Minutes - Charter Commission - 11/17/2021

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City Attorney Knaak commented that if a City allows for flexibility in the timing of municipal elections but does not put that into the Charter it would not conflict with the law. He stated that there is nothing in the law that would require the City to have its election with the County or State. Commissioner Anderson stated that she never understood the reason the law was passed related to allowed election dates as it did not seem to relate to the date or subject. Commissioner Leistico asked if new language would be proposed by City Attorney Knaak for the Commission to consider. City Attorney Knaak stated that he could provide additional language to review. Chair Field stated that the previous direction was that the City would not want to have a Charter that conflicts with State law and should be acting as a unit to correct that. He stated that the current direction is more policy driven and optional rather than a necessity. Commissioner Bendtsen stated that they would have the option to keep things in the Charter that conflict with State law if a case could be made supporting it. Chair Field stated that there was a worksession of the City Council on April 20, 2021 where there were differences of opinion on whether to proceed with changes to primary or special election rules. He stated that even if the Commission fully agrees with changes to the Charter,that still has to be recommended to the City Council. He stated that has been done in the past and the Council could not come to agreement and the language died. He stated that he has requested the City Council to submit back something for the Commission to consider and that has not happened. He stated that it then becomes an issue of governance and if the Council wants to clean up language, that direction should come from the Council. He noted that if the Commission continued to submit proposed changes that will not be agreed upon by the Council, the Commission would be wasting its time. Commissioner Deemer noted on the top of page four, relating to the statute for Minnesota elections, and asked for clarification. He stated that he reads that as election laws are removed from the statute because there are already election laws. City Attorney Knaak provided additional details on Minnesota election laws. Commissioner Anderson stated that the Commission seems to have difficulty communicating with the City Council. She commented that it would be beneficial to improving that communication and to have the Council acknowledge that the Commission has a role in the Charter. She provided the example of franchise fees which were adopted by the City Council while still being discussed by the Charter Commission. Commissioner Bendtsen stated that it was the decision of the Council whether or not to have the franchise fees adopted. He noted that the Council adopted the franchise fee and then new members joined the Council and reversed that decision. Charter Commission/November 17,2021 Page 3 of 7