Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-28-2020 TS Unofficial MinutesMounds View Charter Commission Minutes 1 Tuesday, January 28, 2020 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, B. King, J. Klander, M. 7 Munson, J. Peterson, J. Thomas, R Warren 8 Excused: 9 Absent: None 10 Others Present: City Administrator Nyle Zikmund, City Council Liaison 11 Sherry Gunn 12 13 NOT PRESENT: None. 14 15 3. Approval of Agenda and Minutes 16 Motion by King, seconded by Munson, to approve the agenda as presented. 17 Motion Approved 18 19 Amundsen noted a change on Page 1, under Item 7 stating the second line should read: 20 Russel Warren indicated he is a nomination. On line 5, the line should read: the Acting 21 Chair J. Thomas made motion to accept by acclimation Russell Warren as Chair. 22 23 Peterson requested the indentation for Item 8-2B be changed. 24 25 Motion by Peterson, seconded by Amundsen, to approve the minutes of 26 November 26, 2019 as amended. 27 Motion Approved 28 29 4. Citizens Comments from the Floor 30 31 None. 32 33 5. Reports of Chair 34 35 Warren welcomed Miranda Munson to the Charter Commission. 36 37 Warren explained he attended a worksession with the City Council on January 6th. He 38 reported the Council discussed concerns they had with the Charter Commission and he 39 discussed the Commissions concerns regarding the relationship with the City Attorney. 40 He stated a letter was then distributed to the Commission. He stated the discussion with 41 the Council was both cordial and informative. He stated he learned Chapter 4, Chapter 7, 42 Chapter 8 and simplifying overall language were all concerns for the City Council. 43 44 6. Reports of Members 45 Mounds View Charter Commission January 28, 2020 Regular Meeting Page 2 1 Amundson provided the Commission with a report on website updates. He explained the 2 City was working to update the website and would be connecting its site to the laser fiche 3 or archived information. He commented he would be working with staff to fill in gaps 4 noting there was some documents missing from the Charter Commission. He stated he 5 was happy that progress was being made. 6 7 Peterson noted all of the videos prior to 2019 were unavailable. He commented for 8 transparency purposes, he believed the older videos should be included on the website. 9 City Administrator Zikmund discussed how time consuming it has been for staff to 10 digitize and archive City documentation. He anticipated by the end of February staff 11 would have all Charter Commission documentation on the website. He commented ono 12 how the collection of data has changed over the past decade. He stated he would be 13 working to put court appointment records on the laser fiche server. He discussed the 14 expense to store video footage and noted there was no State Statute that required the City 15 to archive meeting videos. For this reason, the City has elected to archive minutes 16 because they were the official record. He indicated the City of Mounds View was as 17 transparent as any other city. He commented CTV would have meetings on their server 18 for at least six months. He stated the Council was working to balance expenditures with 19 how to properly spend tax payer dollars. He reported all cable expenditures were funded 20 by franchise fees and these fees were on the decline. 21 22 Further discussion ensued regarding how files are being archived to the website. 23 24 Thomas explained he had files in a book he could get to staff to fill in some of the 25 information gaps. 26 27 Peterson commented he would like to ensure the minutes that are posted on the website 28 are the corrected sets of minutes. 29 30 Amundsen encouraged all Charter Commission members to forward all old files to him 31 and he would work as a liaison with staff in order to get this information onto the City’s 32 website. 33 34 King indicated he supported the City spending more money on policing than on archival 35 storage. 36 37 Warren recommended the Commission revisit this issue in March to see how much work 38 staff had completed on the new website. The Commission supported this 39 recommendation. 40 41 Thomas explained he listened to the entire worksession meeting from January 6th. He 42 indicated it appeared to him staff was unaware of the number of times the Charter has 43 been amended. He recommended all of the Ordinances noting changes to the Charter be 44 posted on the City’s website. He suggested all failed Ordinances also be posted on the 45 Mounds View Charter Commission January 28, 2020 Regular Meeting Page 3 website. City Administrator Zikmund recommended this information be forwarded to 1 staff. 2 3 7. Unfinished Business 4 5 Chapter 4 Language Updates from the City Attorney. 