HomeMy WebLinkAbout1992 07-15 CHCABROOKLYN CENTER CHARTER COMMISSION
JULY 15, 1992
7:00 P.M.
AGENDA
NOTE: Meeting will be held in the City Hall Council Chambers.
1. Call to Order
2. Roll Call
3. Approval of May 20, 1992, Minutes (enclosed)
4. Correspondence
A. Letter to SunPost RE: tonight's meeting
B. Letter to NorthWest News RE: tonight's meeting
5. Old Business
A. Sub Committee on Section 2.05, Vacancies in the Council (Met June
11 -see attached minutes)
B. Sub Committee on Preamble (Met June 11 -see attached minutes)
C. Sub Committee on Appointment Process
D. Adopt -A -Park /Adopt -A -Trail /Adopt -A Street Programs: Myrna
Kragness
6. New Business
7. Next Meeting Date
8. Adjournment
Is
BROOKLYN CENTER CHARTER COMMISSION
COUNCIL VACANCIES SUB COMMITTEE
JUNE 11, 1992
9 A.M.
Present: Eileen Oslund (Chair), Ed Commers, Tony Kuefler
Absent and excused: David Hildebrandt
The meeting began at 9:05 in Conference Room A.
Chair Oslund passed out a working copy of our last edition of Section 2.05
with some additions, deletions, and numbered lines for ease of reading.
Agreement was reached for the reading of Section 2,05, Vacancies in the
Council. It should read as follows:
When, for any reason, a vacancy should occur in the City Council or office
of Mayor, the City Council must pubically declare such vacancy within ten
(10) days of its occurrence. The Mayor or Council Member shall forfeit the
office for (1) lack at any time during the term of office of any
qualification for the office prescribed by this charter or by law, (2)
violation of any express prohibition of this charter, (3) conviction of a
crime involving moral turpitude, (4) failure to attend three consecutive
regular meetings of the Council without being excused by the Council, or
(5) departure of residence from the City.
Much discussion was held again regarding Section 2.05A, Procedure to Fill
Council Vacancies as presented by Chair Oslund. Scenarios discussed were:
If the remainder of the vacancy is less than one year, council appoints for
the remainder of the term.
If the remainder of the vacancy is over one year, the City Council must
call a special election.
Exact timing of the elections and when newly appointed/elected persons
would take office needs further work on the wording, Chair Oslund stated
she would redraft this section and forward copies to all sub-committee
members for their feedback and then members of this committee will plan to
meet 10 minutes before our July 15th full commission meeting.
It was also discussed as to the timing of when this amendment should be
presented to the city council and/or citizens. It was felt this should be
discussed with the entire commission.
Meeting adjourned at 10 a.m.
F)et�ectfully ubmitted,
Carole J. lowers, C.P.S.
Administrative Assistant
0
Section 2.05. VACANCIES IN THE COUNCIL. The- office of Mayor-- or-- Gounc member
sha H- become- -v aeant-u pon --ciea -h,—r- gnat-i-on; fram o ffice n manner
3 authorized -by
'J')eteN FoR A REA-scr,� i R gk-u. 9 *00LL.p (Z)cCUFZ. ttl TKE CL-r1/ CduNC.
o F_ c c=P (C— i= 1 M r+i-e cc T'Y c0 u_ NCit_ Mu P ur3L 1 C g L.4. -Y b1FC-4_A7k
St.uc.tA w4ca.Nr W tTEttt�► co Oat Ys of IT'S ocCLLRP'NGE.
The Mayor or Council member shall
4 forfeit the office for (1) lack at any time during the term of office of any
s qualification for the office prescribed by this charter or by law, (2) violation
c of any express prohibition of this charter, (3) conviction of a crime involving
7 moral turpitude, 4M (4) failure to attend three consecutive regular meetings of the
P Council without being excused by the Council�c,� otg (S) D�pARrut2E o>=
QL c.E r -+Lost T�+E ctTY
7$P_C.i (0k) z. ov PROCE�ttRES Tt� �CLL CbLWC[t_ �I F� G PJCIES
A- vacancy--34-- tote- -Gounc l- shall -be
5 fil -1-y-bg=the- C- ounci3-=and then -by the-v r- s--for-- t- he- --the-
r
lo te_rm -at- the ul.-ar-- el- ection= unless=that lecz ian= oc-cur -s— r- i- thi-n one hundr -ed
(100) -days from --the occurr-- ene- e-- o- f- the--vacancy,- this per -iod- being-- necess- ary-to -allow
1 �i-me -f-or candidates to file'.
