Minutes - Council Work Session - 02/22/2022

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District 3, and needs to be its own precinct. It can be combined with other areas to be a ward boundary, which it will need to be to be balanced with the other three, but as far as precincts, it will need to be its own precinct and will be on the smaller side of registered voters. Mayor Kuzma asked if there are any restrictions for voting, can they cross the line. Anoka County Elections Manager Linnell replied there is an allowance of up to a mile outside of that precinct boundary. If there is not a location within the area south of Hwy. 10 or in the small section there, they could go up to a mile out to establish a polling place. He indicated the current polling places on the map and thought there would be at least one polling place that would fit. Councilmember Woestehoff asked for confirmation that various wards do not need to have the same number of precincts. Anoka County Elections Manager Linnell confirmed this adding, there is not a requirement to have the same number of precincts within a ward, although currently there are two. He stated in 2012, despite the imbalance, the decision was made to have just that one small precinct in Ward 1 and the much larger one. It could easily be made into three precincts. He stated he knew Coon Rapids, for example, has five wards and varying numbers of precincts within those wards. Councilmember Specht asked if he understood it correctly, the process is that Staff and Council will come up with suggestions that are voted on to decide how things are done. Administrative Services Director Lasher asked if Councilmember Specht’s question was if the Council and Staff come up with the decision, adopt a resolution and ordinance, and then lets the County know or they need to get the County’s okay before passing the resolution and ordinance. Councilmember Specht replied he was asking for specifics related to the next steps and if they are for the Council to come up with suggestions for what the new wards would look like. Administrative Services Director Lasher confirmed this, adding that Staff and Council have to come to a decision of how they want to modify the wards. They have to do a new precinct in Ward 3, whether that is called 3-3 and leave 3-2 and 3-1 alone, that would be the Council’s decision. The next decision, she thought, was about shifting the line between Councilmember Woesthehoff’s and Councilmember Heineman’s areas. She also raised a concern regarding Ward 2, precinct 2, which is a very large precinct with very poor in and out access with one door into a lower area. She thought the election judges and staff would like it if the people in and out of that polling place was reduced. She suggested adding a third precinct to Ward 2 to distribute the numbers. Councilmember Musgrove asked if there is another building that could be used in that area. Administrative Services Director Lasher replied she was going to ask the group if they were aware of one because she was not aware of one in that area. Councilmember Woestehoff asked if it has to be within one mile of the precinct boundary. City Council Work Session / February 22, 2022 Page 2 of 13