##VIDEO ID:EKwgFTIBYPY## e e e e he's done like to call the meeting of the city Charter commission uh meeting to to uh order I think our first order of business tonight is to elect officers for the coming year and although I um thank you for the privilege of being the chair for the last couple years I uh intend to pass that uh on tonight so I will not be uh open to being nominated for the chair um first position then is the chairman um we'll open that up for nominations for for chairperson and I would like to nominate Rick Jensen to be chair okay there any other who has an interest what about the new guy [Laughter] I'm getting the dirty look can find a roll for him are there any other nominations there any other nominations if not um are we ready to vote that do I have to close I'll motion to cast unanimous ballot for Rick Jensen and the nomination cease second any other discussion if not all in favor signify by saying I I the chairman is elected um do you want to take over from here Rick uh can okay is my mic on when the blue lights on yep okay um okay well thank you you want to change chairs N I can sit here I I'll be okay uh the next item on the agenda is approval of the minutes from Vice chair Vice chair oh we need a vice chair oh sure okay nomination are open for a vice chair I'll nominate Rick wa what go ahead go ahead I'll nominate uh Dave Christian for that spot for the vice chair yeah why not move up the ladder gets you on the officer chain any other nominations any other nominations any other nominations hearing none uh is there a motion for Dave so moved second that motion made in seconded to appoint Dave as the vice chair any other discussion all in favor of the motion say I I I post same sign motion carried and moving on to secretary any nominations for the secretary should pick on somebody that's not here I would nominate Michelle margra okay any other nominations nominations nominations nominations cease uh there is a motion for Michelle was that made already yeah you'll move and there is a second second all in favor of uh nominating for the secretary sayi name sign motion carried that's pretty good we didn't uh stick anybody that wasn't here that's unusual okay then we'll move on to approval of the minutes item three approval of the city Charter commission meeting of February 22nd 2024 and if you've had a chance to review I'll offer motion approve the February 22nd 2024 minutes second Ju Just One minor minor minor minor roll call uh William Swan and BK Rick Jensen underneath it William Swan Rick Jensen that's all I saw there was a motion in a second uh assume that that change would be accepted uh any other discussion all in favor of the motion say I I post same sign motion carried I'm sorry I'm abstaining from that was not on the uh okay duly noted uh item four new business City attorney will present overview of commission duties and procedures under Minnesota state law thank you Mr chair members of the the commission can everybody hear me okay yes great uh so my name is Robert Scott for those who I haven't uh met uh work as a City attorney along with other attorneys in our firm um I told Chris I'd try and do this in five minutes or less we'll see how close I can come to that um so I just there's three things I want to cover quickly for the charter commissioners and I'd be happy to answer any questions at the end uh or if you'd uh like to interrupt me that's fine too um so I want to cover just what a charter is very broadly um what the role of the charter commission is uh in new and other Charter cities in Minnesota and then the statutory responsibilities for the commission so a charter uh is best described I think the league of Minnesota cities describes it this way and I like it as a local Constitution it's the document that uh controls the organizational structure of the city government um it generally uh addresses things like uh delegation of responsibilities uh what powers are reserved to the city council what are delegated to other boards and commissions what are delegated to uh the city manager for example um it also establishes procedures for governing procedures the council must follow to pass resolutions uh ordinances it also covers the powers that the city government is authorized to um uh take action on in new elm's case as is the case with most Charter cities the charter confers a broad all powers Grant on the City generally exercised through the city council unless otherwise delegated elsewhere and all powers Grant basically means that the city of newm is author authorized to take any actions that any city in Minnesota could lawfully exercise the caveat there is a city can't do anything that is contrary to state law or the state public policy so there are questions that come up occasionally can the city uh take a certain action if it appears that uh there's state law governing that uh subject matter elsewhere then we have to review is what the city wants to do consistent with the state law but generally the city of newm through the all powers Grant has the broadest powers that a city in Minnesota could have all cities must still as subdivisions of the State uh comply with the public policy of the state um with that said uh the charter is not a place to do legislation for the general welfare that's the function of the city council by passing ordinances so with that in mind uh what is the role of the charter Commission in the case of New Alm where you have had a charter in place for a long time the charter Commission 's role is really to serve as kind of a standing Constitutional Convention and what I mean by that is the commission's role is to uh review the city Charter propose amendments to the Charter if you think something needs to change in the local functions of city government and on occasion if you were to receive a petition by a sufficient number of citizens or from a majority of the city council the commission would have a duty to consider the petition for a charter Amendment the charter commission at any time is authorized by state statute to uh propose amendments to the Charter to the city council um there's a number of