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CHM 10/29/2001 - 00027207CITY OF FRIDLEY CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING October 26, 2001 CALL TO ORDER: Acting Chairperson Monden called the Charter Commission meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. ROLL CALL: Members Present: Craig Gordon (7:15 p.m.), Nancy Jorgenson (7:10 p.m.), Cindy Soule, Francis Van Dan, Suzanne Warren, Harry Heck, Deborah Monden, Maynard Nielsen, and Regina Querimit Members Absent: Don Findell, Carter Hendricks, and Bill Holm Others Present: Deb Skogen, City Clerk/Staff Liaison Chairperson Gordon was called away to report to a fire call and Secretary Monden was appointed Acting Chairperson in his absence. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Commissioner Nielsen MOVED AND Commissioner Soule seconded a motion to approve the agenda Skogen requested that the 2002 calendar be added to the agenda under Administrative Matters and Commissioner Van Dan requested to be placed on the end of the agenda to make some comments. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, ACTING CHAIRPERSON MONDEN DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY AND THE AGENDA WAS APPROVED AS AMENDED. APPROVAL OF SEPTEMBER 24, 2001, CHARTER COMMISSION MINUTES: Commissioner Van Dan MOVED and Commissioner Querimit seconded a motion to approve the September 24, 2001, Charter Commission Minutes. Commissioner Van Dan requested the minutes to be amended as follows: 1. In the first paragraph under administrative matters the first two sentences should be separated, as it is not grammatically correct. So the first two sentences shall read as follows: There are currently 12 members on the Charter Commission. The Commission has three vacancies. 2. In the second paragraph of Administrative Matters, Commissioner should be changed to Commission. 3. In the first paragraph under discussion of glossary /index, the second sentence should be amended to read as follows, "Commissioner Hendricks felt the glossary should clarify ambiguous or confusing terms. Commissioner Monden suggested in the first paragraph under administrative matters to include the word "a" between "prepare letter" in the last sentence. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, ACTING CHAIRPERSON MONDEN DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY AND THE MINUTES WERE APPROVED AS AMENDED. ADOPTED NOVEMBER 26, 2001 CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 29, 2001 Chairperson Gordon returned and replaced Commissioner Monden as Chair. 1. ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS PAGE 2 Ms. Skogen handed out the 2002 Calendar the City Council had approved for the Commission to review for their meetings. Commissioner Jorgenson MOVED and Commissioner Soule seconded a motion that the Charter Commission meetings be held on the 4"' Monday of each month for 2002. Commissioners Jorgenson and Soule both said they had other commitments on some Mondays and due to those commitments could not always make the Charter Commission Meetings. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON GORDON DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. The Dates for 2002 were reviewed and all meetings, with the exception of May, will be held on the 4"' Monday of the Month. The meeting in May will be held on May 20"' There will be no meetings in the months of June, July, August and December. 2. DISCUSSION OF GLOSSARY /INDEX Chairperson Gordon requested that Ms. Skogen create a list of terms for the glossary separate from the minutes. Commissioner Monden requested the word recall, from Section 5.16, be added to the glossary. Ms. Skogen suggested starting out with the same verbiage as initiative and referendum, and suggested the following language, "an action by the voters to petition the city council to hold an election to remove an elected official for malfeasance or nonfeasance of office. Commissioner Van Dan suggested language referring to citizen action for the removal and qualification by petition to remove an elected official through an election process which would determine whether the official would be removed or not. That action, to remove the elected official, would begin an election process. Commissioner Jorgenson recommended keeping the definition short thereby referring the reader back to the section of the Charter on recall. Commissioner Van Dan said in the glossary they may cross - reference the other two elements of action with the recall. Commissioner Soule suggested the following language, "a citizen - initiated action to remove an elected official from office. Such action begins by petition to the City Council alleging malfeasance or nonfeasance of office. Commissioner Jorgenson reminded the Commissioners that the voter - initiated amendment (of 1999) had language that needed to be clarified and changed because the language was poorly written. She recommended putting in "Fridley" before "elected official" because she felt some readers might think an elected official be a state representative or senator. Chairperson Gordon said the Charter addressed the City of Fridley and did not think