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Buchanan and Greenberg. <br /> <br />Discussion Regardin~ Items Of Concern In The City Charter; <br /> <br />Mr. Hartley stated that one of his objectives is to achieve an understanding of <br />the intent of the Charter, especially in Chapter 8. Mr. Hartley stated that <br />City Staff has come across some cumbersome items in the charter, some of which <br />were probably intended to be and others that were probably not intended to be <br />so. Mr. Hartley then inquired if the Charter Commission has observed any <br />evidence of difficulty with implementation of the charter or with Staff/Council <br />honoring the intent of the charter. <br /> <br />Chairman Sieber brought up the fact that councilmembers appointed to represent <br />precincts are not conducting their required precinct liaison meetings. <br /> <br />Discussion ensued regarding some attempts that have been made at holding <br />precinct liaison meetings and the poor attendance at those meetings. <br />Councilmember Schlueter was present and stated that she would like the <br />Commission to place discussion of precinct representation and meetings placed <br />on the next Charter Commission agenda. <br /> <br />Commissioner Greenberg arrived at this time. <br /> <br />Mr. Goodrich brought up for discussion an item of concern. The charter <br />requires a 4 week affidavit of candidacy filing period; in 1985 the State <br />shortened the filing period to two weeks in order to allow sufficient time to <br />print and send out absentee ballots; as a result, Ramsey's candidacy filing <br />period will not be closed until it is too late to get Ramsey's candidates on <br />the absentee ballot; a second absentee ballot is being printed with just the <br />Ramsey candidates; Ramsey has been requested to review this situation. <br /> <br />Commissioner Gamec stated that the intent of the 4 week provision was to cover <br />a situation where a current office holder would file for another office on the <br />last day of filing and therefore is required to resign present office; the <br />extra two weeks filing time would allow for filings for the newly created <br />council vacancy and thereby avoid the need for a special election. <br />Commissioner Gamec stated that filing dates could be adjusted to coincide with <br />the States by amending the required resignation date of a current office holder <br />filing for another office. <br /> <br />Mr. Goodrich stated that when there is a council vacancy, the charter does not <br />specify a time frame in which a replacement must be appointed, when appointment <br />rather than special election is appropriate. <br /> <br />Chairman Sieber noted that if the Charter Commission makes a charter amendment <br />recommendation to Council that Council approves unanimously and to which no <br />petitions in opposition of have been submitted within 60 days, the amendment <br />automatically becomes a charter change 90 days after adoption. <br /> <br />Mr. Hartley referred to the 10% threshold in Chapter 8 and inquired if the <br />charter intent is to assure the property owner that their cost will not change <br />from what was estimated at the improvement hearing or to assure that the total <br />project doesn't grow in size even if funding sources are available elsewhere <br />and the assessed portion is at a fixed amount. <br /> September 25, 1986 <br /> <br />Page 2 of 6 <br /> <br /> <br />