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CHM 03/25/2002 CITY OF FRIDLEY CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING March 25,2002 CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Gordon called the Charter Commission meeting to order at 7:06 p.m. ROLL CALL: Members Present: Suzanne Alvite'Warren,Don Findell,Anita Gerrety,Craig Gordon,Bill Holm,Janet Johnson,Nancy Jorgenson,Francis Van Dan,and Dale Warren Members Absent: Harry Heck,Carter Hendricks,Deborah Monden,Maynard Nielsen,Regina Querimit, Cindy Soule Others Present: Deb Skogen,City Clerk/Staff Liaison APPROVAL OF AGENDA: MOTION by Commissioner Van Dan seconded by Commissioner Jorgenson to approve the agenda. Commissioner Holm said he understood that the election was to take place at the annual meeting in March. Commissioner Van Dan said she made a motion at the meeting for the election of officers that was not reflected in the minutes. Ms. Skogen reviewed her notes and stated it was in her short-hand minutes and had just been missed when preparing the minutes. Commissioner Holm said he wanted to take exception to the election,because the nominations were supposed to be mailed out to members before the election,but did not think they could elect officers at the same time the nominations were reported. Commissioner Holm asked to amend the agenda to discuss the election of officers under administrative matters. Commissioners Van Dan and Jorgenson agreed this as a friendly amendment. UPON A VOICE VOTE,ALL VOTING AYE,CHAIRPERSON GORDON DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY AND THE AGENDA WAS APPROVED AS AMENDED. APPROVAL OF FEBRUARY 25,2002,CHARTER COMMISSION MINUTES: MOTION by Commissioner Jorgenson seconded by Commissioner Van Dan to approve the February 25,2002, Charter Commission Minutes. Commissioner Gerrety said her first name was misspelled. Commissioner Van Dan requested the minutes be changed on page 1 under Administrative Matters,the word "recommends"should be changed to"recommended" Commissioner Van Dan request the minutes be amended to reflect the motion for the election of officers. In addition,Commissioner Van Dan requested that the words"is used" be added to the end of second paragraph of Item 2 and that the paragraph regarding the Columbia Heights Charter be changed to read as follows: Commissioner Van Dan reviewed the a recent attempt histery in Columbia Heights regarding the City Council's desire to abandon get rid of the Charter Commission,but eventually decided to keep it. Adopted April 22,2002 CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING OF MARCH 25,2002 PAGE 2 UPON A VOICE VOTE,ALL VOTING AYE,CHAIRPERSON GORDON DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY AND THE MINUTES WERE APPROVED AS AMENDED. 1. ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS Chairperson Gordon said he spoke with Bill Burns,City Manager,regarding the possibility of showcasing the Charter Commission. Mr.Bums said he was interested and would look at doing it later this year. He said that Mr. Burns would come to the Charter Commission to review the survey and budget,but he has conflicts with the Monday evening schedule due to the city council meetings. Commissioner Gordon suggested to Mr.Burns that the Commission could possibly change the meeting to a different evening and Mr.Burns agreed he would come. Commissioner Jorgenson suggested possibly holding a June meeting,which is about the time of year the council begins their budget discussions. Commissioner Findell suggested meeting with another Commission that would be receiving a presentation to make it a little easier for Mr.Burns. Ms. Skogen will contact the City Manager's office to find out when Mr.Bums will be meeting with the various other City Commissions. Election of Officers Commissioner Holm said he understood that the election was to take place at the annual meeting in March and wanted to take exception to the election,because the by-laws require that the nominations be mailed out to members before the election. He did not think they could elect officers at the same time the nominations were reported. Commissioner Van Dan reported the Nominating Committee's recommendation for officers. The nominating committee recommended the re-election of the existing officers: Craig Gordon,Chairperson;Don Findell,Vice President;and Deborah Monden,Secretary. There was some discussion of some of the members of the Nominating Committee possibly wanting to run for office, but they decided instead to nominate the existing officers to another term. Commissioner Jorgenson MOVED and Commissioner Van Dan seconded a motion to reconsider the election of officers held on February 25,2002,because proper notice was not received by all members. UPON A VOICE VOTE,ALL VOTING AYE,CHAIRPERSON GORDON DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE MOTION TO RECONSIDER WAS APPROVED. Commissioner Jorgenson MOVED and Commissioner Holm seconded a motion to elect the slate of officers recommended by Nominating Committee. Chairperson Gordon asked if there were any other nominations. Commissioner Holm MOVED and Commissioner Jorgenson seconded a motion that the nominations be closed. UPON A VOICE VOTE,ALL VOTING AYE,CHAIRPERSON GORDON DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE NOMINATIONS WERE CLOSED. UPON A VOICE VOTE,ALL VOTING AYE,CHAIRPERSON GORDON DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE ELECTION OF OFFICERS WAS OFFICIAL. 