ways a charter can be amended usually that results in an election of the citizenry uh the one option for a more efficient amendment of a city Charter is what I know new has followed multiple times and that is to have the charter commission formally propose a charter Amendment to the city council and then have the city council including the mayor vote unanimously to approve that Amendment and if that's if that all happens that Amendment takes effect uh unless the city receives a petition for a reverse referendum uh to subject that change uh to an election um with that that's the focus of the charter commission then is to focus on the actual content of the charter and if any language changes are needed make recommendations to the city council there's also a procedure for the commission to uh put a proposed amendment directly on the ballot if the city council rejects any of the proposed amendments from the commission um it's helpful I think to understand what the commission's role is not the commission is not a legislative body you're not kind of a second city council that is uh passing laws for the general welfare that function is reserved to the city council or in new's case there is a procedure for the citizens to initiate an ordinance through an initiative petition um the charter commission is not an oversight entity so you're not charged with overseeing all the different actors within the city to make sure they're complying with the charter um it's also not an enforcement agency if there's an allegation that someone has acted in violation of a charter provision that's something that would uh have to be resolved by the courts if someone were serious enough to uh initiate a legal challenge over it um so the charter commission again you're you're Focus as Commissioners is on the language of the charter and if any language needs to change or if you recommend any changes um finally specific statutory responsibilities that Char commissions have um there are honestly are not a lot of them in the statutes most of the statutes uh set forth the requirements for Charter Commissions in the process of adopting a new Charter or a completely revised Charter once a charter is in place uh again the commission is just kind of a stand body that meets to consider the language and whether any amendments should be suggested um the actual requirements are to meet at least once a year um to consider petitions if you receive them and they comply with statutory requirements from either the voters or from a majority of the city council um to submit an annual report to the district judge of your activities um as a public body the charter commission is subject to the open meeting law and the government data Practices Act and the uh commission as is all uh government entities in the state is also required to keep a complete record of your activities and that's what you do when you take minutes and approve minutes as you just did at the start of this meeting um on the uh annual meeting and annual report requirements um those are in statute there are not a lot of tooth to them uh if for some reason neither happened or only one happened there's no uh recourse the commission still exists uh it just goes forward and Carries forward its business into the next year um with that that's kind of the overview um I tried think it might have been a minute or two over but uh if anyone has any questions I'd be happy to try and respond to them I have one question and this is maybe just a practical thing as far as amendments to the Charter are they usually initi ated by the city council or by the charter commissioner by staff so it would be um the last couple times we've done it it's been either commission or staff uh recommending the Amendments and then we kind of talk through them Robert kind of prepares them for everyone to take a vote and then we make that you make that recommendation to the city council to adopt but does I mean does this commission often spend time going through the Charter and say you know that should be changed or does that come up from the does is that like you said is that more often as a practical matter come from the staff um I would say mostly from commission members um so part of what we'll what we'll do tonight um when we talk about establishing the meeting schedule is we'll probably have a meeting about 30 days out from now so every commissioner can have time to go through and see if they want to make any changes um there is one suggested change that Robert will go over um after after this discussion here but um the the plan would be to give everyone time to kind of go through because we did make changes see if anything needs to be changed um and then bring that at the following meeting if no one has any changes at that point we would then convene that meeting until next year okay any other questions I know the mayor has a plan at least she did before I left of looking at all the different commissions and um with the potential um combining of some eliminating some so I think I would read this right Robert that if we don't make any changes to the Board of Health Public Utilities human rights or police commission the charter would really not be involved in the changes is that correct um counselor uh commissioner Schultz I think the if nothing needs to change no there's no no role for the commission um if these are commissions that are established by in the charter and there's an interest in uh consolidating or combining some of them then there would be a role for the charter commission to propose that Amendment um but I'm one I'm just kind of my memory is being just is this something that was addressed last year uh city manager no so this is something that the mayor has been working on um most most of the commissions that she's potentially looking at making recommendations to are by ordinance um I don't think she's looking at touching any of the ones that are in the charter for example like moving the tree Commission in with Park and wreck yeah and then eliminating the tree commission yeah and just make that a sub group of the par wherever it ended up okay I just want to be sure