied. He explained he recently 2 spoke to the City Council and shared this information with the community. He provided 3 the Commission members with copies of the court documents. 4 5 7. Unfinished Business 6 7 Election of Chair to fill vacant position. 8 9 Thomas discussed the process that would be followed for election of a Chair. He called 10 for nominations. 11 12 Warren nominated himself as Chair of the Charter Commission. 13 14 Motion by R. Warren, seconded by B. Amundsen, to nominate Russ Warren as 15 Chair of the Charter Commission. 16 Motion Approved 17 18 Motion by J. Thomas, seconded by B. Clawson, to accept the nomination of Russ 19 Warren as Chair of the Charter Commission. 20 Motion Approved 21 22 Review TimeSaver prepared minutes and discuss future use. 23 24 Thomas opened the floor for discussion of the TimeSaver prepared minutes from 25 September 17th. 26 27 Peterson noted there were a few small changes to the minutes and explained the minutes 28 were longer than necessary. He did not see the extra value in having these minutes 29 completed. 30 31 Motion by J. Peterson, seconded by R. Warren, to terminate the TimeSaver Off 32 Site Secretarial, Inc. minute trial and continue to use the minutes prepared by the Charter 33 Commission secretary. 34 35 Peterson commented he did not believe the TimeSaver minutes were worth the money 36 being spent. 37 38 Klander stated he was glad this group gave TimeSaver a try. He believed it made a lot of 39 sense to use TimeSaver from a long-term process standpoint, especially given the fact 40 TimeSaver completes minutes for all other City groups. 41 42 King agreed but noted because this group had a secretary, perhaps it wasn’t necessary for 43 TimeSaver to prepare minutes. 44 45 Mounds View Charter Commission November 26, 2019 Regular Meeting Page 3 Clawson explained Amundsen does a good job preparing minutes for the Charter 1 Commission. He indicated if Amundsen was not available the Commission may want to 2 then consider using TimeSaver. 3 4 Thomas commented he was not totally against the idea of having minutes prepared 5 elsewhere, but noted the Commission’s bylaws would have to be amended if this were to 6 occur. He stated the Commission would have the option at any point to request 7 TimeSaver to complete minutes. 8 9 Erickson supported the Charter Commission secretary completing the minutes. 10 11 Peterson asked if TimeSaver has changed its name. 12 13 Amundsen stated it was his understanding TimeSaver had changed its name to Minute 14 Maker Secretarial. 15 16 Thomas reported the company had changed its name and there may be some personnel 17 changes. 18 19 Motion Approved 20 21 Peterson requested the agendas and approved minutes from the Charter Commission be 22 uploaded to the City’s website. He believed it was important for the City to have accurate 23 information from the Charter Commission posted on the website for the public to review. 24 25 Motion by J. Peterson, seconded by R. Warren, to direct Mounds View City staff 26 to work with the Charter Commission secretary to post Charter Commission agendas and 27 approved minutes to the City’s website. 28 29 Klander suggested the Annual Report also be posted on the website. 30 31 Clawson recommended the motion language be amended because he did not believe the 32 Charter Commission had the right to direct Mounds View City staff. He suggested the 33 language be amended to request Mounds View City staff to work with the Charter 34 Commission secretary. 35 36 Peterson accepted this amendment. 37 38 Motion by J. Peterson, seconded by R. Warren, to request Mounds View City staff 39 to work with the Charter Commission secretary to post Charter Commission agendas, 40 packets and approved minutes to the City’s website. 41 42 Amundsen stated he had the 2019 minutes and explained he would need assistance from 43 Peterson with minutes from previous years. 44 45 Mounds View Charter Commission November 26, 2019 Regular Meeting Page 4 Thomas requested Amundsen provide the Commission with a report on this item at the 1 next meeting. 2 Motion Approved (King opposed) 3 4 Discuss schedule for Chapter 4 language updates from the City Attorney. 5 6 Thomas explained he had not received a report from the City Attorney. 7 8 Amundsen questioned if the Commission should be looking elsewhere for legal advice. 9 10 Thomas recommended a conversation be held on another day to see if the Commission 11 needs to seek other legal counsel. 