6 7 Warren requested the Title of the Chapter be listed for the agenda item for clarification 8 purposes. 9 10 Amundsen stated at the May 2019 meeting the Commission motioned for the secretary to 11 forward to the City Attorney information that had been reviewed in January. This 12 information was forwarded. He explained he has since learned the City Council would 13 prefer this information go through the City Administrator instead. 14 15 Warren asked if the specific language had been recommended to the City Council for 16 Chapter 4. 17 18 Thomas stated this did not occur because the Commission was waiting to hear from the 19 City Attorney. 20 21 King commented it was his understand this matter came back to the Commission with a 22 recommendation the Charter Commission was to follow State law. 23 24 Thomas indicated this was not the case because the Charter never received comment back 25 from the City Attorney. He reported the Statute does not address a two year mayor. 26 27 Warren described the three ways the City Charter can be amended. He stated his 28 preference would be to send language to the City Council for consideration. He indicated 29 this language could then be reviewed by the Council for approval or sent to the citizens 30 for a vote. He supported the Charter Commission drafting language for Chapter 4 in order 31 to be forwarded to the City Council. 32 33 City Council Liaison Gunn stated City Attorney Riggs was still working on this matter. 34 She anticipated the Commission would be hearing from the City Attorney on this matter. 35 36 Peterson recalled the history of this matter. He stated there were still several areas that 37 had to be worked out and language has to be simplified. He noted there were a couple 38 areas that still needed updates. He anticipated the revisions the Commission had already 39 completed would be better than the existing language. 40 41 Warren expressed frustration that the Commission had not heard back from the City 42 Attorney on this matter. 43 44 Mounds View Charter Commission January 28, 2020 Regular Meeting Page 4 Amundsen reviewed the draft Resolution that was forwarded to Commission members. 1 He stated based on Council Liaison Gunn’s comment the City Attorney was working to 2 provide the Charter Commission with a comment. He suggested the Charter Commission 3 share what they have with the Council even without the City Attorney’s feedback in an 4 effort to move this item forward. He explained the other alternative would be to wait for 5 the City Attorney. 6 7 Warren asked if the Commission could support moving these four pages forward to the 8 City Council for comment. 9 10 Thomas stated the thought of the Commission last spring was to wait to receive 11 comments from the City Attorney prior to forwarding a Resolution to the City Council. It 12 was believed this would make it easier for the document to move forward. 13 14 Amundsen reviewed the minutes from May 21, 2019 stating the Commission motioned to 15 send to the City Attorney the Commission’s January 29, 2019 Chapter 4 revised language 16 with the modification of 18 months for vacancy appointment. This motion was amended 17 with the understanding the City Attorney would work to the best of his ability with the 18 Commission language and present any missing concepts that the Commission’s July 19 meeting. This amendment was accepted and the motion was approved. He stated at that 20 point, City Attorney Riggs indicated he would have language for the Commission to 21 review in July. He stated in an effort be more cooperative perhaps the Resolution for 22 Chapter 4 should be forwarded to the City Council for consideration. He indicated the 23 Commission could then work with the Council to finalize the amendment. 24 25 King supported this recommendation. 26 27 Thomas suggested the Commission receive a firm time commitment from the City 28 Administrator. He discussed how valuable Kennedy & Graven has been in assisting the 29 Charter Commission in the past. 30 31 Amundsen stated he would like to correct the process that was followed in the past and 32 have the Resolution forwarded to staff. 33 34 Warren commented the Charter Commission aught to speak to the City Council through a 35 designated liaison, which could be him. He stated he would be happy to speak to the City 36 Council. 37 38 City Administrator Zikmund commented he could speak to the City Council on behalf of 39 the Charter Commission or a Resolution could be adopted and this Resolution could be 40 directed to him to be brought to the City Council. He discussed how busy the City 41 Attorney has been in the last year addressing HR and development issues. He indicated 42 this issue could be brought to the Council at a worksession meeting or a joint meeting. 