CHM 02/18/2003 - 00027135CITY OF FRIDLEY
CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING
February 18, 2003
CALL TO ORDER
Chairperson Gordon called the Charter Commission meeting to order at 7:03 p.m.
ROLL CALL
Members Present: Anita Gerrety, Craig Gordon, Bill Holm, Janet Johnson, Nancy Jorgenson,
Francis Van Dan, and Dale Warren
Members Absent: Suzanne Alvite Warren, Don Findell, Char Fitzpatrick, Harry Heck,
Deborah Monden, and Cindy Soule
Others Present: Deb Skogen, City Clerk/Staff Liaison
Tony Solgard, President, Fair Vote Minnesota
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Commissioner Jorgenson MOVED and Commissioner D. Warren seconded a motion approving
the February 18, 2003, Charter Commission agenda.
UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON GORDON DECLARED THE
MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY AND THE AGENDA WAS APPROVED.
1. Presentation of Instant Run -off Voting by Tony Solgard, Fair Vote Minnesota
Chairperson Gordon introduced Tony Solgard, President of Fair Vote Minnesota. Mr. Solgard
stated Fair Vote Minnesota was a non - profit organization working to educate voters about
alternative voting methods. Mr. Solgard provided handouts, as shown in Attachments 1 and 2.
Commissioner Jorgenson said if the city chose to adopt Instant Run -off Voting (IRV), they could
only implement it at the city level for city elections. Ms. Skogen said there would be some
expense to the city to purchase software or hardware upgrades for each AccuVote machine and
that the city would have to pay additional dollars to Anoka County to program the machine and
the ballot.
Mr. Solgard said he had spoken with the Secretary of State's Director of Elections about the
possibility of opening the state contract on election equipment to allow ranked voting. The
Director said that he would be including the ability to vote by ranked ballot for the new contract.
Commissioner Holm said there were people who would only vote for one person because they
did not like the other candidates at all and wondered how that would work. Mr. Solgard said if a
ballot was not ranked and if their vote was for a candidate who received the lowest vote totals,
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Charter Commission Meeting Minutes of February 18, 2003 Page 2
that candidate would be out and their vote would cease to be counted on the remaining
candidates.
Commissioner Van Dan talked about the history of the two party system in America and in
Europe. Commissioner Van Dan felt there was no place for a third or fourth party system and
that politicians did not understand how government worked.
Chairperson Gordon asked if Fair Vote Minnesota was just run by volunteers. Mr. Solgard said
it was a very small organization at this time that had a database of interested people they contact
when they need help. He said if anyone was interested he would take their name and address to
let them know in the future how they might help.
Chairperson Gordon asked if there were any cities that were serious about this issue in
Minnesota. Mr. Solgard said that the City of Duluth had been looking at the issue due to the
interest in the Mayoral race but they are not ready to change.
Commissioner D. Warren asked if IRV was a Minnesota or National movement and how long it
had been an issue. Mr. Solgard stated Fair Vote Minnesota was not affiliated with a national
organization at this time. He said that there was a pro- democracy movement around the world.
He said European nations have used proportional representation for the past 100 years. He said
some United States cities had also used a ranking or proportional system until the 1950's or
1960's when they were repealed. Mr. Solgard said the City of San Francisco, CA, had just
implemented IRV for the city offices and that Cambridge, MA, continued to use proportional
representation, which they had used for over 80 years. In addition, the State of Alaska held a
statewide referendum on IRV, however the voters failed to ratify it.
2. Approval of Minutes
Commissioner Gerrety MOVED and Commissioner Nielsen seconded a motion approving the
January 21, 2003 Charter Commission minutes.
UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON GORDON DECLARED THE
MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY AND THE MINUTES WERE APPROVED.
3. Administrative Matters
A. Report of Nominating Committee
Chairperson Gordon reviewed the report of the Nominating Committee:
Chair: Don Findell
Vice Chair: Nancy Jorgenson
Secretary: Deborah Monden
The Commissioners briefly discussed the procedure for the election at the annual meeting
in March.
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Charter Commission Meeting Minutes of February 18, 2003
Page 3
Commissioner Holm MOVED and Commissioner D. Warren seconded a motion to
accept the report of the Nominating Committee.
UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON GORDON
DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY AND THE REPORT WAS
ACCEPTED.
B. Vacancy
Chairperson Gordon requested Commissioners to forward names of people who might be
interested in serving on the Charter Commission to Ms. Skogen so applications could be
mailed for them to complete and return. Chairperson Gordon said Carol Hoiby was
interested and he had asked her to submit a letter of interest. When letter is received, an
application will be mailed.
Ms. Skogen was asked to contact the Focus about placing information on the vacancy in
the paper and to place the vacancy on the web and cable.
Chairperson Gordon asked if the city would pay for mailing a letter about the vacancy to
other city organizations letting them know about the vacancy. Ms. Skogen said yes.
Commissioner Johnson asked about the survey and wondered whether or not the City
Manager would make a presentation to the Charter Commission again. Chairperson
Gordon said he could ask the City Manager if he could make a presentation at the April
29th meeting.
Commissioner Van Dan thanked Ms. Skogen for placing the meeting date and time on
the outside of the envelope as a reminder.
4. Adiournment
Commissioner Holm MOVED and Commissioner D. Warren seconded a motion to adjourn the
meeting.
UPON A VOICE VOTE ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON GORDON DECLARED THE
MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY AND THE MEETING WAS ADJOURNED AT 8:26
P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
"dA4�? -
Debra A. Skogen Sgaff Liaison
Deborah Monden, Secretary
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