that it needed to be spelled out. After further discussion, it was agreed that the word "municipal" would be placed before elected official. Commissioner Jorgenson preferred to change citizen to registered voters because they were the ones that would form a committee. ADOPTED NOVEMBER 26, 2001 CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 29, 2001 PAGE 3 Commissioner VanDan said that the action could be initiated verbally by any citizen. Commissioner Jorgenson said that the action required a committee of five registered voters. Commissioner Monden felt the Commission should be consistent and preferred using voters. Chairperson Gordon said he could see both sides of the issue and suggested the language be typed and sent out to the commissioners before the neat meeting. Commissioner Van Dan wrote down the language suggested by Commissioner Soule and some of the changes from the discussion. "A citizen - initiated action to remove an elected municipal official from office. Such action begins by petitioning the City Council alleging malfeasance or nonfeasance in office." Commissioner Van Dan added the words, " Such petitions defined and regulated elsewhere in this document." Commissioner Warren felt that if the Commission was not careful, they could unintentionally change the meaning of the charter through some of the definitions. She preferred to use the glossary as a tool for the Charter Commission. She was afraid some oversight might cause some consequence later in time. She was concerned there was no legal opinion as to the creation or need for a glossary. Commissioner Jorgenson said City Attorney Fritz Knaak thought a glossary might be helpful for an average person trying to read the Charter. She said that each word needed to be consistent with the Charter. Chairperson Gordon said any changes recommended would go to the commission attorney for a legal opinion before recommendations were made to the city council. Commissioner Warren was also concerned about the length of time spent on discussing definitions without making a lot of headway, when there might be more important information to be discussed. She wondered if something else should be a priority other than the glossary. Commissioner Van Dan empathized with Commissioner Warren and said they were cognizant of the fact that what they were doing now is not the tail wagging the dog. She said the glossary was to clarify or simplify terms and that it was more educational for the commissioners. Chairperson Gordon said the only reason they were discussing the glossary was because there was nothing else at this time to discuss. He said if there was another item of importance, the glossary could be placed on the back burner. Commissioner Jorgenson said there was other citizen - initiated action such as a petition to redo a street, or to get a stop -sign which was different from initiative, referendum or recall. Chairperson Gordon said he would draft a letter to the commission attorney for Ms. Skogen to type and send. Commissioner Warren again stressed she would like to see the glossary as a working document for use by Charter members. Commissioner Gordon said the commission would most likely work on the glossary for two to three years. He asked if there were any other words they would like to include in the directory. Commissioner Monden said she would like to see eminent domain defined and concurred with Commissioner Warren that if other items came up that were more important, she would like to see the glossary set aside. She wondered if the commissioners wanted to put a time limit on items for discussion, because there was not enough time to talk about all of the items on the agenda. ADOPTED NOVEMBER 26, 2001 CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 29, 2001 PAGE 4 Commissioner Heck said that you may not want to rush some topics or put a time limit on them. Commissioner Querimit thought you could put a time limit of 15 -20 minutes on each topic. Commissioner Warren said it was important if discussion was going to continue to allow the free flow of ideas, which might take more time to discuss some issues. She suggested prioritizing the agenda items better. 3. DISCUSSION OF HOW ISSUES COME TO CHARTER COMMISSION This item was tabled to the next meeting. CONSIDERATION OF ITEMS FOR FUTURE DISCUSSION The items for discussion at the next meeting will as follows: 1. Administrative Matters A. Recruitment of New Members 2. Discussion of how issues come to Charter Commission 3. Glossary /Index 4. Consideration of items for future discussion COMMENTS BY COMMISSIONER VAN DAN Commissioner Van Dan stated that government and governance should be executed in such a fashion as to impartially and equally enforce the law among all citizens. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Monden MOVED and Commissioner Querimit seconded a motion to adjourn the meeting. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON GORDON DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE MEETING WAS ADJOURNED AT 8:38 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Debra A. Skogen, City Clerk/Staff Liaison Deborah Monden, Secretary ADOPTED NOVEMBER 26, 2001