Agenda - Charter Commission - 09/23/1999

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CASE # / REPEAL SECTION 3.2 OF THE HOME RULE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF RAMSEY By: Jo Thieling, Deputy City Clerk Background: On May 25, 1993, Ramsey City Council conducted a public hearing to receive comment regarding the proposed ordinance repealing the requirement of precinct liaison meetings between City Council and Ramsey residents. Upon Council's request, the Charter Commission reviewed the requirement of precinct liaison meetings. Council made this request because of the lack of citizen attendance at past meetings of this type. Because of the opportunity for citizen input at every Council meeting, it was felt that these liaison meetings were unnecessary. No public input was received at the hearing and the ordinance was introduced with a 5/0 vote by Council. Council, with a 5/0 vote, adopted Ordinance #93-09 repealing the requirement of precinct liaison meetings between City Council and Ramsey residents on Tuesday, June 8, 1993. Up to the point in time when this ordinance was adopted, Council was appointed to a precinct. When Council adopted their organization resolution in January 4, 1994, all of Council was listed as serving at-large. The Charter still reads that Councilmembers shall act as liaisons for certain precincts. It appears it was an oversight to not delete this section at the same time as 3.2.3 relating to the liaison meetings was deleted. Section 3.2.2 deals with precinct boundaries and states that the precinct boundaries shall correspond to those adopted and revised periodically by Council, meaning that Council has the means to grant authority to boundary changes - adding precincts. The Charter states that there shall be three (3) precincts and they shall approximate each other in population. It appears the precincts were named Precinct 1, Precinct 2 and Precinct 3. With the growth of the City, at some point in time, the precinct boundaries were redrawn to more evenly distribute the number of voters, and two precincts were added. Keeping in line with the referral to three precincts, instead of adding numbers 4 and 5, the precincts were named Precinct IA, lB, 2, 3A and 3B. It appears that these suggested amendments are more "housekeeping" items than significant changes. Staff is asking the Charter Commission to recommend these amendments to the City Council. Staff is proposing to advertise a public hearing for Council to conduct on this amendment at their October 12, 1999, meeting. To accommodate the City's growth and to be able to efficiently manage the number of registered voters in each precinct, staff is proposing that the precinct boundary lines be redrawn and that three additional precincts be added. A map showing the proposed lines is included in the packet. Per Charter, the City Council has the authority to approve the changes. In order to complete these boundary changes in the most efficient manner, the map needs to be submitted to the County early in December in order to be submitted to G:iusers~dThielingi~JO~COUNCIL& iCH/tRTERC319991RepealSection3.2case, doc 09/17/99