Minutes - Charter Commission - 01/16/2003

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Chairperson Vogt stated that with regard to Chapter 14, the City cannot go into a court of law - this chapter could not be enforced. We determined it was not able to be enforced - the Charter Commission discussed this at length. Keith Kiefer, 6303 Rivlyn Avenue NW, Ramsey, stated that his recollection was that not only was the ballot published, but all of Chapter 14 was published as well as Section 3.2, in the official newspaper, the ,~noka CounO~ Union. He inquired if that was correct to which City Clerk Thieling replied yes. Commissioner Henke suggested that publication was meaningless because only 1% of Ramsey's population get that paper. Mr. Kiefer stated that the "Union" is the City's official paper. Commissioner Henke stated it should have been in the Ramsey Resident also. Clerk Thieling pointed out that the Ramsey Resident included an article about the election and the article stated that a copy of Chapter 14 in its entirety was available at City Hall. Commissioner Henke felt that the Anoka C°unO; Union was not unbiased. Commissioner LaMere pointed out that the article Ms. Henke is referring to is not the official notice - that's an article with editorial overtones. Chairperson Vogt stated that Mr. Norman can speak on any of these items and he can interpret it how he sees fit. We asked specific questions about these chapters. We, as a Commission, discussed this fully; we made a logical decision not to put the entire chapters in the Ramsey Resident because it was made available in so many places. Commissioner Henke felt that the Charter Commission should have given better direction to the City Council regarding the wording on the ballot should be. Keith Kiefer offered that Ms. Henke is addressing the wrong body with regard to wording, it should be addressed to the City Council - it's a moot point. Commissioner Simenson observed that you get caught up in making a decision. You need an educated. voter and you would like them to make an educated vote. This election is done, but if we proposed amendments in the future, we need to look at it from a voter's perspective. Chairperson Vogt stated there are things that the Charter Commission can do and things that we cannot. One of the things we cannot do is send specific language to the City Council. He stated that the Commission had done due diligence with regard to this election. Commissioner Henke stated again that nowhere were the citizens told what was in Chapter 14. She continued that anytime we propose changes, we should publish them in the Ramsey Resident. Charter Commission- January 16, 2003 Page 6 of 8