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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCharter Resolution 2007-01eCharter Commission Chair Jonathan J Thomas 763-784-5205 Vice Chair Bill Doty 763-786-3421 2nd Vice Chair Jean Miller 763-786-3959 Secretary Barbara Thomas 763-780-6226 Michael Haubrich 763.432.3181 Thai W Vang 763.792.1750 Resolution No. 2007-01e Mounds View Charter Commission Final Version Dated Jul 12, 2007 Whereas, the Mounds View Charter Commission is reviewing the lists of past requests for housekeeping and clarification updates to sections of the Mounds View Charter that have caused confusion or seem to be semantically incorrect. The Mounds View Charter Commission acting under Minnesota Statute 410.12 Subdivision 7, recommends the following amendments by the addition of the blue and double underlined language and by the deletion of the Red and stricken language. The Mounds View Charter Commission requests the City Council adopt this resolution by ordinance by the required unanimous vote. Charter Commission Objectives: Update Chapter 5 and related sections of the Charter while maintaining original powers and authority granted. Improve readability and clarify the process, required steps, and time line for circulating and submitting a petition to the City for Initiative, Referendum or Recall. Improve the Chapter’s elapsed time definitions to calendar days and include appendices charting time allowed for each procedural action. Chapter 3, Section 3.05, 3.07, and 3.09 clarification of ordinance process to allow time for Referendum petitions. Section 5.01 define the term voter, clarify the use of appendices, and clarify voter authority for petitions. Section 5.02 define committee as Sponsoring Committee, its size and membership requirement, petition signer requirement, and city staff responsibilities. Section 5.03 clarify the process and requirements for petition sufficiency. Section 5.04 clarify the process for insufficient petitions. Section 5.05 new section to specify and clarify procedure and time allowed for voter requested ballot issues. Section 5.06 clarify the process for Initiative and its time line. Section 5.07 correct Council and staff procedure and correctly align ordinance process to voter requested referendum procedure. Section 5.08 clarify requirements for Recall and the time line for actions of Clerk-Administrator and Council. Through-out the Chapter change Clerk/Administrator to Clerk-Administrator . Section 5.09 (moved from old section 5.06) correct electors to voters and added the reference for MN Statutory authority for Charter amendments. Throughout the Chapter clarify Mounds View resident terminology usage so that references are more consistent rather than having references to people of Mounds View, registered voters, citizens of Mounds View, and voters. Respectfully submitted,   Jonathan J Thomas, Chair Barbara Thomas, Secretary CHAPTER 3COUNCIL PROCEDURE Section 3.05. Procedure on Ordinances. Every proposed ordinance shall be presented in writing and read in full before adoption, unless the reading is dispensed with by unanimous consent of the Council. No ordinance shall contain more than one subject. Such subject shall be clearly expressed in its title. The enacting clause shall be "The City of Mounds View ordains". No ordinance, except an emergency ordinance, shall be adopted at the meeting at which it is introduced and at least fourteen (14) calendar days shall elapse between its introduction and final adoption. Every ordinance must contain a specified effective date as noted in Section 3.09 of this Charter. Section 3.07. Signing, and Publication of Ordinances. Every ordinance adopted by the Council shall be signed by the Mayor, and attested to, filed and preserved by the ClerkAdministrator. Every ordinance shall be published at least once in the official newspaper no earlier than eight (8) calendar days nor later than seventeen (17) calendar days from the date of passage, either in its complete form preceded by a summary of its contents or as a title and summary. The Ordinance or the Ordinance Title and Summary shall be published in a body type no smaller than brevier or eight (8) point type. A copy of any new ordinance may be obtained from the City at no cost. The entire text of the ordinance shall be posted on the City’s web site, if there is one, in a manner that can be identifiable by subject matter or ordinance number. A copy shall also be available in the community library, if there is one, or if not, in any other public location which the Council designates. In the case of lengthy ordinances, or ordinances that include charts or maps, if the Council determines that publication of the title and a summary of an ordinance would clearly inform the public of the intent and effect of the ordinance, the Council may by a four-fifths (4/5th) vote of its members, direct that only the title of the ordinance and a summary be published, with notice that a printed copy of the ordinance is available for inspection during regular office hours at the office of the Clerk-Administrator. Prior to the publication of the title and summary, the Council shall approve the text of the summary and determine that it clearly informs the public of the intent and effect of the ordinance, and shall further state that the complete text of the ordinance is on file at the office of the Clerk-Administrator. The publishing of the title and summary shall be deemed to fulfill all legal publication requirements as completely as if the entire ordinance had been published. A