12 13 8. New Business 14 15 Review and approve the Annual Report. 16 17 Thomas reviewed the Charter Commission Annual Report for 2019. 18 19 Klander recommended the reference to November 2018 be changed to November 2019. 20 21 Motion by R. Warren, seconded by B. King, to approve the Charter Commission 22 Annual Report as amended. 23 Motion Approved 24 25 Set next meeting agenda items. 26 27 Thomas reviewed the items that would be discussed by the Commission at the January 28 28th meeting. It was noted the Commission would be receiving an update from the 29 secretary regarding the website and action on Chapter 4 would be tabled. 30 31 Amundsen suggested the training time period and assessments be discussed in January. 32 He stated if these items were not discussed then perhaps a meeting in January was not 33 necessary. 34 35 Thomas reported this would be up to the Commission. 36 37 King supported the January meeting being held. 38 39 Thomas commented the bylaws could be addressed in January. 40 41 Warren stated as the newly appointed Chair he would be speaking with the City Council 42 in order to receive direction for the coming year. For this reason, he supported the 43 Commission meeting in January. 44 45 Mounds View Charter Commission November 26, 2019 Regular Meeting Page 5 Thomas explained the Commission did not have to wait to hear from the City Attorney 1 prior to moving forward with Chapter 4. He stated the work done on this chapter was a 2 starting point. 3 4 King encouraged the Commission to work together for the betterment of the City and to 5 stop the name calling. 6 7 Peterson stated he would like to better understand what pace the Commission would be 8 using going forward. 9 10 King commented he would rather hold meetings once a month than to hold extended, 11 longer meetings. 12 13 Warren discussed the four options available to the Charter Commission to amend the City 14 Charter per the bylaws. 15 16 Amundsen stated he would be interested in the Commission addressing Chapter 8 in 17 January. 18 19 Warren requested the Commission continue moving towards resolution for Chapter 8 and 20 Chapter 4. 21 22 Thomas commented this may be somewhat counter productive if the City Council was 23 working in parallel with the Charter Commission. He recommended work on Chapter 4 24 be tabled for two or three months and that the Commission address Chapter 4 again in 25 March. 26 27 King supported the Commission addressing Chapter 8 in January. The Commission was 28 in agreement. 29 30 Warren suggested Chapter 4 also be put on the agenda for January (for 30 minutes) in the 31 case the Commission was to hear from the City Attorney. 32 33 Klander asked if the Commission worked with the City Council on Chapter 8. 34 35 Thomas stated there were many conversations over the years. He discussed how the 36 makeup of the Charter Commission and City Council has changed over the years and 37 described how this had impacted the work being addressed by the Commission. 38 39 Amundsen commented work on this Chapter was put on hold after 2016 when the City 40 was forced to hold a special election and efforts were then focused on Chapter 4. 41 42 Klander stated he has served on the Charter Commission for almost a year now. He 43 indicated he would like to see the Commission engage with the City Council in order to 44 bring about some sort of Resolution for Chapter 4 prior to moving onto Chapter 8. He 45 Mounds View Charter Commission November 26, 2019 Regular Meeting Page 6 wanted to see the Commission getting some work done and for the work being done by 1 this group to be valuable. He explained he did not support this group meeting monthly. 2 He commented subcommittees may be a better option for the group. 3 4 Clawson agreed with Klander and stated he would like to see the Commission address 5 Chapter 4 and have it completed. 6 7 Thomas discussed the great work the Commission completed on Chapter 5 and Chapter 7 8 of the Charter. 9 10 Peterson indicated the subcommittee idea would be a great way to keep Chapter 4 moving 11 forward. 12 13 Clawson suggested the Commission discuss hiring its own attorney in January. The 14 Commission supported this item being further discussed in January. 15 16 9. Next Regular Meeting: Tuesday, January 28, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. 17 18 10. Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at 7:51 p.m. 19 20 Transcribed by: 21 22 Heidi Guenther 23 TimeSaver Off Site Secretarial, Inc. 24