u-"e-xp +r_rn o 41 C_c,u.rlC.0 tJ V1 ck( is I _SS -than ph
%e Council by a majority vote of all its remaining
/s members shall appoint a qualified person to fill the vacancy
u ntil the—PezS o n
�y r 9 ul pred- term- takes�f£ise_ If the Council
/5' fails to fill a vacancy within thirty (30) days, the City Clerk shall call a
is special election to fill the vacancy. The election will be held not sooner than
;7 ninety (90) days.and not later than one hundred twenty (120) days following the
is occurrence of the vacancy and to be otherwise governed by the provisions of Section
iy 4.03, special elections.
Z� uYIGSLDtYGA cif �.L cniznci� cLCCLhc� 0V
lOnc e_V j 0- T ?Z-C -L0- �(cC-+ton sh��t b� Ca��er� b tine_ �COa�
cs r b y fi e_ C 4-,r C le v k E@tu1Ct i s 0-4 t" i t vt c V1
3a t3o i t�e_ e(e_c.:-con wt t( b mid noi svorne..r 4+La.r ntne (ct)
cL no ta: a_n D V) e__ Y1unc1r &_d tt_; en y_ c�AyS.
t
LOW 0 ccwrct r1 G(t o _'L 4 e- VOL earl e a VL d_ 1-6 be
o�trcL* S C_ c vesrr� e- d b J4.e_
y vYw t S t a h, S o SeC_ o v1 44-63 i
p �c i c ��e c o v1 S S vet v� '-4 vt U C owlc�i C Q--es
-The quorum of the Council consists of three (3) members;
if at any time the membership of the Council is reduced to less than three (3), the
remaining members may by unanimous action appoint additional members to raise the
membership to three (3).
BROOKLYN CENTER CHARTER COMMISSION
PREAMBLE SUB COMMITTEE MEETING
JUNE 11, 1992
10 A. M.
Present: Beverly Wolfe (Chair of sub-committee); Ulyssess Boyd, Tony
Kuefler, Everett Lindh, Eileen Oslund
The meeting began at 10:05 a, m. in Conference Room A.
Chair Wolfe stated that the town meeting was held regarding the preamble,
and she passed out copies of a draft of the preamble produced from that
meeting. Members of the committee reviewed this draft and felt again that
the items stated were too specific and fell more into the category of a
mission statement for the City.
Members of the sub-committee felt that clarification of the last item in
our last draft prepared by this committee should be corrected to read:
define the accountabilities of the Mayor, Council, Commissions, and
staff.
The following is the entire draft of the preamble to be presented to the
full Commission at our next meeting on July 15, 1992:
4 4 4
0 PREAMBLE TO THE BROOKLYN CENTER CITY CHARTER
The people of Brooklyn Center have both the right and the responsibility to
participate in all phases of city government. In order to insure these
rights, the Brooklyn Center City Charter seeks to:
faster a sense of community;
provide for openness in all phases of city government that encourages
communication between people and government;
encourage broad representation in city government and city staff that
reflects the diversity of the community;
provide fair taxation for protection, recreation, and economic well-
being of the community;
define the accountabilities of the Mayor, Council, Commissions, and
staff.
June, 1992
4
Committee members felt that the procedure as to how this will become a part
of the charter should be discussed with the full commission.
Meeting adjourned at 10:40 a.m.
Respectfu
11 mi
is �a__role J BY. b
'wers, C.P.S.
Administrative Assistant
M E M O R A N D U M
TO: All Charter Commission Members
FROM: Al Anderson, Chair
DATE: August 5, 1992
RE: Attached Memo
I received the attached memorandum from the City Attorney via the City
Manager, Gerald Splinter, regarding Section 2.04.
Please review and contact me if you have any questions. Thank you.
cb
Attachment
s
HOLMES GRAVEN
CHARTERED
JOHN M. LEFEVRE.JR.
