HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-07-18 Commission Ltr to CouncilHonorable Mayor and City Council,
This letter is a response to your recent request of the Mounds View Charter Commission in
regards to our interpretation of Chapter 6, Section 6.02, Subdivision3.
We would like to note for the record that although you have asked the Commission for its
opinion on such matters, it is the City Council and its legal counsel that has the authority to
interpret the charter, not the Charter Commission. This fact was confirmed recently by the
League of Minnesota Cities charter expert in his testimony before our commission.
It is the Commission's opinion that the spirit of the charter section in question is one of public
accountability and information. It is not the desire or the goal of the charter or the Charter
Commission membership to seek to impose rigid and bureaucratic rules upon the City Council or
its staff.
The historical context of this particular section of the charter comes from a point in the city's
history where there was a perception that city department heads were not readily accessible to
the public to take input and questions from the council or the public. The charter clause in
question requires every department head to appear publicly at a regularly scheduled council
meeting quarterly (approx. every 3 months).
It is the recommendation of this Commission that any appearance of a department head before
the city council during a 3 month period shall be viewed as an acceptable fulfillment of 6.02
subd. 3 of the Mounds View charter with the following caveat: Such an appearance is to be
noted in advance in the published proposed agenda of the City Council so that members of the
public will know when a particular department head will be presenting items at council
meetings.
We recognize that department heads are eligible for "comp time" of an equal amount of time as
is taken up appearing before the city council in the evening. Therefore it is the expressed desire
of this Commission to have city staff's efforts focused in on the efficient and professional
execution
of their duties and not to waste their time with additional appearances at city council meetings if
they have already appeared before the council and the public in recent weeks.
In the event that a department head does not appear before the city council to present items for
the council's information and consideration, the Clerk-Administrator or their designate should
arrange for that department head to appear before the city council to give an update on their
department and that in similar fashion the council's agenda should publicly note that such a
department head will be present at the next meeting of the council.
Respectfully submitted,
Jonathan Thomas, Chair
Mounds View Charter Commission