copy of the publication shall be attached to and filed with the ordinance for reference. To the extent and in the manner provided by law an ordinance may incorporate by reference a statute of Minnesota, a state administrative rule or a regulation, a code or ordinance or part thereof without publishing the material referred to in full, so long as the complete reference to the item is included. (Amended, Ord. 700, 8-26-2002) Section 3.09. When Ordinances and Resolutions Take Effect. Every resolution and emergency ordinance shall take effect immediately upon its adoption or at such later date as it specifies. Every other ordinance shall take effect thirty (30) calendar days after its publication or at such later date as it specifies unless challenged by a petition for referendum that is not deemed to be frivolous by the Council. In the event of a petition for referendum that is not deemed to be frivolous, the Council must suspend the effective date of the ordinance as specified in Section 5.07 of this Charter. CHAPTER 12 MISCELLANEOUS AND TRANSITORY PROVISIONS Section 12.01. Official Publication. The Council shall annually designate a legal newspaper of general circulation in the City as its primary official newspaper, as well as an optional secondary newspaper, in which shall be published ordinances, other matters required by law or this Charter to be so published, and any other matters the Council may deem is in the public interest to have published in this manner. CHAPTER 5INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM AND RECALL Section 5.01. General Voter Authority*. The people of Mounds View, have the right, in accordance with this Charter, to propose ordinances [initiative] and to require that any ordinance be referred to the voters [referendum], except those that appropriate money, levy taxes or deal with administrative issues (MN Statute 410.20, as amended). The voters also have the right to remove elected public officials [recall]. The term voter(s), as used in Chapter 5, shall refer only to residents of the City of Mounds View who first register, or who have registered and are qualified to vote. Per Minnesota Statute 200.039, as amended, eligibility to sign the petition is not restricted to only those who were eligible to or did cast ballots in the previous election. For clarity flow charts and time lines are attached as appendices at the end of this charter. In all cases, the Charter text shall take priority over the appendices should there appear to be a discrepancy. Section 5.02. Petitions. A petition provided for under this chapter shall be sponsored by a committee of five (5) to ten (10) members who are voters of the City and whose names and addresses must appear on the petition as the Sponsoring Committee. A completed petition consists of one or more pages gathered together as a single document. Each separately circulated page shall contain at its head, or attached thereto, the information specified in sections 5.05, 5.07 or 5.08 which apply, respectively, to initiative, referendum and recall. The Sponsoring Committee may obtain a sample petition from the Clerk-Administrator. The Clerk-Administrator shall provide the number of signatures for petition sufficiency which is based on the total number of ballots cast for President in the most recent Presidential election. All petition circulators must be voters of the City. Each separate page of the petition must include a certificate signed and dated by the circulator. The certificate shall affirm that each signature was made in the circulator’s presence and that the circulator believes the page to contain the genuine signatures of the voters whose names they purport to be and that each signer was presented with the full petition. Each signer of a petition must be a voter of the City and must sign and print their name and give their street address. The completed petition shall be submitted to the Clerk-Administrator for review. Any voter whose name appears on a petition may withdraw their name by filing a statement in writing with the Clerk-Administrator before the Clerk-Administrator advises the Council of the information related to the sufficiency of the petition or, if such completed petition is deemed insufficient pursuant to this Charter, during any time period that additional signature papers are being circulated by the Sponsoring Committee or reviewed by the Clerk-Administrator pursuant to Section 5.04. Consistent with the provisions of this Charter and the applicable state laws and rules, the Council may prescribe by ordinance or resolution, the definition of a frivolous petition. Section 5.03. Determination of Petition Sufficiency. For a petition to be sufficient, it must meet the requirements set forth in section 5.02 and contain at least the following: Petitions for Initiative and Referendum require signatures numbering at least fifteen (15) percent of the total ballots cast for President in the most recent Presidential election. Petitions for Recall require signatures numbering at least twenty five (25) percent of the total ballots cast for President in the most recent Presidential election. If all requirements have been met, the Clerk-Administrator shall report to the Council within ten (10) calendar days of receipt of the completed petition. Thereafter, the Council shall immediately declare the sufficiency of the petition by resolution. Section 5.04. Disposition of Insufficient or Frivolous Petition If the petition appears to be frivolous, the Clerk-Administrator shall report to the Council within ten (10) calendar days of receipt of the petition. If the Council determines the petition is frivolous, the Council shall direct the Clerk-Administrator to file the petition as frivolous and no further action shall be taken. If the Clerk-Administrator determines that the petition does not meet the requirements for sufficiency and is not determined to be frivolous, a copy of the petition, together with a written statement of its defects, shall be delivered to the Sponsoring Committee and to the Council within ten (10) calendar days of receipt of the completed petition. As specified in this Charter, the Sponsoring Committee shall have twenty-one (21) calendar days to file additional signature papers and/or to correct the specified insufficiency. Within nine (9) calendar days of receipt of the corrected completed petition, the Clerk-Administrator shall determine whether the petition as corrected meets the requirements for sufficiency and shall proceed as directed in Section 5.03. If the petition is still insufficient, the Council shall direct the Clerk-Administrator to file the petition as insufficient and notify the Sponsoring Committee within ten (10) calendar days that no further action will be taken. The final finding that the petition is insufficient shall not prejudice the filing of a new petition for the same purpose unless otherwise specified within this Charter. Except in the case of a petition for recall, it shall not prevent the Council from referring the subject matter of the petition to the voters at the next regular or special election. Section 5.05. Ballot Measure Requirements. If a measure meets the requirements to be put on a ballot and is in compliance with Chapter 4 of this Charter, at or before its next regularly scheduled meeting, the Council shall pass a resolution placing the measure on a ballot. If it is within one hundred twenty (120) calendar days of a primary or general election and all of the county election requirements can be met, the measure shall be placed on the ballot at the next regularly scheduled election. If a measure meets the requirements to be put on a ballot but cannot be placed on the ballot at a regularly scheduled election, at or before its next regularly scheduled meeting, the Council shall pass a resolution placing the measure on the ballot and calling for a special election to be held within one hundred twenty (120) calendar days of said meeting. However, no special elections can be held between a regular primary election and a regular general election or forty (40) calendar days after a regular general election. If there is no regular primary election then no special election shall be held within sixty (60) calendar days prior to a regular general election. Section 5.06. Initiative*. An ordinance may be proposed by petition. The exact text of the proposed ordinance must be stated at the head of each page of the petition or attached thereto. The petition shall be filed in the Clerk-Administrator's office prior to circulation and shall be valid for one hundred eighty (180) calendar days during which time a completed petition with signatures must be filed. If a petition for initiative is determined to be frivolous, it is prohibited from being repeated within one hundred eighty (180) calendar days of the determination. Within sixty (60) calendar days after final determination of the petition’s sufficiency according to Section 5.03 and 5.04 of this Charter, the Council must either adopt an ordinance according to Subdivisions 1 or 2 or pass a resolution to place the measure on a ballot as provided in Subdivision 3. Any amendment to the proposed ordinance must proceed according to Subdivision 2 of this section. If an ordinance is adopted, it shall become effective thirty (30) calendar days after publication unless the ordinance specifies a later effective date. If the vote for adoption fails, the ordinance must be placed on the ballot as provided in Section 5.05. If a ballot measure for a proposed ordinance fails the same measure is prohibited from being brought forward again as an initiative within one hundred eighty (180) calendar days of the election certification. Failure of a ballot measure for a proposed ordinance shall not prevent the Council from proposing a similar ordinance. Subdivision 1. If the Council elects to adopt the ordinance as provided by the petition without amendment, they shall proceed in accordance with Section 3.05 of this Charter. During this adoption process, the ordinance cannot be amended but, if adopted, is subject to the referendum process as defined in Section 5.07. Subdivision 2. If an amendment to the ordinance is proposed by a majority vote of the Council, it must be presented to the Sponsoring Committee prior to the first reading of the proposed ordinance. The Sponsoring Committee shall have fourteen (14) calendar days from the receipt of the amended proposed ordinance to disapprove the amendment by majority vote, and file a statement with the Clerk-Administrator. Upon receipt of a statement of disapproval from the Sponsoring Committee, the Council must either adopt the proposed ordinance, according to Subdivision 1 of this section, or place the ordinance, as presented by the Sponsoring Committee, on the ballot as provided in Section 5.05. If the Sponsoring Committee does not submit a statement of disapproval, the ordinance can proceed, as amended, according to Section 3.05 with no further amendments and, if adopted, is subject to the referendum process as defined in Section 5.07 of this Charter. If the vote for adoption fails, the