Laserfiche WebLink
~, .... . ~ ~ 183 UniversitYAve. East <br /> xe- gue of Minnes ira Cities <br /> <br />(612) 227-5600 (FAX: 221-0986) <br /> <br />November 9~ 1989 <br /> <br />WARD SYSTEM IN STATUTORY CITIES. <br /> <br />Steve Bergeson <br />Jordan cityiAttorney' <br />5270 West 84th Street <br />Suite 450 <br />Bloomington,! Minnesota <br /> <br />55437 <br /> <br />Dear Steve, <br /> <br />I admit to Having spent a great amount of time trying to justify <br />my statemen~ to you concerning wards in statutory cities. Even <br />after speakihg to you for the last time, I continued to search, <br />enlisting the aid of two or three other staff people. They all <br />came to the Same dead ends I had come to. <br /> <br />I still fe~limy statement that your typical statutory city is <br />not authorized to establish a'ward system was correct, however <br />weak my s~pp~rting arguments may be. Those supporting arguments <br />are these. 1.) There is no statutory authority clearly allowing <br />statutory ci~ies in general to have wards. 2.) M.S. 412.021, <br />Subd. 2 coul~ be read as prohibiting elections by wards ("No <br />candidate...Shall run for a particular term..."). 3.) M.S. <br />412.023, Sub~. 4 states that notwithstanding any other provision <br />of the statutory city code a former special law city can <br />continue to have wards. One could infer from this that other <br />statutory ci~ies can't. 4.) Furthermore, that same section says <br />that prior t~ September 1, a council of a former special law <br />city can abolish the ward system "and provide for a council <br />constituted as in statutory cities generally..". 5.) At least two <br />of our publi~ati?n~ make the categorical statement, as did I, <br />that statutory cztles generally can't have wards. Unfortunately, <br />they provide no documentation. (See enclosures.) <br /> <br />There seems to be a fair amount of staff consensus on two' <br />points: firstl, that my assertion was correct, and second, that <br />the evidence ~upporting it is not nearly as clear as we have <br />all assumed. <br /> <br />None of the.above anglysis gets to the question of whether a. <br />former special law city that abandoned its special law status in <br />1972 (prior t~ Ch. 123, Laws 1973) and got its own charter can <br />now abandon its charter and retain its.ward system under <br />412.023. I s~spect the final answer to that question will be <br />that Jordan can't pull it off (or at least that the city's <br /> <br />/? <br /> <br /> <br />