2. DISCUSSION OF GLOSSARY/INDEX Chairperson asked if anyone had any input or discussion of the working glossary or new terms or items that should be added to the glossary. Commissioner Jorgenson said she would like to add the definition Cindy Soule sent about the sinking fund,as it was pretty concise and was the same basic thoughts of Commissioner Van Dan. Adopted April 22,2002 CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING OF MARCH 25,2002 PAGE 3 Ms. Skogen said Finance Director Pribyl said the term"sinking funds"should not be used,because the terminology has changed and it is now considered a"reserve fund for debt service." Commissioner Van Dan defined Charter is a document defining,describing the powers the freeholders grant their government. Defining and regulating relations between government and the governed,the rights and powers of the principles. Commissioner Holm said he would like to see it in writing,as well as the term that was from the dictionary,"an instrument in writing,creating,defining and franchising of city,education institution or corporation." Commissioner Jorgenson suggested keeping the language at a level people would understand,as most people would not understand the term freeholder. Chairperson Gordon said the two definitions should be included in the glossary. Back to the term"sinking funds,"Ms. Skogen said Mr.Pribyl described the funds as legally obligated funds dedicated or reserved for debt service or other specific purposes. Commissioner Jorgenson said that the Minnesota Statutes required cities to have debt service funds and can no longer use the term sinking funds so that you are not collecting in excess of what you need. If you have a sewer project,you can only collect what you need for the debt on the sewer project. Ms. Skogen said Mr.Pribyl described sinking funds as a dedicated form of payment for the debt service in the past. Commissioner Findell wondered if the charter should be changed,and all agreed the terminology should be reviewed. Sinking Funds can be found in Chapter 7, Section 7.15.2. The Commission asked if Mr.Pribyl might be able to provide the new term as well as a definition of the term. Commissioner Van Dan said she did not like the term reserve fund as there are many kinds of reserve funds. She said dedicated funds were funds that could not be touched but for the dedicated purposes. Dedication is the crucial term to the reduction of public debt. Commissioner Van Dan wanted to redefine initiative as an action by the voters to enact a new ordinance or to repeal an existing one,taking out the term to"petition the city council." Commissioner Jorgenson said that the voters could not enact or repeal an ordinance and that it could only be done by petition. Commissioner Van Dan said that was all described in the Charter and did not feel the terms to petition the city council needed to be included. Commissioner Jorgenson felt that it should remain the same because if they did look further into the charter and only reviewed the terms,they could become confused. She said this would be contrary to what they were trying to do by creating this glossary. Commissioner Findell agreed with Commissioner Jorgenson that petitioning the city council was important and if you just referred them back to the Charter,what good was the glossary. Commissioner Holm said it was always a problem and it was always hard trying to determine how much to include in your definition. He wondered if Commissioner Van Dan wanted to then change the terms referendum and recall as well. Commissioner Van Dan said no for recall,but for referendum she would take out the terminology. Adopted April 22,2002 CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING OF MARCH 25,2002 PAGE 4 Commissioner Findell said it was an issue that really confused him a few years ago and felt it was important to say that it is an action to stop an ordinance from becoming effective. Commissioner Jorgenson said any member of the Charter Commission could place a referendum on the ballot by circulating a petition with the appropriate number of signatures,just as Senator Betzold had when he chaired the Commission to change from odd to even year elections. Chairperson Gordon asked if they should put Commissioner Van Dan's definition of initiative in the glossary with the other definition. Commissioner Jorgenson wondered why the definition was being discussed as they had already worked on the definition that most Commissioners approved. She said she did not want to revisit the terms several different times. Commissioner Holm said he liked the language the way it was. He agreed it was a little more definition,but that was how he thought the glossary should be. Commissioner Alvite'Warren expressed her concern with the glossary saying she did not support it to begin with. She felt that they could possibly cause unintentional problems with the Charter and did not want to see it become a part of the Charter but a document the Commission would work with. There was further discussion on the issue as to whether the glossary should be a document used by the Commission or whether it should be included as part of the Charter. It was determined the issue needed further discussion. At this time they are doing the glossary as an exercise in the Commission's own education. 3. Consideration of Items for Future Discussion "Sinking Funds"should be redefined in the Charter. Commissioner Jorgenson said Commissioner Hendricks has purchased a new home in Brooklyn Park and will be resigning from the Commission. The Commission will need to look for another member. Commissioner Alvite' Warren wondered if the Commission might wrap things up for the next two meetings and begin again in the fall. Further discussion of Glossary/Index. ADJOURNMENT: MOTION by Commissioner Holm seconded by Commissioner Alvite'Warren to adjourn the meeting. UPON A VOICE VOTE,ALL VOTING AYE,CHAIRPERSON GORDON DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE MEETING WAS ADJOURNED AT 8:00 P.M. Respectfully submitted, , . De i ra A. Skogen, / Deborah Monden, Secretary City Clerk/Staff Liaison Adopted April 22,2002