ordinance, as amended, must be placed on the ballot as provided in Section 5.05. If an amended ordinance is approved at a first reading, the Council may choose to submit the ordinance, as amended, as a ballot measure. Subdivision 3. If the ordinance is required to be put on a ballot, or if the Council chooses to submit the ordinance as presented as a ballot measure, they shall proceed as provided for in Section 5.05 of this Charter. If a majority of those voting on the ordinance vote in its favor, it shall become effective thirty (30) calendar days after certification of the election results unless the ordinance specifies a later effective date. If the majority does not vote in favor, the ordinance shall not be enacted. (Amended, Ord. 650, 8-16-2000) Section 5.07. Referendum*. Prior to the date when an ordinance takes effect, it may be subjected to a referendum by a petition which shall state at the head of each page, or attached thereto, the exact text of the measure to be considered by the voters. The Sponsoring Committee must file the completed petition in the office of the Clerk-Administrator at least ten (10) calendar days before the ordinance takes effect. If a petition is determined to be frivolous, no further action on the petition shall be taken and the adoption of the ordinance shall proceed according to Section 3.05. If the petition is found to be sufficient under the provisions of Section 5.03 of this chapter, the Council must immediately adopt a resolution suspending the effective date of the ordinance until it is decided by a vote of the public. The Council must also immediately pass a resolution to place the measure on a ballot as provided in Section 5.05 of this Charter. If a majority of the voters favors the ordinance contained in the petition, it shall take effect immediately unless the ordinance specifies a later date. If a majority votes against the ordinance contained in the petition, it shall be considered repealed upon certification of the election results. If the petition does not meet the requirements of sufficiency under the provisions in Section 5.03 of this chapter and is determined not to be frivolous, the Council must adopt a resolution suspending the effective date of the ordinance for thirty (30) calendar days and the Sponsoring Committee will have twenty-one (21) calendar days in which to file additional signature papers and/or to correct the specified insufficiency according to Section 5.04. If the final finding is that the petition is insufficient, the ordinance shall take effect on the date declared by the resolution of suspension. If the corrected petition is declared sufficient according to Section 5.03, the Council must pass a resolution suspending the effective date of the ordinance until it can be decided by a vote of the public and proceed as previously mentioned in this section. (Amended, Ord. 651, 8-16-2000) Section 5.08. Recall. The voters of the City may request a recall vote of any elected official of the City by petition. The petition shall state at the head of each page, or attached thereto, a certificate stating the name of the official whose removal is sought, the grounds for recall, which shall be malfeasance or misfeasance in office, in not more than two hundred fifty (250) words, and the intention of the Sponsoring Committee to bring about the official's recall. The petition shall be filed in the Clerk-Administrator's office prior to circulation and shall be valid for one hundred eighty (180) calendar days during which time a completed petition with signatures must be filed. The Clerk-Administrator shall notify the official sought to be recalled of the petition and proceed as provided in Section 5.03 and 5.04 of this Charter. If a petition for recall is determined to be frivolous, it is prohibited from being repeated within one year of the determination. If the Council declares the petition sufficient, it shall immediately pass a resolution to place the measure on a ballot as provided for in Section 5.05 of this charter. Within fourteen (14) calendar days of the declaration of sufficiency, the elected official named by the petition may provide a response for their own course of action in not more than five hundred (500) words. The Clerk-Administrator shall include with the published notice of the election, the statement of the grounds for the recall and the response of the official concerned or a statement stating no response was received. If a majority of those voting on the recall vote in its favor, it shall become effective immediately upon certification of the election results. If the majority does not vote in favor, the recall has failed and a petition for recall is prohibited from being repeated for that elected official for one year from the date of certification of the election. If a vacancy occurs due to recall election, Section 4.05 herein shall apply to fill said vacancy. Section 5.09. Initiative to Amend the Charter. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as in any way affecting the right of the voters to propose amendments to this charter which can be proposed in accordance with MN Statute 410.12, as amended. * Minnesota courts have limited the powers of initiative and referendum to ordinances which are legislative in character. General legislative acts lay down some permanent and uniform rule of law, administrative acts relate to daily administration of municipal affairs, and quasi judicial acts are the product of investigation, consideration and deliberate human judgment based upon evidentiary facts of some sort.