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CHM 04/30/2001 - 00027198CITY OF FRIDLEY CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING April 30, 2001 CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Gordon called the Charter Commission meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. ROLL CALL: Members Present: Suzanne Alvite' Warren, Don Findell, Craig Gordon, Harry Heck, Carter Hendricks, Bill Holm, Deborah Monden, Regina Querimit (7:30 p.m.), Francis Van Dan (7:10 p.m.) Members Absent: Char Fitzpatrick, Nancy Jorgenson, Maynard Nielsen, Cindy Soule Others Present: Deb Skogen, City Clerk/Staff Liaison APPROVAL OF AGENDA: MOTION by Commissioner Monden seconded by Commissioner Heck to approve the agenda. Chairperson Gordon requested that a discussion of a glossary be added as Item 3A on the agenda. Monden accepted the request as a friendly amendment. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON GORDON DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. APPROVAL OF FEBRUARY 26, 2001, CHARTER COMMISSION MINUTES: MOTION by Commissioner Holm, seconded by Commissioner Findell to approve the March 26, 2001, Charter Commission Minutes as written. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON GORDON DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 1. ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS A. Chairperson Gordon read a certificate that had been prepared to Commissioner Fitzpatrick for her length of service and dedication to the Charter Commission and the City of Fridley. B. Chairperson Gordon read and presented a certificate of appreciation to Commissioner Alvite' Warren for her year of service as Chairperson to the Charter Commission. Commissioner Alvite' Warren thanked the members and said it had been an interesting and eventful year. C. Chairperson Gordon asked how many vacancies there were and Ms. Skogen stated that with Commissioner Fitzpatrick's term ending there were now three openings. He asked if staff was continuing to advertise and Skogen said yes. 2. Discussion of Chapter 8 - Public Improvements and Special Assessments A commissioner asked who had requested a review of Chapter 8. Chairperson Gordon said that the outgoing Public Works Director had reviewed the chapter and had made some suggestions for changes. Ms. Skogen said Adopted 5 -21 -01 CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING OF APRIL 30, 2001 PAGE 2 that Commissioner Holm had requested discussion of Chapter 8 due to the dollar limitations for contracts and that new legislation was adopted in 2000 which changed the amount of contracts she had forwarded the information to John Flora, Public Works Director, and Rick Pribyl, Finance Director who had made suggested changes. Commissioner Heck wondered what the process was now, as it appeared the Commission Attorney had reviewed the language and found it appropriate. Commissioner Findell MOVED and Commissioner Hendricks seconded a motion to recommend approval of the amendment to Chapter 6 and Chapter 8 of the City Charter and to forward it to the City Council for their adoption Commissioner Van Dan thought the language in Section 8.04 was written poorly and thought it could be said in fewer words. Commissioner Van Dan wondered why the city would reserve the right to bid on their own projects, (Section 8.05 (2)) because they really did not have the right to bid, they were a policy making body. Commissioner Heck asked what would happen if an estimate was given on a project and the amount was incorrect and it cost more money, who would be responsible for the extra money. Commissioner Findell said, ultimately, the City Council would be held responsible for the additional fees. Commissioner Holm felt the city engineer should continue to do cost estimates of the projects to determine whether or not they would need to go for bid. Commissioner Findell said Section 8.05 (2) only reserved the right of the council if they so chose to use the right they could. Commissioner Holm wondered if the first sentence in Section 8.05 (2) were moved to the last sentence, if that would make more sense. Ms. Skogen wondered what the intent of this section meant and whether it meant that it gave the City Council the right to advertise for bids or if they could bid on their own project. Commissioner Holm wondered if this item should be delayed for further discussion and changes. Commissioner Van Dan suggested that it not be held up and that it be placed on the agenda at some future meeting, maybe ten years from now or so, that the language could be reviewed at that time and changed if necessary Commissioner Heck wondered what timeframe would be reasonable for review and Chairperson Gordon said it would depend on the Commission, but that it probably would not be brought up for discussion in the near future. UPON A VOTE BEING TAKEN, COMMISSIONERS HENDRICKS, FINDELL, HECK, QUERIMIT, VAN DAN, AND GORDON VOTED AYE, COMMISSIONERS ALVITE' WARREN, HOLM AND MONDEN VOTED NAY. CHAIRPERSON GORDON DECLARED THE MOTION PASSED. Commissioner Hendricks was in favor of revising the ordinance in the new time