Minutes - Charter Commission - 09/30/2004

Home

Commissioner Swanson stated that two years is a long time in a City the size of Ramsey. People elect Councihnembers and he doesn't feel comfortable with that length of time. Commissioner Deemer commented that talk about vacancies should be in Chapter 2. Mt'. Goodrich stated he will get some alternatives to what other cities are doing and come back to the next Charter meeting with some ideas on how to handle this. Upon request, Mr. Goodrich stated he would get information to the Commission about who are Charter cities and who have seven Councilmembers. City Attorney Goodrich stated that Chapter 5 is dealing with recall. The City now has a local Primary election and also has wards. Maybe only a ward can recall a Councilmember because that's how tile Councih-nember is elected. He presented proposed language stating that. He inquired if the Charter Commission agrees that if you are elected by a ward, only a ward should be able to recall you. He added that it is almost impossible to recall someone in Minnesota. Commissioner Swanson asked where Mr. Goodrich got the language from. Mr. Goodrich responded that he just redid the first paragraph because we have wards and that he added the second paragraph to relate to the recall. Vice-Chair LaMere noted 5.2.2, fifth line from the bottom - cross off "registered voter" at the end of the sentence. Section 5.3 - fourth line down - recall of the Mayor or Councilmember - take out "and of". Commissioner Deemer referred to 5.8 - down to the middle - it refers to 90 days - he asked that it be changed to a 180-day period. Commissioner Swanson noted that then that person would be serving another 90 days - or six months, lie would prefer it be left at 90 days. This is not likely to happen anyway. Commissioner Ebel stated she would agree with the 180 days because special elections are a nuisance. She does not feel it's a good way to spend the City's money. Vice-Chair LaMere stated that people are saying they do not want that person and he sits another six months. Commissioner Swanson stated that if it's that big a deal that it gets to this, it's something that would have to happen right away. Commissioner Ebel agreed and recanted her previous statement. Commissioner Deemer stated he would withdraw his thought too. Charter Commission/September 30, 2004 Page 3 of 5