Minutes - Charter Commission - 11/17/2021

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Chair Field stated that this would come down to what the role of the Charter Commission is. He noted that the Charter Commission can recommend a change to the Charter, but that would either have to be adopted by the City Council or could go forward to the voters through referendum. Commissioner Bendtsen stated that the Charter has the ability to place bounds in which the Council must operate under. He stated that if the purpose is to provide recommendations only, then this would be an advisory commission and would defeat the purpose of being a Charter city. Commissioner Deemer commented that in his opinion it is the role of the City Attorney to ensure the Council operates within the Charter, not of the Charter Commission. City Administrator Ulrich stated that he made copies of information for the members to review related to charters. Commissioner Fuhreck stated that as he understands it,the new City Attorney does not agree with the direction from the previous City Attorney. He stated that it is clear that there will not be a unanimous vote of the current City Council related to special elections and primaries. He asked if there is other language that the City Attorney would recommend be cleaned up. Commissioner Leistico commented that City staff have to follow the rules within the Charter and State law and asked if staff has feedback on what is working or not working. City Attorney Knaak stated that he does like the memorandum which offers a lot of suggestions, but it is his understanding that there is no reason the City could not submit the rest of the proposals to the Council, with the exception of the primaries and special elections. Commissioner Bendtsen stated that it is his understanding that these supposed conflicts were causing problems with elections, and it seems that the City could continue to follow the Charter. He stated that some of the language is very knit picky and therefore he would support cleaning up the language. Chair Field stated that he would still take the position that the language could be cleaned up and the special election provisions and primary section could be left out at this time. He stated that if those hot button issues are kept in, the language would once again not be approved by the City Council.' He stated that if the Council wants to address the hot button issues, they can make a recommendation to the Commission. City Administrator Ulrich agreed that the Council seemed to agree on the proposed changes other than the primaries and special elections. Chair Field stated that the Commission can provide suggestions on primaries,but it would not pass through the Council. He asked what the proposed language would look like leaving out those hot button issues. City Attorney Knaak stated that he thought the language drafted by City Attorney Langel was well drafted in terms of the clean up language. Charter Commission/November 17,2021 Page 4 of 7