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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Case #2: <br /> <br />Consider Introducing Ordinance to Amend City Charter Section 2.1 <br /> <br />City Attorney Goodrich stated at the City Council's request, the Charter Commission met on <br />December 5, 2006, to consider an amendment to the Charter. The amendment would change <br />Section 2.1 of the Charter and provide that the City be governed by the Council-Manager Form <br />of Government. Currently, the City is governed by the Mayor-Council Plan. At the December <br />5th meeting, the Charter Commission recommended that the City Council enact an ordinance to <br />amend the Charter to the Council-Manager Form of Government. The Charter Commission <br />recommends that the amendment be effective January 1,2008. Included in the Council's packet <br />is a "red-lined" draft of the ordinance recommended. Mr. Goodrich advised on the following <br />procedure for amending the ordinance as prescribed by State Statute: <br />J. The Charter Commission recommends the amendment by ordinance to the City <br />Council. <br />2. The ordinance requires the affirmative vote of all Councilmembers to be adopted. <br />.3. Prior to final ordinance enactment, the Council.must hold a public hearing upon two <br />week's published notice. <br />4. The ordinance is not effective until 90 days after passage and publication. <br />5. Within 60 days after passage and publication of the ordinance, a petition requesting a <br />referendum on the ordinance can be filed with the City Clerk. . <br /> <br />City Administrator Norman reviewed that there were two issues the Council forwarded to the <br />Charter Commission. The Commission did not make a recommendation on the issue dealing <br />with Council vacancies, and according to state law the Council cannot act on this without a <br />recommendation. The Council asked that this Charter amendment to a City Manager form of <br />'government come back in two forms; one was to be effective in a to-year effective date and the <br />other was an effective date when the population reaches 35,000. He and the City Attorney have <br />disagreed about this Charter amendment. He believe~ the Council can act on a different effective <br />date than recommended by the Charter Commission. However, the City Attorney. does not agree <br />with this assessment. <br /> <br />Mayor Gamec requested clarification that the Charter Commission recommended an effective <br />date of January 1,2008. <br /> <br />City Attorney Goodrich responded in. the affirmative. He indicated the Charter Commission <br />discussed dates and population. Their final conclusion was since the city administrator position <br />would be open shortly, now is the time to implement the change in government. Mr. Goodrich <br />advised the January 1, 2008 effective date is the only recommendation the Charter Commission <br />has made. If the Council does not concur with the 2008 effective date, this could be sent back to <br />the Charter Commission asking them to reconsider. At this point the Council does not have the <br />authority to make any changes to the Commission's recommendation. <br /> <br />Councilmember Strommen noted the hiring process for the open city administrator position will <br />be occurring in 2007, while the Charter Commission has recommended an effective date for the <br />city manager position on January 1, 2008. If the effective date were to be this soon she would. <br />think the advantage would be to hire for the city manager position and to attract individuals that <br />would apply for a city manager position, rather than a city administrator position. <br /> <br />City Council / December 12, 2006 <br />Page 7 of 29 <br /> <br />-51- <br />