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

Home

alternatives to what has been presented. The second of the two amendments are not an alternative to anything we presented. So really, there is only one charter amendment. The other is basically a red herring. Mr. Hendriksen asked that Section 1.4 not be placed on the ballot as he feels it is not an alternative to anything the Ramsey Residents for Responsible Government presented. Section 410.10 says that the City Council or other governing body may call a special election for the purpose of amending the Charter when a petition is brought forward. The Charter Commission has the right to submit a proposal to amend the Charter - they do not have a right to place it on the special election ballot in conjunction with the resident's submission. Another special election could be scheduled for the Charter's proposed amendment. If this is what's presented, you will be submitting two versions of Section 8.6. It's possible voters could approve both of them and now you have two Sections 8.6 diametrically opposed to each other. This is irresponsible, it could be litigated forever in court when you have other options to create that type of situation. He asked if it could be stated on the ballot which question was proposed by the citizens. He added that, however, since tonight is the date of delivery to the Council of the Charter's proposal, he suggested Bill would concur that Council has 90 days from this evening to place proposal on a ballot for another special election. He felt that the petition by the citizens is the only question that should be on the ballot. Bernard Steffen, Chairperson for the Charter Commission stated that the citizens involved in this process have been generic in their intent - they are Using a Charter amendment and maybe they should have used an ordinance instead. The Charter Commission made a recommendation as to the two questions - (2 & 3) in response to the petition brought forward by Mr. Hendriksen and group. They are related - they are not diametrically opposed. In question itl, the changes are extreme - it is retroactive. The Charter Commission is proposing a middle ground. We are saying this might be a reasonable mechanism. He noted the comments about the petition presented by the citizens and the proposal by the Charter Commission. He pointed out that the Charter Commission is also a group of Ramsey residents. Councilmember Beyer stated that since Council just received this language tonight, she was confused. She wondered where 1.4 is coming from. Mr. Steffen explained that the language there is founded on the idea of making things retroactive. There's a certain amount of mischief that can be done if 5% of the citizens can take action to undue City Council action. You can say do not do that again. The language is similar to that put in a petition six months ago. Councilmember Zimmerman stated that 8.6.1 and 8.6.2 speaks of sanitary sewer and water for up to 10 years. Does this pertain solely to new construction? Mr. Steffen replied for up to 10 years after any resident is being assessed - for the last 10 years you may request a referral longer for a hardship which would requke City Council approval. This would not only be for new construction - it would be for any system on the site for less than 10 years. ~ ~a,'~ · ~Mr. Hendriksen stated that Mr. Steffejfimplied that we have not taken advantage of other options ,~r to us. We have a group of peom~e who own three lots. Three were against City utilities. ,xi~ .~;aCouncilmember Zimmemmn feli it/was unfair that a 72 year old man with a pacemaker was being '~,~;/'forced to have City utilities, ne/~sked the Charter Commission to look into it. The City Council ~/~ was asked to defer this assessment and they chose to take no action. The Charter Commission received this in December. They said it was the most democratic process. He felt an unfak situation occurred. We have exhausted any other options. Three of the Council have turned a blind eye and a deaf ear and were very abusive to three people. Now the citizens are ready to act out of desperation, so now the Charter Commission is ready to act too. Mr. Hendriksen explained that the Ramsey Residents for Responsible Government got 441 registered voters to sign a petition City Council/April 23, 1996 Page 9 of 17