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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1992 01-22 CHCABROOKLYN CENTER CHARTER COMMISSION JANUARY 22, 1992 7 P.M. CITY HALL ANNUAL MEETING AGENDA 1. Call to Order 2. Roll Call 3. Approval of November 20, 1991, Minutes 4. Approval of Annual Report 5. Approval of Audit Report 6. Nominating Committee Report 7. Election of Officers A. Chairperson B. Vice Chairperson C. Secretary 8. Appointments A. Audit Chair B. Public Relations Chair C. Rules /Parliamentarian Chair 9. Salary for Administrative Assistant 10. Correspondence A. Letters to SunPost /$orthWest News B. Responses on Preamble Insert to City Newsletter 11, Old Business A. Discussion of City Attorney's Letter of 11 -15 -91 regarding Section 2.05 B. Sub Committee on Premable to City Charter 12. New Business A. Sub Committee on Appointment Process in Filling Council Vacancies 13. Next Meeting Date 14. Adjournment 1._J C. BROOKLYN CENTER CHARTER COMMISSION ANNUAL REPORT 1991 The Brooklyn Center Charter Commission met six times during 1991. The annual meeting was held on January 23, 1991, and the following officers were elected for 1991: Chairperson Edward L. Commers Vice Chairperson Allen K. Anderson Secretary Beverly Wolfe The following 1991 appointments were made by the Chairperson: Audit Mona Hintzman Public Relations Ted L. Willard Rules /Parlimentarian Ron Christensen During 1991, the following commissioners left the Charter Commission due to expired terms and resignation: Barbara Sexton, Benjamin Chatelle, and David Ault. The Chair and commissioners convey their appreciation and thanks to these commissioners for their many contributions of time, energy, and accomplishments while serving. We welcomed three newly appointed commissioners in 1991. They were Donald Gilbert, Myrna Kragness, and Eileen Oslund. This gave the Charter Commission its full allowable compliment of fifteen members. In 1992, the following commissioner's terms will expire: Edward L. Commers, Mona Hintzman, Myrna Kragness, Tony Kuefler, and Dennis Snook. Of that group, the following commissioners can be reappointed for another term: Myrna Kragness and Dennis Snook. Assuming these two commissioners will be reappointed, three new commissioners will be required during 1992. Section 3.01 of the City Charter concerning City Council Meeting Changes was adopted by the City Council in April of 1991 and inserted into the City Charter. Section 2.05 of the City Charter concerning Council Vacancies was taken up by the Charter Commission in 1991. At the January meeting, Commissioner David Hildebrandt was appointed to study the section's wording and review the City Attorney's recommendations. As a result of his efforts, Section 2.05 was condensed into two proposed new wordings and submitted to the Charter Commission at the February 27th, meeting. As a result, a sub committee was appointed then to finalize Section 2.05's wording and intent for presentation to the Charter Commission, City Council, and City Attorney. The sub committee members are Allen Anderson Chair, David Hildebrant, and Tony Kuefler. This sub committee met on March 8 and April 27. As a result, they adopted a unique twelve step action plan to carry Section 2.05 changes through to finalization. During the last week of August, this sub committee met with all City Council members and the Mayor to discuss the proposed changes and gain their input and suggestions. 1 This sub committee met again on September 14 to discuss and condense their findings and present new wording to the Charter Commission at our September 25 meeting. As a result of this, Chairperson Commers was instructed to again contact the City Council members and Mayor for their pre approval of the revised wording. This oral approval was gained, and the revised wording of Section 2.05 was submitted to the City Attorney for review. The City Attorney's letter of reply of November 15 was tabled at the November 20 meeting for further study by the Charter Commission. Another sub committee was appointed at the September meeting to recommend a theme and wording for a preamble to the City Charter. This sub committee consists of Beverly Wolfe Chair, Tony Kuefler, Everett Lindh, and Eileen Osiund. The sub committee met on October 19 and November 9. They proposed a preliminary draft of a preamble that was submitted to the Charter Commission at its November 20 meeting. As a result, it was decided to insert the proposed preamble draft into the City Newsletter calling for suggestions and modifications from the residents of Brooklyn Center. The filling of vacant City Council seats by appointment came under considerable discussion in 1991. It became apparent the City Council does not have set policies or procedures on interviewing applicants for vacant City Council seats. At the November 20 meeting, a sub- committee was appointed to take up this issue and report to the Charter Commission with a recommended procedure. This sub committee consists of Dennis Snook Chair, Ulyssess Boyd, Donald Gilbert, Myrna Kragness, and Beverly Wolfe. 