Agenda - Charter Commission - 01/28/1999

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LOCAL GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION PAGE 2 INTRODUCTION 'Pursuant to Minn. Stat. § 414.041, subd. 1, the Minnesota Municipal Board has initiated consolidation proceeding for the cities of Minnetrista and St. Bonifacius. Under subd. 3, the consolidation commission shall conduct hearings regarding the proposed consolidation. In addition to numerous other matters, the hearings must cover the contents of any city charter for the proposed consolidated city or the form of government of the proposed consolidated city and an analysis of whether a ward system shall be included in the form of government for the proposed consolidated city. If consolidation is ordered by the Municipal Board, section 414.041.provides that if the most populous of the included municipalities is a statutory city, the new municipality shall be a statutory city and the plan of government shall be Optional Plan A. An alternate plan may be adopted pursuant to section 412.551, at any time. In the present case, if the consolidation is approved, and no other a~tion is taken, the new city would become an Optional Plan A city, since Minnetrista, as the most populous of the two cities, is a statutory city. The city of St. Bonifacius is also an Optional Plan A statutory city. The consolidation commission's findings and recommendations, however, may include a proposed home rule charter for the new city. If the commission so recommends, the Municipal Board in its order may combine the issue of the adoption of the charter and the vote on approval of the order for consolidation into one question on the ballot, to be submitted at a general or special election. Thus, a vote for the consolidation would also be a vote for the charter. As you can see, the structure of the proposed new city is wide open--whether a statutory city or a home rule charter city. These options will be discussed further throughout this paper which is designed to give you basic information on the various structural and organizational alternatives which are now used by cities in Minnesota. Political scientists, public administrators, and elected officials have debated the relative merits of these various forms for years, but the outcome of these debates is not definitive. Each of the various forms has its strong supporters and vehement opponents. In this paper, I do not try to make any judgment on which form is best suited for your communities. Rather, I will try to acquaint you with some of the more commonly used forms of government, so that you can make a decision best suited for your communities. Additionally, I will address the use of a ward system and some of its advantages and disadvantages.