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Commissioner Deemer believed the petition should be presented to the Charter Commission <br />according to 410.05, Subd. 4, which gives them the right to force the Commission to meet. <br /> <br />Chairperson Vogt asked the Commission if they agreed with Mr. Goodrich's interpretation or <br />that of Commissioner Deemer. <br /> <br />Commissioner Ebel agreed with Attomey Goodrich. <br /> <br />Commissioner Bertzyk agreed with Attorney Goodrich and added that he is the legal expert. <br />Commissioner Frederick agreed with Attorney Goodrich. <br /> <br />Commissioner Simenson agreed with Attorney Goodrich. He added that we have to look at legal <br />counsel but he agrees that it should be up to the property owner if they want to hook up to City <br />services or not and he applauds the action of the City Council. However, knowing that City <br />Councils change, we need to consider some form of action and put it in the Charter. <br /> <br />Commissioner LaMere agreed with Attorney Goodrich. The role of the Charter Commission is <br />to take what the citizens bring and we have a crossing of legality of petition. <br /> <br />Commissioner Ebel stated we cannot even consider this until we know the legality of it. <br />Commissioner Deemer stated the issue is with the time line. <br /> <br />Attom_ey Goodrich stated that right now the Charter should decide when do we want to discuss <br />the merits of this. <br /> <br />The Commissioners agreed that discussion would take place once Mr. Goodrich gives them the <br />opinion. <br /> <br />Chairperson Vogt stated that if a special election is called, it costs the City a lot of money; <br />therefore, we should be careful with special elections. <br /> <br />Mr. Hendriksen stated that the costs of an entire election is less than the hook-up fees that might <br />be charged to a single resident. The election cost would be a trivial amount. <br /> <br />Mr. Church stated that he did not think the petition would have ever gotten this far had they been <br />heard and cared about at City Council meetings. <br /> <br />Councilmember Elvig stated with regard to special elections - it's historical that a special <br />election is not a fair representation of the City. It only draws 500 people, especially when it's set <br />up for midsummer. You are basically changing the Charter with about 250 votes. <br /> <br />Charter Commission - April 21, 2005 <br /> Page 7 of 10 <br /> <br /> <br />