1991 was a busy year for the Charter Commission with a number of issues to discuss and consider. Progress was made and is being made on all the issues we considered and debated. I herewith express my deepest thank you and appreciation to all members of the Charter Commission and the hard working sub committees for their excellent work and solutions to the many problems. Our City Charter is a most precious document that expresses the living will, protection, and testimony of purpose for all residents of the City of Brooklyn Center. Our mission as Charter Commissioners carries a great responsibility to all residents of this city. It is my opinion that all the Commissioners lived up to their trusts and responsibilities in 1991. Respectfully submitted, Edward L. Commers Chairperson BROOKLYN CENTER CHARTER COMMISSION cb cc: (After commission's approval) Roberta Levy, Chief Judge City Clerk U C ENTER 6301 SHINGLE CREEK PARKWAY BROOKLYN CENTER, MINNESOTA 55430 TELEPHONE: 569 -3300 FAX: 569 -3494 EMERGENCY POLICE FIRE 911 January 6, 1992 Mona Hintzman, Audit Chair 4018 58th Avenue North Brooklyn Center, Minn. 55429 Dear Ms. Hintzman: At your request as Audit Chair of the Brooklyn Center Charter Commission, I have listed below the expenditures charged to the Charter Commission budget appropriation during 1991: DATE PAYEE AMOUNT PURPOSE 2 -20 -91 Carol Blowers 207.67 Secretarial Services 2 -20 -91 Carol Blowers 5.00 Postage 3 -20 -91 Viking Trophies 74.25 Plaques 3 -20 -91 Carol Blowers 116.72 Secretarial Services 4 -17 -91 Carol Blowers 116.72 Secretarial Services 5 -22 -91 Carol Blowers 57.73 Secretarial Services 7 -17 -91 Carol Blowers 67.77 Secretarial Services 10 -23 -91 Carol Blowers 188.25 Secretarial Services 11 -15 -91 Carol Blowers 180.72 Secretarial Services $1,014.83 The Commission expended $1,014.83 of its 1991 a p p r o p r i a t i o n $1,500.00, leaving an unexpended balance of $485.17. Sincerely yours, q c-kW Paul Holmlund Director of Finance PH /ch c CITY OF COOKLYN of Attorneys at Law ROBERT A. ALSOP RONALD H. BATTY STEPHEN J. BUBUL ROBERT C. CARLSON CHRISTINE M. CHALE JOHN B. DEAN MARY G. DOBBINS STEFANIE N. GALEY CORRINE A. HEINE JAMES S. HOLMES DAVID J. KENNEDY JOHN R.LARSON WELLINGTON H. LAW CHARLES L. LEFEVERE November 15, 1991 HOLMES GRAVEN CHARTERED 470 Pillsbury Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402 JOHN E, JR. ROBERT T J. LINDAINDALL (612) 337 -9300 LAURA K. MOLLET DANIEL R. NELSON Facsimile (612) 337 -9310 BARBARA L. PORTWOOD JAMES M. STROMMEN STEVEN M. TALLEN JAMES J. THOMSON, JR. LARRY M. WERTHEIM WRITER'S DIRECT DIAL BONNIE L. WILKINS DAVID L. GRAVEN (1929-1991) 337 -9215 OF COUNSEL ROBERT L. DAVIDSON JOHN G. HOESCHLER Mr. Edward Commers Chairperson Brooklyn Center Charter Commission 6206 Kyle Avenue North Brooklyn Center, MN 55429 Re: Section 2.05; Brooklyn Center Charter Dear Mr. Commers: In your letter of October 15, 1991, you requested that I prepare a draft amendment to Section 2.05 of the Brooklyn Center City Charter which would prevent a person appointed to fill a vacant council position from serving for more than one year. As you know, the current Charter provides that council vacancies are to be filled by appointment by the remaining council members. The person appointed serves until the next regular election at which time the voters have an opportunity to replace the council's appointment. Basically, under the current Charter, an appointee of the council can serve for no more than two years plus 100 days. As I understand the intent of the Charter Commission as expressed in your letter, you wish to change the Charter so that an appointee of the council may serve for no more than one year plus 100 days. This could be accomplished by amending the third sentence in Section 2.05 of the Charter as follows: A vacancy in the Council shall be filled temporarily by the Council and then by the voters at the next -Fegul p eleetie a regular or special election to be held on the first Tuesdav after the first Monday of November which follows the occurrence of the vacancy unless that Win provided, however, that if such date occurs within one hundred (100) days from the occurrence of the vacancy, this period being necessary to allow time for candidates to file, the election shall be held on the first Tuesdav after the first Mondav of the following November. Under the current Charter, the two -year limitation arises because of the fact there is a general municipal election every two years. The language quoted above would provide for an election in November during odd years as well as the general municipal election in even years, if an odd year election is required to fill a vacancy. CLL24409 BR291 -7 Mr. Edward Commers November 15, 1991 Page 2 It seems to me that there are two other alternatives to the language quoted above which may still be consistent with the intent as expressed in your letter. The first, would be to