Minutes - Charter Commission - 07/19/2023

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Motion Carried. Voting Yes: Chairperson Field, Commissioners Leistico, Deemer, Fuhreck, May, Moore and Rusert. Voting No: None. Absent: Commissioners Bendtsen and Jumah. COMMISSION BUSINESS 5.1 Approve Year End Activity Letter to Chief Judge for Year 2022 Motion by Commissioner Deemer, seconded by Commissioner May, to approve the year-end annual report letter for 2022 and direct staff to submit such report to The Honorable Stoney L. Hiljus, Chief Judge of the Tenth Judicial District. Motion Carried. Voting Yes: Chairperson Field, Commissioners Deemer, Fuhreck, Leistico, May, Moore and Rusert. Voting No: None. Absent: Commissioners Bendtsen and Jumah. 5.2 Review Council Supported Options Regarding Chapter 4 of the Charter — Nominations and Elections City Clerk Schmidt presented the staff report, summarizing the recent actions of the City Council. She stated that the Charter Commission will need to review Sections 4.5.4 and 4.5.6 of Chapter 4 as those changes were not approved by the City Council. Chairperson Field noted the proposed changes supported by the Council for 4.5.4 and 4.5.6 and welcomed input from the Commission. Commissioner Leistico commented that the unanimous vote concept seemed to be a common ground between the Council members. She stated that she does not feel very strongly about it but noted that would be a tough bar to pass. Commissioner Fuhreck agreed that unanimous would be difficult to pass and would like to see something less than that but acknowledged that a close split of the vote would not be ideal for appointing someone to the Council. Commissioner Deemer provided some historical context on special elections, going back to the 1970s. He commented that the Council does seem to support appointing someone if there is less than one year of the term remaining, which is progress. Chairperson Field commented that it seems that the Council is willing to accept that there could be a vacancy for the last year if they could not find a candidate that all members of the Council agreed on to appoint. He noted that one member of the Council objecting to the appointment would kill the chance of an appointment. Commissioner Deemer commented that with seven members on the Council it would not seem to be a huge deal if one seat were vacant. Commissioner Fuhreck asked what would be needed for a super majority and whether they would be any possibility the Council would agree to that versus a unanimous approval. Charter Commission/ July 19, 2023 Page 2 of 7