Attorneys at Law
470 Pillsbury Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402 ROBERT J. LINDALL
OBERT A. AI.SOP (612) 337 -9300 LAURA K. L COLLET
ONALD H. BATTY Facsimile (612) 337 -9310 JAMES M. BARBARA L. PO MMEN
STEPHEN J. BUBUL J
JAMES J. THOMSOOMSON. N. JR.
JOHN B. DEAN
LARRY M. W ERTHEIM
MARY G. DOBBIN$
BONNIE L. WILKINS
STEFANIE N. GALEY GARY P. WINTER
CORRINE A. HEINE
JAMES S. HOLMES WRITER'S DIRECT DIAL DAVID L. GRAVEN (1929 -1991)
DAVID J. KENNEDY
JOHN R. LARSON OF COUNSEL
WELLINGTON H. LAW 337"9215 ROBERT C. CARLSON
CHARLES L. LEFEVERE ROBERT L. DAVIDSON
July 29, 1992
Jerry Splinter
City of Brooklyn Center
6301 Shingle Creek Parkway
Brooklyn Center, MN 55430
RE: Election on Proposed Charter Amendment
Dear Jerry:
In response to receipt of a proposed charter amendment from the Brooklyn Center
Charter Commission, the City Council has decided to call a special election to be held
at the same time as the general election, and has directed staff to prepare an
appropriate resolution.
i I. Date of Election. I should note first that although the Charter Commission has
requested that the amendment be voted on at the general election, the setting
of the election is a matter which is within the discretion of the City Council.
Under Minnesota Statutes, Section 410.10, subd. 1, the City Council is
required to submit the question to the voters at the next general election since
the next general election is within six months of the date the question was
presented to the City Council. However, that same section authorizes the
City Council to call a special election to consider only the charter amendment
at any time provided it is within ninety days after the delivery of the draft
amendment to the City Council.
II. Recall of Amendment. I should also point out that at any time before the City
Council has fixed the date for the election, a charter commission may recall its
proposal. After the City Council has fixed a date for an election, the
commission may recall the proposed amendment only with the approval of the
City Council. The proposed amendment may not be withdrawn after the first
publication of 'the proposed charter amendment.
III. Notice of Election. Under Minnesota Statutes Sections 410.10 and 410.12,
subd. 4 the notice of election which is published twice (once a week for two
succession weeks), is to contain the complete text of the charter amendment.
IV. Form of Ballot Question. Under Minnesota Statutes, Section 410.12, subd. 4,
the form of the ballot is to be fixed by the City Council. This subdivision
provides that "the statement of the question on the ballot shall be sufficient
to identify the amendment clearly and to distinguish the question from every
other question on the ballot at the same time."
CLL39096
BR291 -7
Jerry Splinter
Page 2
July 29, 1992
The wording of ballot questions can become very controversial because it is felt by
many that the way a question is worded may influence the vote of the electorate.
Therefore, the Council should be very careful to attempt to assure that the form of
the ballot is as fair, objective and neutral as possible. Perhaps the least
controversial statement of the question would be to follow the procedure used in the
case of the original vote on a new proposed city charter. When a new charter is
proposed, state law requires that the ballot question be "Shall the proposed new
charter be adopted? Yes No In the case of amendments, the law requires that
they be submitted to the qualified voters at a general or special election and
published "as in the case of the original charter." Therefore, I believe that the City
would be in compliance with the requirements of law if they were to specify the
question to be "Shall the proposed charter amendment be adopted? Yes No
If the Council wishes to further identify the proposed amendment, the question could
state "Shall the proposed charter amendment which was published in the official
newspaper on ,1992 and 1992 be adopted? Yes No
The last time a charter amendment was voted on in Brooklyn Center was in 1986. A
copy of the resolution setting the election and the form of question is attached.
Apparently the Council felt at that time that the question should provide somewhat
more description of the proposed amendment. This was relatively easy to do at that
time given the nature of the amendment under consideration.
I do not believe that the law requires the City Council to attempt to explain the
proposed amendment or to describe its terms. Rather, it is only necessary to
"identify the amendment clearly and to distinguish the question from every other
question on the ballot at the same time". Therefore, the burden on the Council is
simply to attempt to assure that the ballot question is not confused with some other
ballot question and that the voters understand which question they are voting on.
