Minutes - Charter Commission - 07/21/1994

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Upon inquiry, Mr. Goodrich stated that the quickest way to amend the City Charter is by ordinance, and added that an emergency ordinance could be adopted. However, there is a state statute that defines how amendments have to be handled. Commissioner Kiefer pointed out that the Charter does not spell out that the Council has a four-year term and that the two four-year terms are staggered. Mr. Schroeder stated that if a present Councilmember resigns, but no resolution accepting resignation is passed, the resignation is not valid. Chairperson Steffen inquired if the elected official could make his/her resignation effective at a later date. Commissioner Donovan arrived (8:29 p.m.) Chairperson Steffen proceeded to bring Commissioner Donovan "up to speed" on the discussion thus far. "We have been talking about the provisions of Section 4.2.1 being defective because of dates. This arose because the original dates were four weeks. The City was told several years ago that that long of a period of time created problems in issuing absentee ballots. The days were changed from 70 to 56. Section 4.2.1 did not get changed, That section states that you have to resign. That part did not get amended - it still has the period of 56 and 42 days. The filing period is too short. This gives a person the opportunity to file after everyone else has filed. The feeling is that this provision would be deemed unconstitutional. If the Charter Commission recommends eliminating this provision, it would be submitted to Council, but would not be effective for 90 days following its adoption. This would not be in force prior to this year's election; however, the City Council would be declaring the intent that this provision does not apply." Commissioner Donovan felt that this would be correcting a procedural mistake. Chairperson Steffen reiterated that this provision was intended to prevent a sitting Councilmember from running against the Mayor and coming back and sitting with the Mayor if he/she loses. Even if he/she wins, they would still sit at the same table for a two- month period. He suggested if the Charter recommends repealing this section, it would basically be taking a corrective action. City Attorney Goodrich stated that it makes sense not to correct the anomaly of the days because we would be correcting something we feel is unconstitutional. CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Steffen called the regular meeting of the Charter Commission to order at 8:35 p.m. and noted that the meeting was delayed due to lack of a quorum. APPROVE MINUTES Motion by Commissioner Swokowski and seconded by Commissioner Nelson to approve the following Charter Commission meeting minutes: 1) Charter Commission meeting minutes dated April 21, 1994 Motion carried, Voting Yes: Chairperson Steffen, Comlnissioners Swokowski, Nelson, Donovan and Kiefer. Voting No: None. Absent: Commissioners Goode, Marn, Netzloff and Spain-Brist. Charter Commission/July 21, 1994 Page 3 of 5