Minutes - Council - 04/23/1996 - Laserfiche WebLink

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he other point that I desire to emphasize is a proposed ballot con mmng both of the proposed amendments. I don't believe you should schedule the special election with both until you have formally approved the form of the ballot, and this is your >onsibility as described in {}410.10. I would be very much against a ballot that uired 2 NO votes against the 2 possible YES votes. There must be a clear NO choice, to not amend the charter, and defeat both amendment proposals. Remember that you can still meet his dead line, and delay taking action tonight. Action at your May 14, 1996 can meet that May 2~} deadline. Its tight but it works. I don't believe you have to meet that deadline because, the charter commission did not give you an amendment on Feb 27, Mr. Hendriksen did, and that is not the correct procedure that {}410 describes. In any case you must schedule a special election before August, because of the charter commission's proposed amendment, Unless you pass it by 4/5 vote as suggested earlier. What is the rush, just because Mr. Hendriksen states that it would be unfair to ask the interested, informed voters to return from vacation to vote. The absentee ballot is still available to them, or maybe they aren't that interested in the issue. To put their amendment on a ballot as has been suggested, without the ability to modify it would make the RRFRG amendment an initiative, and nowhere in §410 will you find INITIATIVE, and don't believe for a second that the legislature intended otherwise. They don't allow initiative in the laws they pass, and only allow it for Home Rule harter Cities, who have their own constitution where it may be allowed, and that annot be less restrictive than all the laws they pass. I don't believe the legislature or Chapter 410 intended the procedure proposed by Mr. Hendriksen. I am sure that Mr. Hendriksen will ask the court for relief, if you do not support his stated demands. Include their proposed amendment unaltered on a ballot, and schedule the election before May 2~}, 1996, the date he has told you he is entitled to. If you believe that Mr. Terry Hendriksen is absolutely correct in his assertion that he is following the only correct procedure and that the district court will support him, Then you might as well propose this suggested document as Section 5.6.1. an amendment to Ramsey's city charter, as by allowing him to proceed as he asserts, and bowing to his wishes you are in fact making it law. You might as well pass his proposed amendment to the City Charter, and appoint people of the RRFRG's choosing to fill the vacancy's that should exist, because you are not representing the other 8163 registered voters, the silent 95 %, that you agreed to represent when you took your oath of office. I don't believe his position will be upheld by the court system, and you shouldn't either. Remember also that I am not arguing their right to amend the charter, I am arguing that they are not following the correct procedure, as outlined by Minn. Statute chapter {}410, or the Ramsey charter, which does allow Initiative, and was intended for this purpose.