Minutes - Council - 10/12/1999 - Laserfiche WebLink

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COUNCIL BUSINESS/PUBLIC HEARING Case #l: Public Hearing - Repeal Section 3.2 of the Home Rule Charter of the City of Ramsey Mayor Gamec closed the regular portion of the City Council meeting at 7:23 p.m. in order to conduct a public hearing. Public Hearing Mayor Gamec called the public hearing to order at 7:23. Presentation Deputy City Clerk Thieling stated that on May 25, 1993, Ramsey City Council conducted a public hearing to receive comment on the proposed ordinance repealing the requirement of precinct liaison meetings between City Council and Ramsey residents. Upon Council's request, the Charter Commission reviewed the requirement of precinct liaison meetings. Council made this request because of the lack of citizen attendance at past meetings of this type. Because of the opportunity for citizen input at every Council meeting, it was felt that these liaison meetings were unnecessary. No public input was received at the hearing and the ordinance was introduced with a 5/0 vote by Council. Council, also with a 5/0 vote, adopted Ordinance #93-09 repealing the requirement of precinct liaison meetings between City Council and Ramsey residents on Tuesday, June 8, 1993. Up to the point in time when Ordinance #93~09 was adopted, Council was appointed to a precinct. When Council adopted their organization resolution in January 4, 1994, all of Council was listed as serving at-large, however, the Charter still reads that Councilmembers shall act as liaisons for certain precincts. It appears it was an oversight to not delete this section at the same time 3.2.3 relating to the liaison meetings was deleted. Section 3.2.2 deals with precinct boundaries and states that the precinct boundaries shall correspond to those adopted and revised periodically by Council, meaning that Council has the means to grant authority to change boundaries - adding precincts. The Charter states that there shall be three precincts and they shall approximate each other in population. It appears the precincts were named Precinct 1, Precinct 2, and Precinct 3. With the growth of the City, at some point in time (after election 1988 and prior to election 1990), precinct boundaries were redrawn to more evenly distribute the number of voters, and two precincts were added. Keeping in line with the refen'al to three precincts, instead of adding numbers four and five, the precincts were named Precinct lA, lB, 2, 3A, and 3B. To accommodate the City's growth and to be able to efficiently manage the number of registered voters in each precinct, Staff is proposing that the precinct boundary lines be redrawn and that three additional precincts be added. City Council/October 12, 1999 Page 5 of 28