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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJanuary 20, 2005, Charter Minutes COLUMBIA HEIGHTS CHARTER COMMISSION MINUTES JANUARY 20, 2005 7:00 P.M. MURZYN HALL CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by President Hartel at 7:10 p.m. ROLL CALL Members present: Bob Buboltz, Nicole Druckrey, Barb Gertsema, Mike Hartel, Nancy King, Kathleen Korday (7:20), Scott Kyseth, Mike Patiuk, Clara Schmidt, Joe Sturdevant, Joseph Sturdevant, Dan Vogtman Members absent and excused: James Johnson Members absent and unexcused: None Current membership stands at thirteen members and two vacancies. Also present: Jim Hoeft, City Attorney; Carole Blowers, Recording Secretary Council Liaison Mayor Gary Peterson was not present at the meeting (out of town). APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion by Commissioner King, seconded by Commissioner Buboltz, to approve the minutes as presented for October 21, 2004. Motion passed unanimously. ELECTION OF OFFICERS President Hartel asked for nominations for President for 2005. Commissioner King nominated Mike Hartel; commissioner Schmidt nominated Joseph Sturdevant. Both agreed to be nominated. No further nominations for President were made. Joseph Sturdevant was elected as the new President for 2005 on a vote of 6-4. Hartel agreed to finish out tonight’s meeting. He asked for nominations for Vice President. Commissioner Sturdevant nominated Joe Sturdevant, who declined. Commissioner Sturdevant then nominated Michael Patiuk, who accepted the nomination. No further nominations for Vice President were made. Michael Patiuk was unanimously elected as the new Vice President for 2005. President Hartel asked for nominations for Secretary. Commissioner Sturdevant nominated Bob Buboltz. No other nominations for Secretary were made. Bob Buboltz was unanimously elected as Secretary for 2005. CORRESPONDENCE The Recording Secretary reported the following correspondence since the October meeting: ?? Members received invitations to the joint board/commission dinner in December. Page 1 January 20,2005 ?? Proposed charter changes to Chapter 2, Section 15, Official Bonds, were forwarded to the City Council for their review and action ?? One new application for membership has been received and forwarded to the Chief Judge as of this date. New membership roster were passed out to the commissioners present at tonight’s meeting. Members were asked to verify their e-mail addresses. Commissioner Korday stated her e-mail address is incorrect and when she has a new one set up, she will notify the Recording Secretary. Commissioner Buboltz stated there should be a dot between the number "12" and "man" in his e-mail address. STATUS OF MEMBERSHIP The Charter Commission currently has two vacancies. Commissioners Buboltz and King both have their first terms expiring in February of 2005. Both wish to be reappointed to another four year term, and will send letters to the Chief Judge asking for reappointment. OLD BUSINESS Joint Board/Commission Dinner- December 8, 2004 th Members of the Charter Commission who attended the event on December 8 expressed their appreciation for the wonderful dinner. For those members who could not attend, the Recording Secretary presented them with “City of Columbia Heights” mugs filled with candy and tea bags. Discussion of Chapter 2, Section 15, Official Bonds Hartel explained to the commission that he attended the January 3, 2005, work session when this item first was presented to the City Council. Questions were raised by Councilmember Nawrocki which were addressed by Hartel and the City Attorney. th Hartel also attended the Council meeting on behalf of the commission on January 10, when the Council held their first reading on the proposed charter change. As newly-elected President Sturdevant cannot attend the th next Council meeting on January 24 when the council will hold their second reading, Hartel will also attend this meeting on behalf of the commission. The proposed change to Chapter 2, Section 15 is as follows: Section 15. OFFICIAL BONDS. By resolution, the council shall establish bonding and insurance requirements for all city employees as security for the faithful performance of their respective duties and the safekeeping of the public funds. The city council has the option of passing the proposed revision unanimously or returning it to the commission for possible modifications. The Charter Commission can make modifications to the amendments or place the item on the ballot at the next regular election for the voters to decide. It would not be prudent to place the item on the ballot at a special election. Mr. Hoeft explained the proposed wording would satisfy the requirement for a fidelity bond and would also satisfy state statutes. He explained that the state statutes basically state we have to have fidelity bonds for certain employees. There is no current ordinance on the books regarding official bonds. Page 2 January 20,2005 Discussion of Chapter 3, Section 19, Procedure on Ordinances and Chapter 3, Section 22, Signing and Publication of Ordinances and Resolutions The City Attorney reiterated that these sections of the city charter