Agenda - Council Work Session - 03/09/2010

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Miiu,. Stat. ~~ 412.>41, Any statutory city with a population over 1,000 may adopt the Plan B s~hd. ~; Minn. star. 3 4r2.ssi. form. The than e must be a roved b a ma orit of voters at a re ulaC or g PP Y j Y g special election. M;nn. scat. ~ 4i2-.`'~. The council may choose to hold an election on its own, or may be sUbd. i. compelled to do so by citizen petition. To be valid, the petition must meet the following criteria: • The petition must be signed by registered voters. • The petition must have signatures equal to 15 percent of the number of people who voted in the last city election. Minn. sru. ; at=."r. A Plan A city cannot change to a Plan B city until it has maintained its Plan See LMC information A form for a minimum of three years. Additionally, the election can only memo, Cih~ Specic+l Eiecrion,s~. address one change in the form of government. In other words, voters cannot be given an option of voting for Plan A and Plan B at the same election. M;nn. scar. y ai~.ssi, A Plan B city may abandon its council-manager form of government and "~~`~' ~' 4. revert to the Standard Plan, or change to a Plan A city. The change in form requires approval by a majority of the voters in an election. The city may not change plans until it has been a Plan B city for a minimum of three nn;n,,. scar. 3 4ra.r i. years. Voters could also abandon the Plan B form by adopting a home rule charter. D. Home rule charter cities see Hantfvook, chapter 4. Home rule cities derive their powers from a home rule charter. The charter is, in effect, a local constitution. State laws give cities a wide range of discretion in regard to charter content. The charter may provide for any Minm. star. gin. 41q form of municipal government, as long as it is consistent with state laws that apply uniformly to all cities in Minnesota. Charter adoption, amendment and abandonment procedures are found in state statutes. See LMC information A charter city's form of government may be similar to one of the statutory memo, Charter and Election Data for forms previously discussed. There are 107 home rule charter cities in Minnesota cues. Minnesota. Of these, roughly 30 cities have adopted the council-manager form and 77 are mayor-council cities. Of the 77 mayor-council cities, See Flandhook. Chapter i, approximately 74 have weak mayor-councils. Only three* of these 77 cities Saction IfC Forms ofcin~ have strong mayor-councils, where the mayor is responsible to the council or~anicntion. for the operation of all administrative agencies. The home rule charter Minnesota cities that operate with strong mayor-councils are: • St. Paul , • Duluth • St. Cloud *Northfield is sometimes classified as astrong-mayor city. While its mayor is provided additional authority under the city charter, Northfield does not operate under the "typical" strong mayor-council form of city government. LEAGUE OF MINNESOTA CITIES