Minutes - Charter Commission - 02/23/1984

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Mr. Bill Miller - Will there be more public hearings after the charter has been submitted to Council? Chairman Heitman replied there would be, in the form of public information meetings. Changes can be made to the charter at a variety of points. If the charter has been signed by the Commission, submitted to Council and published in the paper and a necessary change surfaces, it would most likely not be reason enough to pull the charter back and start the 90 day clock over again; minor errors could be corrected at the general election in November. The Commission is sure of 98% of the charter and we will address that 2% tonight; we will back off on our schedule if we find gross error tonight. Mr. Bill Miller - Would like to see a hearing conducted regarding the charter versus the current form of government conducted in layman's terms. Chairman Heitman pointed out that there is a difference between public hearings and public information meetings. A hearing means seeking input and public information meetings, which is what the Commission intends to conduct until the election, is to inform and educate the public as to the charter contents. Commissioner Sieber pointed out that if an error is found after the charter has been adopted,~ it.~doe~ not have to go to a special election; a recommenda- tion by a majority of the Charter Commission and an approval from Council will automatically amend the charter. COMMISSION BUSINESS 1) Review of Chapter 8, Section 8.05.02 Chairman Heitman read the section and stated a situation has been created where a minority could stop a majority of 75%. Discussion ensued and Chairman Heitman summarized the two choices resulting from that discussion: 1. Go with greater than 50% of registered voters petition required to stop a project. 2. Maintain the 25% registered voters petition and incur the cost of an election. Mr. Schnelle stated that he is in favor of raising the percentage of signatures required on the petition. Ms. Sheila Beyer sited an example of an area petitioning for blacktop streets, a public hearing is conducted and during the 60 day interim a petition in opposition to the proj~ect is submitted; does this mean that 25% of the entire City can stop an area from getting their streets blacktopped? Commissioner Sieber replied that normally, a street project will not be less that 100% assessed out. Chairman Heitman pointed out that considering the way Section 8.05.02 reads now, Ms. Beyer is correct, but the Commission is in the process of changing that. Commissioner Bauerkemper stated that Ms. Beyer's interpretation is the legal interpretation but it would be impossible to get a couple of thousand people to sign a petition regarding some local neighborhood street. CC/February 23, 1984 Page 3 of 11