thank you what did we do like was it eight no God 10 12 years ago when we actually abolished the zoning commission oh yeah because it was redundant they were doing the same thing at the following meeting at the Planning Commission yep you know two meetings staff time they were doing the identical thing similar to that that's what they're talking about yeah if we've got two commissions that are almost doing the identical thing why are we doing that yep okay anything else otherwise we can uh move on to Ford two initial consideration of potential Charter amendments section 32 vacancies um Chris want to Enlighten us on that or yeah Robert I'll chime in on this one Robert yes thank you again Charter Commissioners this is something the commission considered last year and uh it actually was I had proposed a change that was approved by the commission it went to the city council and when I Was preparing to present this to the city council I came across an authority that uh caused me to retract my recommendation that the charter Amendment be passed so at my recommendation the charter or the city council did not pass the amendment so we thought the next logical step would be to bring this back to the commission I will give you a little bit better explanation than that for your consideration but um My ultimate recommendation here is that there is no Amendment needed at least from a legal perspective to section 32 section 32 establishes and addresses when uh elected offices shall become vacant and that is a uh matter that is governed by State Statute um specifically section 351 Point uh sorry 35 1.02 comprehensively addresses when local elected offices become vacant um it's something that uh the existing Charter language is consistent with this was I think brought onto a charter commission agenda at the suggestion that the commission might want to entertain um specifying certain criminal offenses that if a uh City official were convicted of would disqualify them from office and my first review of this was that uh section State under your uh Charter um what I uh suggested be changed when I looked at this the first time was a specific requirement in the or a specific provision in new alms Charter that dealt with when a council member uh ceases to be a resident of the ward to which the council member was elected and I was under the understanding at the time that the state statute when it applies would only create a vacancy if the council member left the city limits not just the W boundaries um and I had suggested a change to uh reflect that in the New Alm Charter When I Was preparing to present this to the city council uh I found a an attorney general opinion from uh some decades ago that took the exact opposite uh uh interpretation of the statute and upon finding that and researching it further uh my opinion changed and I had to uh explain that to the city council and explain that actually uh I think the city Charter language right now is already consistent with State Statute um so passing the amendment that I had drafted would actually make things worse so um at my recommendation the council did not pass that Amendment um we're bringing it back for consideration but my report to the Charter commission is that there's nothing wrong with Section 32 as it is drafted it's already cons consistent with the state statute that would control in this case anyway so my opinion is that there is no revision needed but I would certainly welcome any questions or uh follow up on that anybody any questions on that otherwise we'll move along so the section 32 isn't related to the ordinance number 202 4- 085 no that so that's another consideration to look that was just attached incorrectly the 32 should have been attached they attached 22 instead of 32 okay I was wondering about that so we don't need to review ordinance 2024 nope cuz that already passed that has already been passed right okay uh anything else on that otherwise we can move to four uh -3 or three establish meeting schedule um and so like we I previously stated um I would like to give at least 30 days if you think that's uh a good amount of time for review of the charter so everyone can kind of review and see if there's any language changes um that you would recommend um I know the the uh utility director um potentially has some changes um that she'd like to discuss with me about um duties and powers and stuff like that so that potentially will be coming um at that meeting as well um so looking at that um week of February 24th um we can send out a doodle poll if that is suitable for everyone that last week in February to meet again okay okay so I'll have I'll have Lisa s out a doodle poll on days that week and we can so you're going to send this out with going back to what mikee brought up with staff thing items that they think need to be addressed that then kind of hone Us in on yeah then if there's you know if you're reading through it you know if you haven't read through it if you're reading through it and you want used to come with a list every year every year with a list I don't have a list I don't have a list this year um you know so you're more than well go through if there's things you feel you know you want everyone to take a look at that's open to everyone as a commissioner all right it all sound all right and we'll have that other list from the Pu director before that I will try and get it out there at least say hey we're going to be looking at these numbers so you can take a look and see you know what's there um uh so yeah so we'll send out a doodle I'll have Lisa send out a doodle Poll for the week of the February 24th see when everyone's available uh and then we'll get reverse engineer that sounds good you said February 24th the week the week of week of that whole week we can do it the week of the third we'll we'll send yeah we'll send it out there and see what sometimes just happens y okay anything else you don't have a list I can't believe it I have no list this otherwise uh entertain a motion to adjourn second motion made and seconded to adjourn all in favor say I I post same sign motion carried thank you you you