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assured representation; (2) Councilmembers will be able to have closer contact with their <br />constituents and be more responsive to their needs, thereby being more accountable to the people <br />who elected them; (3) The voter is more likely to have personal knowledge about the candidate <br />seeking office and thereby will more likely make an intelligent choice; and (4) The campaign <br />costs to a council candidate are lower. <br /> <br />Motion Carried. Voting Yes: Chairperson Peterson, Commissioners Donovan, Keifer, <br />Anderson, Spain-Brist, and Vogt. Voting No: None. <br /> <br />Case #3: Primary Election <br /> <br />City Administrator Norman stated that the Charter Commission has discussed the creation of <br />primary systems in the past. A primary election discussion also took place during the meeting of <br />January 28, 1999. It was the consensus of the Charter Commission to continue to study the <br />possibility of instituting a primary election for the City of Ramsey. <br /> <br />Commissioner Keifer referred to discussion that had taken place during the last Commission <br />meeting which stated that in the past, the City has had 10-12 running for office at one time. <br />Basically, it splits up the vote. During the last election where five people were running for two <br />council seats, the top two people received only 26% of the vote. <br /> <br />Commissioner Anderson stated that she thinks primary elections makes a lot of sense. <br /> <br />City Attorney Goodrich noted that the Council could initiate the primary election themselves <br />without any changes to the Charter. <br /> <br />Councilmember Hendriksen questioned what would happen if a special election was needed. <br /> <br />City Administrator Norman replied that if the person resigned in the first year there would be a <br />special election to fill the position, and then they would hold another election during the standard <br />election. <br /> <br />City Attorney Goodrich noted that if there are two or more years left on a term they would have <br />to have a special election. <br /> <br />Chairperson Peterson questioned what would happen if there were two seats open. <br /> <br />City Administrator Norman explained if there were two seats vacant, four candidates would <br />move on to the general election, two for each open seat. <br /> <br />Motion by Commissioner Keifer, seconded by Commissioner Spain-Brist, to request that City <br />Council look into implementing primary elections when there are more than two seats open for <br />office by the election year 2000. <br /> <br />Charter Commission/September 23, 1999 <br /> Page 5 of 7 <br /> <br /> <br />