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CHM 01/29/2001 - 00027187CITY OF FRIDLEY CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING January 29, 2001 CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Warren called the Charter Commission meeting to order at 7:20 p.m. ROLL CALL: Members Present: Suzanne Warren, Craig Gordon, Bill Holm, Maynard Nielsen, Francis VanDan Members Absent:, Don Findell, Char Fitzpatrick, Deborah Monden, Regina Querimit, Cindy Soule Others Present: Deb Skogen, City Clerk/Staff Liaison Nancy Jorgenson, Fritz Knaak, Rick Pribyl, Gregg Pettersen, Lana Freeburg, Quentin Freeburg, Pete Eisensimmer APPROVAL OF NOVEMBER 27, 2000, CHARTER COMMISSION MINUTES: MOTION by Commissioner Gordon seconded by Commissioner Nielsen to approve the November 27, 2000, Charter Commission Minutes as written. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON WARREN DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: MOTION by Commissioner Gordon seconded by Commissioner Holm to approve the agenda Chairperson Warren requested that the Administrative Matters be placed at the end of the agenda to allow discussion of the proposed ordinance which would clarify the language of the voter approved amendment to Chapter 7 of the Charter. Commissioner Gordon accepted the request and UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON WARREN DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 1. DISCUSSION OF CHARTER AMENDMENT TO CHAPTER 7 Nancy Jorgen said that after discussing an issue on special assessments with a resident and discussion with the city council and city attorney it appeared there may be problems in how the voter approved amendment dealt with fees. Upon reviewing the State Statutes and City Charter there appeared to be no definition on discretionary fees. She discussed the matter with Gregg Pettersen after the election and suggested it might be a good idea to put a group together to work to clarify the voter approved amendment. A group was put together representative of petition circulators, charter commission members, the city attorney and the city finance director. Ms. Jorgenson said after four meetings the Ad Hoc Work Group came up with language everyone was comfortable with. The petition circulators met with their committee to see if there were any other concerns and the issue was sent to the Charter Commission for their review in the hopes that it would be forwarded to the City Council for adoption. She described how one resident didn't feel they should pay for a special assessment because they do not want a concrete curb and gutter and that it may be such that he may decided to take the city to court to resolve the matter. The mission of the Ad Hoc Work Group was to find a way for the city to operate as efficiently and effectively as it could. Adopted February 26, 2001 CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING OF JANUARY 29, 2001 PAGE 2 Chairperson Warren asked how Ms. Jorgenson would summarize the four meetings. Ms Jorgenson said the meetings were very positive. She said the group developed a trust level where no one was right and no one was wrong and worked together to develop the proposed language in the best interest of the city. She thought most everyone that participated was comfortable with the proposed language clarifications and that the group worked very well. Gregg Pettersen said a group of people who circulated the petition and who voted yes on the amendment met on Saturday to discuss the proposed charter amendment. He said most everyone was comfortable with the proposed language, a few were still concerned that there be no loop holes in the language. He felt they had done the best job they could and there comes a time when you have to trust your elected officials to do the right things. Commissioner Van Dan expressed the concern as to how much autonomy the HRA had and whether or not the city had authority over them. Commissioner Van Dan had spoken with Larry Commers who felt the HRA was autonomous from the city and could market their own bonds if necessary. Commissioner Van Dan had discussed the state statutes with Mr. Pettersen and it appeared that it was really not defined in state statute and that there really wasn't a way of liquidating the HRA or removing or impeaching current members. Mr. Pettersen wondered to what degree and manner the financial obligations of the HRA were segregated or integrated into the city. Fritz Knaak, City Attorney, said the HRA had taken the position that the voter approved amendment did not affect the HRA. Mr. Knaak said he did not agree with that opinion and felt the two were linked and there were serious questions and issues. He felt the proposed ordinance clarifying the voter approved amendment would help avoid lawsuit. Mr. Pettersen said the circulators were trying to place tax limitations and control the rate of growth upon local government while protecting the bond rating and not to place an undue hardship on the city or HRA. There was a discussion on bonds and how they are let and what would happen if a company closed down and failed to keep their financial obligations. Mr. Pettersen wondered if there were other areas in the charter that could possibly be amended to reflect some of the concerns. Mr. Knaak said that they should resist changing any other parts of the city charter at this time as that would be a substantive change to the charter. He said they were only trying to clarify the voter approved amendment at this time and not to change. Commissioner Gordon asked if there were any loopholes that hadn't been changed. Mr. Knaak said that was not their mission in the committee but felt the clarifying language should resolve those kinds of issues. Chairperson