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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022 01-13 CHCABROOKYLN CENTER CHARTER COMMISSION Thursday, January 131h, 2022 - 6:30pm Video Conference Call AGENDA 1. Call to Order - 6:30pm 2. Roll Call 3. Adoption of Agenda 4. Consideration of Minutes 5. Audit Report 6. Election of Officers a. Chair b. Vice Chair c. Secretary d. Audit Chair e. Public Relations Chair 7. Schedule meetings for upcoming year 8. Old Business a. Discussion on mayoral emergency powers 9. New Business 10. Adjournment Brooklyn Center Charter Commission Meeting Minutes October 14th, 2021 Draft Called to order by Chairman Mark Goodell at 6:32pm. Chairman Goodell called the roll. Present: • Mark Goodell • Donald Bumgarner • Gail Ebert • Kathryn Ellgren • Zarita Hester arrived at 7:03pm • Dan Jerzak • Stanley Leino • Robert Marvin • Bud Sorenson Excused: • Lee Bak • Sandra Gilmore • Steve Landis • Dan Ryan Absent: • Lars McCritty Guests: • Alix Bentrud • Randy Christensen Adoption of Agenda: A motion was made by Commissioner Marvin and seconded by Commissioner Leino to approve the agenda. The motion passed. Consideration of Minutes: Corrections were made to the spelling of Bud Sorenson's name The October 14th, 2021, minutes were adopted with a motion by Commissioner Sorenson and a second by Commissioner Marvin. Motion passed. Old Business: a. Update on Commissioner Appointments Chairman Goodell drafted a letter to be sent to the city council and attended a meeting to read the letter to the city council. The item was not discussed during that meeting. It was supposedly discussed during the following meeting. Bud Sorenson stated that they went through the applications and were planning to make appointments at the following meeting. He states that a few new appointments have been made but is not fully aware of who and to which committees. A discussion was held about a previously attempted motion that reflected current options. Commissioner Jerzak spoke to having witnessed the Mayor and City Council's discussion regarding appointments. Concerns were raised by Commissioner Leino about possible vacancies in the Planning commission. Commissioner Sorenson mentioned that three of the five city council members were pushing for the Mayor to move on making appointments. New Business: a. Discussion on Mayoral Emergency Powers Commissioner Jerzak brought up the Mayor's emergency powers under section 2.06. His concerns were about having the Mayor- who is not required to be a police officer- controlling the police without the knowledge to do so. He also mentioned Section 2.09 as being an issue but wishes to stick to 2.06 for now. Commissioner Leino discussed having gone through this section previously. He shares the concern that a non -licensed person would assume control of the police. Commissioner Jerzak clarified his thoughts on how to reform this to make it less broad. Chairman Goodell asked if any commissioners would take on the work of researching what other cities have for this section. Commissioner Bumgarner stated that he thought any person in the police chain of command would be a better option than the Mayor. Commissioner Hester recommended looking at what the state has for this policy. She also was reluctant to add to the burden of the City Manager or remove that ability from the Mayor. Commissioner Jerzak acknowledged Commissioner Hester's concerns and reiterated that he wanted clarification of the range of these powers. Commissioner Marvin expressed concerns about how broad the emergency powers seem. Commissioner Leino stated that he was happy that no one wanted to remove the emergency powers, just define them better. He also agreed with the idea of doing a lot of research to see what other cities and the state have done regarding this. Commissioner Marvin agreed. Chairman Goodell brought up avenues of research for this. Commissioner Jerzak reminded the commission that we should look to cities comparable to Brooklyn Center. Commissioner Leino asked to look at a city like St. Cloud. He offered to take on that portion of the research. Commissioner Marvin brought up Robbinsdale's water crisis. Commissioner Jerzak agreed but reiterated the concern is purely about taking control of the police. Chairman Goodell asked what the commission's next steps should be. Commissioner Jerzak requested for commissioners to ask for input from the police, the city council, the city manager, etc. Commissioner Sorenson asked if we would be able to use the city attorney as a resource. Commissioner Marvin agreed. Commissioner Ebert added her agreement to that idea. Chairman Goodell offered to draft a letter to the city attorney about the legality of segment 2.06. Commissioner Marvin made the motion and Commissioner Ebert seconded. Commissioner Jerzak again reiterated the desire to focus on the issue of taking control of the police and no other piece of the current emergency powers. Commissioner Leino asked for clarification. Commissioner Jerzak again reiterated that he felt other commissioners could dig into the other emergency powers but that he, himself was only currently concerned with the portion concerning control of the police. Commissioner Ebert asked if it would be possible to discuss with the chief of police. Commissioner Leino agreed. Chairman Goodell asked if there was any further discussion. Commissioner Jerzak again asked for input from other city leaders- the police chief, city manager, etc. Chairman Goodell reminded the commission that we had a current motion on the table. He called the vote. Motion passed. Chairman Goodell asked if there was any discussion about sending this letter to others. Commissioner Marvin brought up concerns about punitive actions against city staff that might speak to us. Commissioner Jerzak stated that city staff could just decline to speak. Commissioner Hester stated that the commission should be very clear that we are asking for professional knowledge, not city staff s feelings about this issue. Chairman Goodell asked for a list of who should be contacted and asked if the Mayor should be on this list. Commissioner Jerzak added a few more positions. Commissioner Jerzak moved to seek this input; Commissioner Marvin seconded. Commissioner Hester disagreed. Commissioner Jerzak restated why he felt those particular people needed to be included. Commissioner Leino agreed with Commissioner Hester and stated his desire to vote against this motion. He also stated concerns about retribution against city employees. Commissioner Ellgren agreed with Commissioners Leino and Hester and brought up the concern that currently there isn't enough information to proceed. Commissioner Jerzak reminded the commission that the city heads would be a small enough pool to pull from. Chairman Goodell reclarified the current motion. Commissioner Marvin agreed with making it a smaller pool. Commissioner Sorenson agreed. Chairman Goodell asked if we would update the motion to only contact City Council, City Manager, and Acting Police Chief. Commissioner Marvin agreed to that correction. A discussion was held about whether the city council should be included. A discussion was held on whether to include the fire chief in this. It was clarified that the city manager could be asked to include whoever they think necessary in this discussion. Commissioner Ebert stated that she wanted assurances of protection for anyone asked. Chairman Goodell stated that he would make anonymity a contingency. Chairman Goodell restated the motion. Motion passed. Chairman Goodell asked what other steps we wished to take. Commissioner Leino brought up the concept of creating a police commission. Commissioner Jerzak asked for more weight on similar cities. Commissioner Marvin recommended using the previous list. Commissioner Hester agreed. Commissioner Jerzak asked to move the idea of the police commission to a later meeting to stay focused on this specific issue. Commissioner Ellgren offered to take on Robbinsdale and New Hope. Commissioner Leino offered to take St. Cloud. Commissioner Hester offered to take Columbia Heights. Commissioner Ebert offered to do research as well. Chairman Goodell offered to send out relevant links. Commissioner Marvin asked that all commissioners just looked at the different charters, so everyone has that information. Adjournment: With a motion by Commissioner Marvin and a second by Commissioner Sorenson, we adjourned the meeting at 8:01 pm. The next meeting is on January 13t', 2022. Kathryn Ellgren Charter Commission Secretary