Minutes - Charter Commission - 12/05/2006

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COMMISSION BUSINESS: Case #1A: Consider Amending the City Charter Section 2.1 to Implement a Council- Manager Plan of City Government City Attorney Goodrich explained the options to amend the City’s Charter. The item for discussion this evening is one that has been before the Commission several times – which is changing from a City Administrator to a City Manager form of government. Mr. Goodrich presented a proposed ordinance to change the form of government. He stated the essential difference is a City Manager regulates the hiring and firing of staff. The City Council retains the rights to adopt ordinances and resolution, etc. and they always are in charge of the City’s budget. The Commission reviewed the proposed ordinances and suggested that they did not want to wait that long (10 years) for this to become effective should it be adopted. Discussion ensued relating to the fact that there will soon be a vacancy in the City Administrator position due to Mr. Norman’s resignation and the Commission felt the City should be looking at hiring a Manager versus an Administrator. Some Commissioners suggested it be effective immediately while others stated they could “live with” the change happening in a year or two – or even four years. During the discussion, most Commissioners stated they felt that even two years was too long. Mr. Goodrich wasn’t certain the City Council would be ready to make that change immediately. The Commission felt that it is a good time to transition to a City Manager position and since there is a new hiring coming within this next year, it would make sense to have it be known that the new person would be hired as a City Manager – or at least that the position would be transitioned very shortly into a Manager form of government. Motion by Commissioner Frederick and seconded by Commissioner Deemer to adopt Resolution #CH-06-12-001 recommending that City Council enact an ordinance to amend City Charter Section 2.1 by requiring that the City be governed by the Council-Manager plan of government, effective January 1, 2008. All present voted in favor – Motion carried. Case 1B: Consider Amending Section 4.5 of the City Charter in order to Establish a Different Procedure for Filling Council Vacancies City Attorney Goodrich stated that Section 4.5 of the City’s Charter relates to vacancies of municipal elected offices. If a vacancy occurs with 365 days remaining on the term, there should be a special election within 90 days. This proposal is to adopt what the City of Anoka has – and other cities – and that is to not have that special election feature. The election would be held on the regular Election Day. Commissioner Simenson was not in favor of a Councilmember in office for almost two years who had been “appointed” versus elected. He suggested that since this would happen so seldom, the cost of the election is not really a factor. His position was to not make a change to the Charter. Charter Commission/December 5, 2006 Page 2 of 4