Agenda - Council - 05/27/1980 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Election day re§istration and voting should be permitted, but not mandated, to take place in adjacent rooms. Certain penalties for election day infrac- tions are so severe that they constitute a barrier to effective enforcement of the law. The League recommends that the laws be reviewed and modified where nec- essary so that the laws can be effectively enforced. 3. State law should be uniformly enforced throughout the state. Any future state-mandated election or registration programs should be accom- panied by sufficient state funds to pay local costs on a continuing basis. o A person other than an election official vouching for others should be limited to five persons other than immediate family. Home rule Minnesota's constitutional home rule policy, while permitting home rule charters in some cir- cumstances to depart from the provisions of sta- tutes that would otherwise be applicable, has made charters subject to the provisions of state laws when they express a policy intended to over- ride local charters. In implementing that policy, the legislature has often by a general law auth- orized one or more classes of home rule charter cities to meet new problems for which existing charters listing city powers in specific detail pro- vided inadequate authority. It has also, by general law and increasingly by special law, removed char- ter restrictions or imposed restrictions where the local charter had none. Following the adoption of the 1958 local government amendment to the Minnesota Constitution, the legislature has, on League recommendation, made it easier for cities to adopt and amend charters and thus better able to meet local legislative needs at home. In an effort to provide for a more consistent policy on the relationship between state law and local charters, the League recommends to its own member cities as well as the legislature the fol- lowing guidelines on meeting legislative needs of home rule charter cities: Every general law applying to cities should state specifically whether or not it applies to home rule as well as to statutory cities. When a uniform state policy is not re- quired, a law applying to home rule char- ter cities, whether applicable with or without local action, should authorize an affected city to supersede the law or any provision in it by charter action on the same subject. When a legislative problem can be met simply by a charter amendment, parti- cularly where amendment by ordinance is feasible, state legislation on the subject should not apply to home rule charter cities. Some existing obsolete legislation applying to home rule charter cities was repealed by the 1976 Legislature; other similar legislation of doubtful current use should be repealed, perhaps with an effec- tive date sufficiently far in the future to permit any city for which the legislation was later found useful to adopt an appro- priate amendment to its charter. Legal notice publication The expense of publishing financial statements, the entire text of ordinances and other informa- tion far exceeds the necessity to inform the pub- lic of these details of city administration. The League suggests that the legislature study the entire subject of publication in legal newspapers and that the laws be rewritten to require publica- tion of summary information consistent with the public's need to know. Also, cities should be authorized to publish by broadcasting in addition to legal newspapers. In emergency situations, publication by broadcasting may be in lieu of newspaper publication. Personal bonds Existing law specifically authorizes charter cities to use a blanket bond to cover any employee or officer who is required to be bonded. Since there seems to be no obvious reason for treating statu- tory and charter cities differently in this respect, the League recommends that the .statutory city code be amended to clarify that statutory cities as well as charter cities may use a blanket bond to cover any officers or employees who are re- quired to be bonded. -14-