Agenda - Charter Commission - 02/01/1996

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Case #2: Review Special Election Results City Administrator Schroeder stated that prior to the election, City staff received a multitude of calls from residents who were not sure what the issue was they were voting on. There appeared to be a lot of confusion and the interpretation of the issue seemed to be constantly varied. Chairperson Steffen stated he was not happy with the League of Women Voters program on cable. They had made arrangements with Mr. Terry Hendriksen and it seemed it was not appropriate for him (Steffen) to take a position. He believes this vote to be purely anti- government and anti-development; it's not a studied vote. It's unlikely the MUSA line will change in the near future anyway. It may not be bad in the short term. In the long term, you will never get an affirmative vote on that question. You will not get a majority of the registered voters voting and if you did, they will not vote unanimously in favor of. He believes this Charter Commission can, at an appropriate time, change that. If we could count on City Council to take a unanimous position, we can change that. When any individual can make something mandated with only 200 to 300 signatures, this could lead to mischief. The law says that the question put before the people does not get amended if it's short enough. Should this law be changed? It would be some check on mischief. He also believed this was designed as a back door way so we do not have any more development. Chairperson Steffen declared he is not necessarily pro-development but he felt this all needed to be reviewed. He felt that the concept of wards should still be seriously looked at. He stated he watched a display of a separate issue raised by Terry Hendriksen regarding appropriate behavior of Mayor Hardifi and that he wanted Mayor Hardin's personal life looked into. Two of the present Councilmembers said you have to do that and the new Councilmember said that's not true. It was the worst display to make people not want to lead government. You see an individual (Hendriksen) take on the world and get away with it. If he's successful, he will learn how to do more of it. The effect on the governmental process will lead everyone to say they do not trust anyone in government. Commissioner Donovan stated that when Terry Hendriksen came before us, you try to make a couple of comments and it leads to a brawl. It was pretty obvious it would be like this. It was falsely presented - mischief is right. It represents democracy at its worst. A small minority believe they are speaking for the majority. People do not take' time to become informed. Chairperson Steffen stated you end up with a bad process. We are getting close to having an interactive form of a town meeting of government; no need for a City Council. That would work if you have a mechanism to inform people. Minority will run - it's a serious future problem. Mr. Schroeder stated that it doesn't matter if you are in the City of Ramsey, Sioux Falls or Mankato, there's a definite trend in how people are viewing the world. Chairperson Steffen felt there's a change coming. Society is unhappy with itself right now. The view is negative. We are surfacing from negatives that say shoot ourselves and start over. He stated he did not know how long this Charter amendment could not be touched or amended. He felt it's not advisable to do it too soon. Maybe the Metropolitan Council can change the MUSA without any action by the City. In the mean time, we have a provision that says the MUSA line will not change in the City of Ramsey. Mr. Schroeder stated this can be removed by another vote of the people. All you have to say is that the City is in support of something and people will vote against it. Is this defective? Yes, certainly. Is it illegal? I'm not sure. Impact - immediate? In its narrowest Charter Commission/September 7, 1995 Page 2 of 4