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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.