Warren asked Mr. Knaak if he was comfortable with the proposed ordinance. Mr. Knaak noted that the ordinance clarified the language of the voter approved amendment. Mr. Pettersen noted the voter approved amendment was written very tight and restrictive on the city and that some areas of change which might create problems for the city that may have been unintended. He was concerned that if the city spent all of its reserves and had to meet general obligations they could raise the required revenue without going to the voters. He again noted that sometimes you have to trust the elected officials will do the right thing. Ms. Jorgenson said there was accountability of the city officials during the budget process and annual Board of Review and that if the voters didn't like what was happening they were given the option every other year of electing new officials. Mr. Pettersen wondered if the following language, "and for which fees are already being charged" should be included in paragraph 3B regarding new fees. Mr. Knaak said if the Charter Commission wanted to amend that Adopted February 26, 2001 CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING OF JANUARY 29, 2001 PAGE 3 language they could and it might be appropriate, but he preferred to leave the language as it was intended at this time. There was a discussion about going back to the Ad Hoc Work Group to determine what their thoughts might be. If this were done it take more time before it could get to the Council and could impact some decisions the council might make earlier in the spring. Commissioner Van Dan was concerned the city might create a new license to create revenue, such as require a city bicycle license in addition to the state license. She understood there were two types of charges, one for archival and personnel expenses for city reimbursement and the other was for a service, her example that of snowplowing. Commissioner Van Dan suggested that the city could decide it did not want to provide snowplowing services any more as part of its budget and would start charging homeowners for that service if they wanted their streets plowed. Mr. Knaak explained that would be a new tax or fee and that issue would have to go to the voters. He thought it was bad policy and felt that the citizens would most likely prevent that from occurring. Commissioner Van Dan said fuel charges were going to continue to increase and may get too expensive for the city to pay for it. Commissioner Van Dan felt in that case they would have to go to the taxpayers, and did not want to see an abuse of the system. After further discussion there appeared to be consensus that the proposed ordinance would prevent that example from happening. Commissioner Gordon MOVED and Commissioner Holm seconded a motion to forward the proposed clarifying amendment in ordinance format to the City Council as written, with the exception of not striking reference to Section 7.08 in the last paragraph, if the Charter Commission attorney concurs with the proposed ordinance. Commissioner Holm thought it would be a good idea if a member of the Charter Commission and a member of the Petition Group could present this proposed ordinance to the City Council. There was a discussion about whether or not to send out an information letter regarding the proposed clarification amendment and if information was sent, who it would be sent to. Mr. Knaak suggested that it be handled in the same way other amendments had been handled in the past so that a precedent was not set, and that the notice be published in the official newspaper and posted publicly as required by state statute and city charter. Pete Eisenzimmer was concerned that everyone be treated fairly and pointed to the Pawn Shop and Junk Yard business licenses. Ms. Skogen asked a question as to why these two types of businesses were treated differently than the other business licenses. It was explained that due to the type of businesses they were, with possible ground contamination clean -up or with the investigative type nature of the pawn shop that they were addressed separately. Mr. Eisenzimmer again stated that as the amendment was currently written he did not support it due to the singling out of the small business owners of the community. Commissioner Gordon called for the question. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON WARREN DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 2. ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS Commissioner Gordon MOVED and Commissioner Nielsen seconded a motion to recommend to the Chief Judge the appointment of Scott "Harry" Heck and Carter Hendricks to the Charter Commission and to recommend the reappointment of Commissioners Findell, Gordon, Soule and Van Dan for their second term. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON WARREN DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. Adopted February 26, 2001 CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING OF JANUARY 29, 2001 PAGE 4 Commissioner Gordon MOVED and Chairperson Warren seconded a motion appointing Commissioners Van Dan, Holm and Nielsen to the Nominating Committee to prepare a report for the neat Charter meeting. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON WARREN DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. ADJOURNMENT: MOTION by Commissioner Gordon seconded by Commissioner Holm to table items 3 and 4 for the next meeting and to adjourn the meeting. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON WARREN DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE MEETING WAS ADJOURNED AT 9:03 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Debra A. Skogen City Clerk/Staff Liaison Deborah Monden, Secretary Adopted February 26, 2001