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Minn. Stat. b 412.54 1, 2d. Minn. Stat. S Any statutory city with a population over 1,000 may adopt the Plan B 41 41x51 1 . form. The change must be approved by a majority of voters at a regular or Minn. Stat. ch. 410. special election. Miinn. g 41 2.551. The council may choose to hold an election on its own, or may be compelled to do so by citizen petition. To be valid, the petition must meet See LMC information memo, clea d the following criteria: Election Data tafor or • The petition must be signed by registered voters. Minnesota Cities. • The petition must have signatures equal to 15 percent of the number of people who voted in the last city election. Minn. Stat. § 412.551. A Plan A city cannot change to a Plan B city until it has maintained its Plan See LMC infortnation memo, City Special A form for a minimum of three years. Additionally, the election can only Elections. 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. Minn. Stat. g 412.551, anbds. 3, 4. A Plan B city may abandon its council- manager form of government and 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 Minn. Stat 410.1 1. years. Voters could also abandon the Plan B form by adopting a home rule charter. D. Home rule charter cities See Handbook, Chapter 4. Home rule cities derive their powers from a home rule charter. The charter LEAGUE OF MIIJNFMTA CrrtES 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 Minn. Stat. ch. 410. 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 memo, clea d A charter city's form of government may be similar to one of the statutory Election Data tafor or forms p reviously discussed. There are 107 home rule charter cities in P Minnesota Cities. 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 Handbook. Chapter 1, approximately 74 have weak mayor - councils. Only three* of these 77 cities Section 11C Fornts ofcim have strong mayor - councils, where the mayor is responsible to the council organisation. 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 a strong -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 MIIJNFMTA CrrtES