allow the city council to call an earlier special election if they wish to do so. For example, if a vacancy occurred on January 15th of 1993, the language quoted above would mean that an election for that vacancy would be held in November of 1993. However, a Charter amendment could be drafted which would allow the City Council, if it wished to do so, to call an earlier election. For example, the Council could be allowed to call such an election as early as 100 days from the occurrence of the vacancy. In the example above, in which a vacancy occurs on January 15th of 1993, such an amendment would allow the City Council to call an election as early as 100 days from January 15th. The advantage of such an amendment would be to give the council more flexibility in calling an election. The disadvantage would be that the election could be held outside of the November season, which is traditionally thought of as election time. The second alternative would be to allow the City Council to set any date within one year of the occurrence of the vacancy even if there were a November date during that year. For example, if a vacancy occurs on June 15th of 1994, such an amendment would allow the city council to set an election for June 15th of 1995, even though there was an intervening general municipal election. Again, the advantage of such an amendment would be that the City Council would be given even more flexibility. The disadvantage is that the election would be held outside of the traditional election date. The language quoted above is, in that sense, a middle ground which preserves the intent of the current charter position to the extent that the regular municipal election date is preserved (thereby increasing voter turnout and decreasing expenses) as much as possible since approximately half of the elections to fill a vacancy would be held on the general election date. In order to prevent any council appointment from serving for more than one year, however, it would be necessary to have special elections at some time. The language quoted above would assure that such a special election would be held on a traditional election date. Please feel free to give me a call if you have any questions or comments. Very truly yours, Charles L. LeFevere CLL rsr CLL24409 BR291 -7 Ej January 1S, 1992 Mr, Edward Commers, Chairman Brooklyn Center Charter Commission c/o City of Brooklyn Center 6301 Ch1nQ\e Creek Parkway Brooklyn Center, M0 5S430 Deer Ed. I have reviewed the agenda and attached information for the Charter Commission meeting of January 22, 1992. Since l will be leaving town again prior to the meeting, l respectfully request that be excused from the meeting. Enc-loeed are my comments with respect to the amendments to Section 2^85 of the charter in light of the remarks from the attorney. l would be grateful it you would copy these to the commission members. Thank you for your assistance. Sincerely, Ted L. Willard 8826 Drew Avenue North Brooklyn Ceoter, MN 55429 0 0 MEMORANDUM TO- Brooklyn Center City Charter Commission FROM: Ted WilIard DATE: January 18, 1992 SUBJECT: Proposed Amendments to Charter Section 2.8S Inasmuch as l will be out of town during the Charter Commission meeting of January 22, 1992, l have taken the liberty of offering my comments to the Commission members via memorandum. l apologize for this "tacky" approach, but it's the best l can do under the circumstances. After reviewing attorney Charles LeFevere/s letter of November 15, 1991 regarding the proposed amendment to Section 2.05, l would like to express the following: l am still of the firm belief that a maximum period of service for an appointed council member of two years and 180 days is reasonable, especially since rarely would this long a period occur. l am also of the opinion that the appointment process can be further enhanced by requiring unanimous agreement of the council, and that lackinQ such agreement, a special election could be required along the \ines indicated by Mc. LeFevere in his first option, that of permitting an earlier special election it the council so chose. ?he concept that cegulriuQ a unanimous agreement to a council appointment would provide protection against an injudicious po|itival appo1ntment was objected to prev iousIy in commiss ion discussion. The basis of' the objection was that council members tended to agree with the inevitable since there was no alternative. The option of an early special election would permit A dissenting council member the opportunity to throw the decision to a special election. The flexibility for that election to be called early on would negate the argument that waiting many months for an election would disrupt important council business because of having to operate with a four-member body. I would therefore urge the commission to seriously consider the option of retaining the present appointment period but modifying the language to require unanimous appointment and permitting the option of an early special election.