43 44 Mounds View Charter Commission January 28, 2020 Regular Meeting Page 5 Thomas suggested Chair Warren request a firm time commitment from the City 1 Administrator regarding the City Attorneys comments and that the Commission decide 2 where to go after hearing from the City Administrator. He recommended the response 3 from staff be sent to Chair Warren via memo. He asked if a motion would suffice for this 4 request or if a Resolution had to be passed. City Administrator Zikmund stated a motion 5 would be sufficient. 6 7 Motion by Thomas, seconded by Clawson, to recommend Chair Warren request a 8 firm time commitment for the City Attorney feedback to the Charter Commission on the 9 Chapter 4 documents previously sent on May 21, 2019. 10 11 City Administrator Zikmund stated he would use the March Council worksession 12 meeting date as the target for a response from the City Attorney. 13 14 Motion Approved 15 16 Chapter 8 Language Review of Status. 17 18 Amundsen reported this Chapter deals with public improvements. 19 20 City Council Liaison Gunn explained this Chapter of the Charter needs simplification. 21 22 Warren commented he believed changes to Chapter 7 were of greater importance than the 23 changes needed for Chapter 8. He explained the City was in a deficit position given the 24 fact it could not raise the levy limit. 25 26 City Administrator Zikmund stated it was the City Council’s wish to visit this Chapter of 27 the Charter at some point in the future. He anticipated this would occur in the second half 28 of this year. 29 30 Thomas indicated Chapter 7 may be the portion of the Charter that was in need of 31 amendment. He stated levy limits were addressed in Chapter 7. He reported if a 32 significant changes was proposed to this Chapter a vote would have to go to the citizens. 33 However, if a simple language change was being made, this could be done by Council 34 and Charter Commission approval. 35 36 Warren supported the Commission waiting to address Chapter 7 until the second half of 37 2020. 38 39 Thomas commented on the suggested changes the Commission had already discussed 40 regarding Chapter 8. City Administrator Zikmund recommended the Charter 41 Commission consider holding a joint meeting with the City Council in order to address 42 the changes needed for Chapter 8. He suggested his be done at the May meeting. 43 44 Mounds View Charter Commission January 28, 2020 Regular Meeting Page 6 Thomas suggested three drafts of Chapter 8 be provided at this meeting, which would 1 include an existing copy, a marked up draft and a clean draft. The Commission supported 2 this recommendation. 3 4 Peterson stated he worked best with the version that had colors. 5 6 City Administrator Zikmund stated he would include a companion document or memo 7 that describes what each section of Chapter 8 does. He noted in two years the City will 8 have reconstructed all of its streets, the entire municipal water system and 60% of the 9 sanitary sewer system. 10 11 Warren asked if the Charter supported holding a joint meeting with the City Council at 12 the May Charter Commission meeting. 13 14 8. New Business 15 16 Set Next Meeting Agenda Items. 17 18 Amundsen stated the Commission would be reviewing website updates in March, along 19 with receiving a Chapter 4 status update. He commented the Commission would also 20 have to approve a Resolution setting the 2020 meeting schedule. 21 22 Thomas indicated the Commission could also receive a clear copy and marked up 23 versions of Chapter 8 for review prior to the May Charter Commission meeting. 24 25 Klander stated his preference would be to not spend time in the meeting discussing this 26 matter but rather that the documents be sent to the Commission for review prior to the 27 joint meeting in May. 28 29 Peterson saw value in distributing these documents in March as it may generate 30 questions. 31 32 Amundsen agreed with Klander stated he did not believe the Chapter 8 documents had to 33 be reviewed formally at the March meeting. 34 35 Warren reported the May meeting date would have to be altered because the Council 36 would be meeting on the 4th Tuesday in May because of the Memorial Day holiday. The 37 Commission agreed to address this concern in March. City Administrator Zikmund 38 suggested the Commission consider holding the May joint worksession on May 19th. 39 40 9. Next Regular Meeting: Tuesday, March 24, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. 41 42 10. Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at 8:01 p.m. 43 Mounds View Charter Commission January 28, 2020 Regular Meeting Page 7 1 Transcribed by: 2 3 Heidi Guenther 4 Minute Maker Secretarial 5