CHM 11/26/2001 - 00027211CITY OF FRIDLEY
CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING
November 26, 2001
CALL TO ORDER:
Chairperson Gordon called the Charter Commission meeting to order at 7:16 p.m.
ROLL CALL:
Members Present: Craig Gordon, Bill Holm, Cindy Soule, Francis Van Dan, Suzanne Warren, and Harry
Heck
Members Absent: Don Findell, Carter Hendricks, Nancy Jorgenson, Deborah Monden, Maynard Nielson,
and Regina Querimit
Others Present: Deb Skogen, City Clerk/Staff Liaison, and Dale Warren, Guest
APPROVAL OF AGENDA:
MOTION by Commissioner Warren seconded by Commissioner Heck to approve the agenda.
UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON GORDON DECLARED THE MOTION
CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.
APPROVAL OF NOVEMBER 25, 2001, CHARTER COMMISSION MINUTES:
Commissioner Van Dan requested that the minutes pertaining to Item 5 be amended by deleting the sentence that
is currently in the minutes and amended as follows: "That government and governance should be executed in such
a fashion as to impartially and equally enforce the laws among all citizens.
MOTION by Commissioner Van Dan seconded by Commissioner Heck to approve the October 29, 2001 Charter
Commission Minutes as amended.
UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON GORDON DECLARED THE MOTION
CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.
1. ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS
A. Recruiting New Members
Dale Warren was a guest interested in becoming a member of the Commission. He was given an
application to complete and there was consensus that Mr. Warren be appointed to the Commission if he
completed the application.
2. DISCSSUION ON HOW ITEMS ARE PLACED ON CHARTER COMMISSION AGENDA
Due to the absence of the Commissioner who brought this question forward, the item was tabled.
CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING OF NOVEMBER 26, 2001 PAGE 2
3. DISCUSSION OF GLOSSAR/INDEX
Chairperson Gordon wondered if everyone had time to review the minutes to decide which definition they prefer to
use. Commissioner Heck said he preferred a citizen initiated action as he felt an unregistered voter could initiate
the action through others.
Commissioner Van Dan said the only reason that registered voter was used previously was for the convenience of
the staff. She felt, philosophically, that eligible voter was adequate and that if a new person moves into the city
before they registered to vote they should be qualified to sign a petition.
Chairperson said neither perspective was wrong depending on how it was interpreted.
Commissioner Holm said the City Charter calls, in the area of initiative, referendum and recall, specifically calls
for action by the voters. In terms of providing a definition for the glossary he felt that action by voters was
appropriate.
Commissioner Warren was concerned about the potential for changing or re- writing the charter based on the
definitions and felt that they needed to be careful about what language was used to define the words.
Chairperson Gordon said that Attorney Moore had called him to let him know she had thought it was a good idea
and felt there was no liability with creating it. She thought it would be more beneficial if it was made part of the
Charter vs. using it as a tool of the Commission so that the public would have the same understanding as the
Commission. She said she would put a letter together with more thoughts about how it could be done.
Commissioner Van Dan respected what Commissioner Warren said and agreed that she did not want to make any
changes to the Charter without the proper procedure. She felt if it was part of the Charter, it would help the pubic
understand the Charter better because of the definitions.
Commissioner Gordon said that after the terms were defined the Commission would most likely forward the
glossary to the Charter attorney for her review and then the glossary would be referred to the city council for their
review.
Commissioner Soule said that in going forward the Commission did not want to reinterpret or expand on the actual
meaning of the Charter, but we are using the glossary to clarify the terms.
Chairperson Gordon said that was correct and hoped to create an index as well. Chairperson Gordon wondered if
there was consensus about the verbiage, "an action by the voters."
Commissioner Soule felt that the three terms should be similar because they were from the same section of the
Charter and not use different words in each definition.
Commissioner Van Dan agreed and said the action was identical and agreed that the term should be the same by
defining it as an action by the voters.
Commissioner Holm also agreed that recall should be defined as an action by the voters.
Skogen said that Commissioner Jorgenson had also requested at the last meeting the word municipal be placed
between elected official so that voters understood it was just in reference to a city official.
The rest of the Commissioners also agreed.
The Commission then discussed trying to define what eminent domain was. It was suggested that the
Commissioners review MN Statute Section 465.01, 465.16 or 465.29 or the West Legal Dictionary. It appeared the
CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING OF NOVEMBER 26, 2001
PAGE 3
Commission was not interested in changing the Charter language to eminent domain but only to include a clear
definition of what the term meant.
4. CONSIDERATION OF ITEMS FOR FUTURE DISCUSSION
New Chapter Ts are needed for Commissioners Soule, Van Dan and Warren. Skogen will make them available at
the neat meeting.
The Commission will continue to address the Glossary and how items are placed on the agenda for the
Commission.
ADJOURNMENT:
MOTION by Commissioner Holm seconded by Commissioner Warren to adjourn the meeting.
UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON GORDON DECLARED THE MOTION
CARRIED AND THE MEETING WAS ADJOURNED AT 8:10 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Debra A. Skogen,
City Clerk/Staff Liaison
Deborah Monden, Secretary