frame. Commissioner Holm said he would be opposed to that because they do not want to present it to the City Council so quickly after forwarding this amendment. He agreed the language was somewhat clumsy but felt it had been improved and saw no problem in delaying any more changes. Commissioner Heck wondered if city staff wanted to have this amendment because of the dollar value of contracts. Ms. Skogen said Commissioner Holm had originally been interested in this Chapter wondering if the dollar limits set in the Charter were workable for City Staff. She said the 2000 legislature had adopted new language raising the dollar amount of contracts being required from $25,000 to $50,000 and that the City Charter still required $10,000, which is more restrictive than Statutory cities. Adopted 5 -21 -01 CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING OF APRIL 30, 2001 PAGE 3 Commissioner Findell said any changes would require resubmittal to the amendment to the Charter Commission attorney. Chairperson Gordon told Commissioner Van Dan her comments were always appreciated. 3. DISCISSION OF CHAPTER 9 EMINENT DOMAIN Chairperson Gordon said he was looking for input from the Commission as to what they would like to do. Commissioner Monden said the information provided was very helpful and she had originally asked for information because she did not understand it. She noticed that the eminent domain was just as brief in other city charters. Commissioner Holm felt it should not be changed as the city could be exposed to anything the state legislature can do and that the City Council would be very hesitant to make any changes. Commissioners Querimit and Findell agreed that it should remain unchanged. Chairperson Gordon felt the Commission did not have the expertise, due to their lack of knowledge of eminent domain, to make any recommended changes. Commissioner Hendricks thought a glossary or index might help to clarify this for future commissioners and thought they should take a low profile on this at the present time. Commissioner Heck liked the wording in the Brooklyn Park charter regarding the need to try to negotiate before using eminent domain. Ms. Skogen said she thought the procedures on eminent domain were in Chapter 117 and recommended reviewing that for further information. Commissioner Hendricks said it would be a measure of goodwill to negotiate prior to using eminent domain. There was consensus by the Commission for Ms. Skogen to prepare more information to find out what procedures are used leading up to eminent domain for the next meeting. 3A. DISCUSSION OF GLOSSARY /INDEX Chairperson Gordon asked who all wanted to have a diskette prepared with an electronic version of the charter to be able to search for words in putting a glossary or index together. Commissioners Hendricks, Monden, Findell, Alvite' Warren, Querimit, Gordon and Van Dan all requested a copy. Ms. Skogen said she would prepare them and mail them out this week. Commissioner Hendricks suggested assigning a chapter to each member to look for confusing or ambiguous language and try to focus on those words. Chairperson Gordon suggested working on one chapter at a time and several other commissioners agreed. Commissioner Querimit thought it would be more timely if they were all on the same chapter and that it could possibly be divided into sections. Commissioner Hendricks said it made sense because once a chapter is done, you may come across the same word later on and it would already defined. He wondered if this would be a working document for members or would be recommended for all to use officially. Adopted 5 -21 -01 CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING OF APRIL 30, 2001 Chairperson Gordon thought a glossary would be used by the Commission. PAGE 4 Commissioner Van Dan thought an index could be added to Charter as it only provided a location of the word and did not define it. Chairperson Gordon recommended they all go through Chapter 1 before the next meeting. 4. CONSIDERATION OF FUTURE ITEMS The agenda for the next meeting shall include: 1. Administrative Matters - Membership 2. Discussion of Chapter 9 Eminent Domain - procedures leading to eminent domain 3. Discussion of Glossary /Index - Chapter 1 4. Consideration of future items. Ms. Skogen was asked to provide copies of the by -laws to commissioners at the next meeting. Commissioner Holm wondered if there was anything that needed to be changed in reference to cable franchise. Ms. Skogen said that the City Council had adopted new ordinances last year pertaining to franchises for cable, electric and gas and did not think anything needed immediate change. She said she would check with Bill Champa to find out what he thought, as he was the one who had prepared the ordinances. ADJOURNMENT: MOTION by Commissioner Heck seconded by Commissioner Querimit to adjourn the meeting. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON GORDON DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE MEETING WAS ADJOURNED AT 8:20 P.M. Respectfully submitted, "aA Debra A. Skogen, City Clerk/Staff Liaison Deborah Monden, Secretary Adopted 5 -21 -01