were recently discussed at the time the refinancing of the existing bonds for Parkview Villa was being discussed. Our Financial Consultant, Mark Ruff, from Ehlers and Associates, had commented on the long period of time (30 days) for an ordinance to take effect. In this particular instance, the city could lose out on some great interest rates for the refinancing of the existing bonds because of the 30-day wait period. So, there has been discussion not to shorten the length of time an ordinance takes affect for all ordinances, but only if it is pertaining to “refinancing” of current bonds, which would greatly streamline this process. Per request of the Charter Commission members in October, the City Attorney put together some new language for tonight’s meeting. He stated that after reviewing this issue and the city charter, he feels that this change could be addressed simply by adding a sentence in the last paragraph of Chapter 7, Section 72 of the city charter. Therefore, he proposes that the last paragraph of Chapter 7, Section 72 should read as follows: Before any bonds are sold, there shall be a four-fifths vote of the council authorizing the issuance of the bonds by ordinance. However, bonds to be sold for the refinancing of any existing bonds shall be authorized by four fifths vote of the council by resolution. Following its passage, the ordinance shall be published at least once by publication in a legal newspaper having general circulation in the city. The registered voters of the city shall have thirty days from the date of publication to initiate a referendum on the ordinance authorizing the issuance. Subsequent to the passage of the authorizing ordinance, its publication, and the thirty-day period, the bond sale shall occur within sixty days. During said sixty day period, the City Manager shall have the authority to establish a special meeting upon at least seventy-two (72) hours advance notice to each member of the council. At that special meeting, the City Manager is authorized to receive the actual bid(s) or sale of the bonds to be negotiated. The actual award or sale of the bonds shall be approved by a resolution passed by a four-fifths vote of the council. Commissioner Votgman stated he didn’t think the charter should make it too easy for the Council on the issue of bonding, and the council should use due diligence. Commissioner Korday stated she feels we should do something on this issue before the next bonding event may arise. Motion by Commissioner Korday, seconded by Commissioner King, to approve, on first reading on the commission level, the above proposed change to Section 72 of the city charter. Motion passed 10-2-0-0. It was suggested that President Sturdevant could present this item to the City Council at a work session in February for council feedback, and then the Charter Commission will hold its second reading at its regular meeting in April. NEW BUSINESS Approval of 2004 Charter Commission Annual Report Members of the commission received a copy in their agenda packets of the 2004 annual report as prepared by the Recording Secretary. Motion by Commissioner Buboltz, seconded by Commissioner Sturdevant, to approve the annual report as prepared. Motion passed unanimously. The report will be forwarded to the Chief Judge and the Finance Director. Page 3 January 20,2005 Discussion on Topic of Wards/Districts in the City President Sturdevant brought up the idea of having more geographically distributed council representatives throughout the city by having wards/districts. Commissioner Buboltz stated that we have very different neighborhoods in the city now. There are a lot of pros and cons to this issue. The Recording Secretary was asked to contact the League of Minnesota Cities for any research they have on this issue, including pros and cons and size of cities that do have wards/districts. Discussion on Politicians Buying Property in the City Commissioner Korday had questions for the City Attorney about the recent transactions that took place between current politicians and buying property in the city. She wanted to know if there were any stop guards in place now to avoid this happening again, or if ones could be put in place. The City Attorney explained that he was asked about this situation, and he advised that they could not vote or take part in any discussions on this issue on a council level. At the EDA level, then the politicians involved decided to abstain from voting or holding discussions at that level. When asked if there are any laws to prevent this from occurring, the City Attorney also advised that there are stop guards in place now (in the state statutes). Commissioner King left the meeting at 8:12 p.m. Commissioners discussed having trust in their city officials; others felt the public trust was broken because their fudiciary duty to the general public was broken. NEXT MEETING DATE The next Charter Commission meeting will be April 21, 2005, at Murzyn Hall at 7 p.m. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Commissioner Schmidt, seconded by Commissioner Buboltz to adjourn the meeting at 8:18 p.m. Motion passed unanimously. Respectfully submitted, Carole J. Blowers Recording Secretary Page 4 January 20,2005