Loading...
CHM 01/06/2014 CITY OF FRIDLEY CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING January 6, 2014 CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Nelson called the Charter Commission meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. ROLL CALL: Members Present: Peter Borman, Gary Braam, Carol Hoiby, Bill Holm, Rick Nelson, Novella Olawore, Barb Reiland, Cindy Soule, Lois Scholzen, Richard Walch Members Absent: Don Findell, Marion Flickinger, Ted Kranz and Pam Reynolds Others Present: Deb Skogen, City Clerk/Staff Liaison APPROVAL OF AGENDA Commissioner Holm MOVED and Commissioner Braam seconded a motion approving the meeting agenda. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON NELSON DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Commissioner Braam MOVED and Commissioner Holm seconded a motion approving the Charter Commission meeting minutes of November 4, 2013. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON NELSON DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS A. Deb Skogen said the second reading of the ordinance amending Chapters 7-12 of the Charter was adopted ndthth on December 2. The ordinance was published on December 12 and becomes effective March 7. The new pages will be provided to the Charter Commission in March. B. Chairperson Nelson appointed Commissioners Reiland and Walch to serve on the Nominating Committee. C. Deb Skogen reported Nancy Jorgenson had provided her resignation that afternoon due to conflicting schedules. An article about the vacancy will be sent to the Fridley Sun Focus and placed on the Web Site. DISCUSSION OF CHAPTER 3 Deb Skogen provided two handouts, one with information from Minnesota cities and one from cities throughout the US pertaining to reading of ordinances. She suggested staying with the process that has been used and not changing the process as there is no history of complaints. She said the City Manager thought they should clarify or qualify what individuals other than city council could ask to have a bill read (i.e., eligible voter). He was more comfortable with having just the City Council ask to have the bill read as they were representing the people and Approved February 3, 2014 CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING OF JANUARY 6, 2014 PAGE 2 was concerned that an individual asking to have a bill read out loud could be trying to prolong or disrupt a meeting or issue, or an individual may do it frequently if allowed. She said it was ultimately up to the Charter Commission. Commissioner Hoiby wondered if individuals at the meeting would know the process; that they would have to ask their councilmember to have the item read out loud. Barb Reiland suggested having the information with the agenda information. Commissioner Walch said he understood that someone could try to filibuster or use some kind of procedural process to disrupt a meeting. He wondered how many time this might happen or how long they might be. Ms Skogen said on average an ordinance could be 1 to 5 pages, but if you were doing a certain section of the code it could be 40 to 50 pages in length. She said the research from the League of Minnesota Cities confirmed there was no legal requirement by state statute to read the ordinance out loud or that the word “read” be used. She said Fritz Knaak said the reason for reading an ordinance out loud in the past was due to the number of copies that were available. He cited an example of a bill that would have changed the State capital to St. Peter, in that there was only one copy of the bill available and when the bill went missing, the bill died because there was not another copy available. Whereas now we have multiple copies in paper or electronic format available. Commissioner Hoiby asked if hard copies were available at the meeting. Ms. Skogen said there was one printed public copy available for individuals to review. She said they are available online prior to and after the meeting, and, in addition, they could request a copy be made available for them prior to the meeting. Commissioner Reiland said they were given the task of looking up definitions of “read” and “present”. She said present would be to just to introduce or exhibit it, which was what the council was doing now. She wondered if they could use the word present instead of read. Ms. Skogen said most cities say it must be presented in writing. Some cities say it has to be read, some say to just read the title only, or dispense with the reading. She said the process they use is to dispense with the full reading with the exception of the title, which is read as part of the motion. Commissioner Holm asked why this was an issue. Commissioner Nelson explained that Commissioner Reynolds was at a meeting where the city council was holding the second reading of an ordinance. She said she had not been aware of the first reading and asked the question about procedure and why it was not read in full as the Charter stated. He said the ordinance was about a salary increase for the city council, which included benefits. Ms. Skogen said the Charter stated that it had to be read in full but it doesn’t state whether it had to be read out loud or silently. Commissioner Nelson felt if it says read in full, then it should be read out loud. Commissioner Reiland said she assumed the councilmembers have read the ordinance or resolution prior to coming to the meeting and did not feel like it had to be read out loud. Commissioner Holm wondered if there was any discussion about the ordinance or whether it was read out loud. Ms. Skogen said she did not request to have it read out loud, she was asking about the procedure and wanted to point out that she did not think the part-time city council members should have the same benefits as full-time employees. She knew it had been on the agenda the previous year and questioned whether it had been removed from the table or if it was a new ordinance that was introduced, as she had not been aware of it prior to that evening. Commissioner Borman said it was also about not following proper rules and that their proper rules are not identified. Approved February 3, 2013 CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING OF JANUARY 6, 2014 PAGE 3 Ms. Skogen said she researched the issue as a result of Commissioner Reynold’s question. Ordinance No. 1 set the rules and procedures and order of business and adopted Roberts Rules of Order in 1949. Ordinance No. 67 amended that ordinance, but continued to refer to Roberts Rules of Order. The Charter was adopted after an election in 1957 which provides today’s language and does not specifically identify which rules should be followed. The assumption is since they were following Roberts Rules of Order they continued to follow them but did not officially adopt their own rules and procedures after the charter election. The only other time the rules were discussed was in 1990 when Steve Billings asked questions about specific motions. The City Attorney at that time thought they should use a different set of Rules because Roberts Rules was more geared towards larger bodies than smaller bodies. But there was no official action taken at that time. She has brought the matter to the attention of the City