If the Council wishes to add some further description of the amendment for this
purpose, the question might be "Shall the proposed charter amendment relating to
the procedure for filling vacancies on the City Council by appointment or by special
election be adopted? Yes No
If the Council wishes to make an effort to summarize the amendment in the question
or on the ballot, please let me know. The fora cf the resolution_ can be the same as
the one attached with appropriate changes for the text of the amendment, dates,
references to charter sections, text of ballet question and the like. If you have any
questions while I am gone, I would suggest you call Dave Kennedy, our resident
charter expert.
Very truly yours,
Charles L. LeFevere
0 CLL: cmm
CLL39096
BR291 -7
W
'BROOKLYN CENTER
ff
TEL: 1- 612-569 -3494 Jul 29,92
7 :18 NO-00 P.09
Member Celia Scott introduced the following resolution and
moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION NO. 86 -159
CALLING SPECIAL ELECTION FOR SUBMISSION
OF PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO CITY CHARIER
kND FIXING FORM OF BALLOTS, NOVEMBER 4, 1986
WHEREAS, the Brooklyn Center Charter commission, appointed
by the District Court of Hennepin County for the City of Brooklyn
Center, has on August 25, 1986 delivered to the Mayor of the City
proposed amendments to Section 2.01 :;a 4.01 o sae dome Rule
Charter duly adopted by the Charter Commission; and
WHEREAS, the said proposal is to amend said Sections 2.03
and 4.01 respectively to read in their entirety as follows:
(brackets indicate material to be deleted, underline indicates
new material)
Section 2.03. ELECTIVE OFFICERS. The Council shall be
composed of a Mayor and four Councilmembers who shall be
registered voters of Brooklyn Center, and who shall be
elected at large. Each Councilmember shall serve for a term
of [three (3) four (4) years. The Mayor shall serve for a
term of [two (2) four (4) years. The Council; shall be
canvassers of the election of the Mayor and the
Councilmembers.
Section 4.01. THE REGULAR MUNICIPAL 'ELECTION. A regular
municipal election shall be held on the first Tuesday after
the first Monday in November of (each year] even numbered
years at such place or places as the City Council may
designate. The City Clerk shall give at least two (2) weeks
previous notice of the time and place of holding such
election and of the officers to be elected and such other
matters to be voted upon by molting it it lszst j
�Saf.L, L
place in each voting precinct and by,publication at least
once in the official newspaper; but failure to give such
notice shall not invalidate such election.
THEREFORE, BE IT R ESOLVED, by the City Council of the City
of Brooklyn Center:
l.. That the question of the adoption of said proposed
amendments to the Home Rule Charter of the City s hall
be submitted to vote of the electors of the City at a
special Election which is hereby called to be held at
the regular polling places in the City on the 4th day
of November, 1986 concurrently with the general city
election to be held on said date.
BROOKLYN CENTER
TEL: 1 -612 569 34 94
AL:JULUW1UV NV. Mb
SHALL SECTION 2.03 AND SECTION 4.01 OF THE HOME
MULE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER, AS
ADOPTED NOVEMBER 8, 1966, BE AMENDED SO AS TO
CHANGE CITY ELECTIONS TO EVEN YEAR ELECTIONS;
CHANGE COUNCILMEMBER-TERMS FROM THREE (3) YEARS TO
FOUR (4) YEARS; CHANGE THE MAYOR' TERM FROM TWO
(2 YEARS TO FOUR 4 YEARS?
2. The Clerk is authorized and directed to cause notice of
the time and places of holding such election and of the
issue to be submitted to the voters by publishing a
notice thereof once each week in the official newspaper
of the City for two (2) successive weeks prior to said
election.
3. The Clerk is authorized and directed to cause suitable
ballots to be prepared for said elect :ln w.h. --C:1 shall be
in subst an ^.tial;.y the following form:
Yes
4. Such election sh
returns thereof
prescribed by law
September 22, 1916
Data
ATTEST:
Jul 29,92 7:18 NO.001 P.10
No
all be held and conducted and the
made and canvassed in the manner
for such an election in the City.
Mayor
The motion for the adoption of the foregoing resolution was duly
seconded by member Gene Lhotka and upon vote being taken
thereon, the following voted in favor thereof: Dean Nyquist,
Gene Lhotka, Celia Scott, Bill Hawes, and Rich Theis;
and the following voted against the same: none,
whereupon said resolution was declared duly passed and adopted.