Council and they are now reviewing the information provided by staff. They are reviewing Rosenberg’s Rules of Order Revised 2011 which was created for smaller groups. When she spoke with the council about the possible change in the charter requiring they adopt their rules annually, the council felt as long as they adopted it officially by resolution, the rules would stay in place until another resolution replaced them. Ms. Skogen will e- mail those rules to the Commission for their review. Commissioner Holm said if the council adopted a resolution, the change made requiring it annually would not be necessary. Commissioner Nelson said he would like to see the rules and order of business posted somewhere so people would know the meeting procedures. The majority of the commissioners agreed with him. Ms. Skogen said you could also post them on the web as other cities have done as well, but wasn’t sure it needed to be placed in the Charter or individuals could call the city and obtain a copy. After further discussion, Commissioner Walch MOVED and Commissioner Reiland seconded a motion that and specify Section 3.03. Rules of Quorum and Procedure be amended as follows: “…The council shall determine by resolution at the first regular meeting of the year its own rules and order of business and shall keep a journal A copy of the rules and order of business shall be available in the city council chambers of its proceedings. and/or upon request.”… UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON NELSON DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. Commissioner Nelson was concerned about removing Fridley resident from this Section and leaving it to City Council. He said he could have his councilmember to remove it, but what if they disagreed. Commissioner Soule asked why they had to be a resident, why not a property owner that owns property but doesn’t live in the city. A discussion then ensued and renters were also discussed. It was determined the language would remain the same. Commissioner Reiland said the question is reading in full and what was gained? She felt it should be available, but not read. Commissioner Holm suggested amending Section 3.04 read as follows: “Every ordinance and resolution shall be presented in writing and shall be read in full unless such reading is waived by unanimous vote of the council.” And eliminating the additional new language. Due to the lack of a second, the motion failed. Commissioner Walch said if a councilmember wanted an ordinance or resolution read, they could vote against waiving the reading. He said it was nice to have a deliberative representative body take time to review it. Approved February 3, 2013 CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING OF JANUARY 6, 2014 PAGE 4 Commissioner Braam said you could be at the meeting representing your business and if you ask them to remove it and read it and they chose not to, they could be affecting someone’s business without taking time to really explain what an issue might be all about. Commissioner Olawore said there might be people who want to waste time by asking the council to read an ordinance, but there might be some that don’t quite understand and may be looking for a clarification on a part of the ordinance. Commissioner Holm asked about the current issue of organized refuse collection. There was a brief discussion about the process. Commissioner Walch said there are individuals that come to a meeting that are not fully informed and that a public reading would be valuable, and not necessarily that an individual may be trying to stall the meeting. The way it was worded at the last meeting would allow the council to continue with the process they are using, but allows for a councilmember or individual to request it be read, either in full or a portion of it read. Commissioner Holm said it would be like the issue of the increases for water or sewer and tying the increase to the rate of inflation or 5%, you might could not increase the additional charge the Metropolitan Council might charge or the pass through charges. Commissioner Ollawore said there may be individuals that want just a section read and not necessarily the whole ordinance read in full. She said while it didn’t say at the mayor’s discretion, she felt the mayor could ask questions to get the direction or clarification from the individual as to what they might want. Commissioner Reiland MOVED and Commissioner Ollawore seconded a motion that Section 3.04. Ordinances, Resolutions and Motions read the same by amending the language as follows: “…Every ordinance and resolution shall be presented in writing and read in full at a Council meeting and shall not be read in full unless requested by a councilmember or a Fridley resident at the meeting in which it is introduced before the vote is taken thereon.” … UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON NELSON DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. The Commissioners discussed how to amend the language in Section 3.05 to create consistency in this Chapter. The definitions of read and present were provided and there was no real clear direction. Ms. Skogen had contacted Fritz Knaak, former city attorney, and asked him a question. He said the reason ordinances or other legislation were read out loud in the past is because there were usually only one or two copies available. Due to today’s communication, that is no longer necessary as individuals may now read them electronically or in paper. After further discussion, Commissioner Reiland MOVED and Commissioner Borman seconded a motion that Section 3.05. Procedures on Ordinances, shall be amended as follows: “Every ordinance other emergency ordinances shall have be presented according to Section 3.04 at two (2) public readings in full city council meetings with at least seven (7) days between the first reading and second reading meetings.”… UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON NELSON DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. DISCUSSION OF CHAPTER 1 Commissioner Borman MOVED and Commissioner Reiland seconded a motion tabling discussion of Chapter 1 to next meeting. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON NELSON DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. Approved February 3, 2013 CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING OF JANUARY 6, 2014 PAGE 5 FUTURE TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION Nominating Committee Report Vacancy Discussion of Chapter 3 Discussion of Chapter 1 (remove from table) Discussion of being a Charter City (remove from table) Commissioner Borman said that statutory cities do not require more than one reading of an ordinance and felt that requiring two readings could be a pro of being a charter city. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Braam MOVED and Commissioner Soule seconded a motion to adjourn the meeting. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON NELSON DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE MEETING WAS ADJOURNED AT 8:35 P.M. Respectfully submitted, ________________________ ________________________ Debra A. Skogen, Commissioner Donald Findell, Secretary City Clerk/Staff Liaison Approved February 3, 2013