Brooklyn Park Charter Commission Minutes Wednesday, December 13, 2017, 7:00 p.m. Brooklyn Township Conference Room

Transcription

1 1. Call to Order/Roll Call Brooklyn Park Charter Commission Minutes Wednesday, December 13, 2017, 7:00 p.m. Brooklyn Township Conference Room Chair Scott Simmons called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Members present were: Gordy Aune, Jr., Mary Ann Bishman, John Hultquist, John Irvin, Dennis Secara, Scott Simmons, Jason Smalley, Ann Uhde, Council Liaison Terry Parks and Staff Liaison Devin Montero. Absent: Nausheena Hussain (excused), Heidi Ritchie (excused), David Williams (excused) Chair Simmons welcomed new Commissioner John Irvin and asked everyone to introduced themselves. 2. Additions/Approval of the Agenda Motion Commissioner Hultquist, Seconded by Commissioner Bishman to approve the agenda as presented. The motion carried unanimously. 3. Approval of Minutes 3.1 November 8, 2017 Staff Liaison Montero stated Commissioner Hultquist previously provided minor corrections to the minutes and the corrections were made. Motion Commissioner Aune, Jr., Seconded by Commissioner Uhde to approve the November 8, 2017 minutes as amended. The motion carried unanimously. 4. Old Business 4.1 Update on Commissions Improvement Recommendations Chair Simmons stated the Council had a discussion on the recommendations on Monday. He stated the Citizen Long-range Improvement Committee (CLIC) met on Thursday and talked about the recommendations to the CLIC and the was attached to the Charter packet about their meeting. He asked Council Liaison Parks about the presentation to the Council. Council Liaison Parks stated the Charter Commission was given a copy of the Council s presentations with highlights given by the City Manager. He stated the other items discussed were: 1

2 To have a new marketing and recruitment plan to get people on the Commissions Update the Commission application Getting more training for Commissioners, like a mentorship program The individual attend one or two meetings of a Commission they were interested before applying. He stated sometimes many appointees attended one meeting of a Commission and didn t show up after that meeting because it was not what they expected. Whether to go at large with every Commission or have representation from each district A code of conduct for the Commissions The unexcused absences to be 25% or 2 consecutive meetings Changing the CLIC to a Commission instead of a Committee Wording on the quorum language for each Commission by clarifying what a quorum was for each Commission The removal of the youth liaison Staff liaison Montero stated a suggestion to the Commission application was to have a section where the Chair of the Commission could indicate that the individual interested in the commission, attended their meeting. Chair Simmons stated that on the at-large versus district representation from the reading the staff report looked like the recommendation was the same as what came out of the Improvement Committee, which was to adopt a hybrid model. To have a base number of positions for each Commission by district and the rest at large. He stated he was pleased the recommendation went forward with the hybrid model and wasn t rejected by the Council. Commissioner Aune, Jr., stated that in the Definitions section of the resolution, it was brought up about citizens versus residents and thought those should be included in the resolution. He stated that Section 7a, Notification, of the resolution was changed from citizens to residents. Chair Simmons stated there were two areas where citizens was changed and would talk about it with respect to the CLIC. He stated that Section 7a of the resolution was also changed to interested residents instead of interested citizens. He thought the issue was that there were people that served and wanted to serve and were being asked to serve that weren t by definition U.S. citizens and that was the distinction. Council Liaison Parks asked if under the citizens definition if there would be any requirement for longevity in the city such as 10 days or 50 days, etc. Commissioner Uhde stated that when using citizen, it was being used to mean a U.S. citizen and not using it as a synonym for resident. She stated it should say U.S. citizen so there was 2

3 no confusion about it, otherwise, it sounded like a synonym for resident in certain uses. Chair Simmons stated there was a proposal for changing the name Citizen Long-range Improvement Committee to Community Long-range Improvement Commission. He stated the three things the CLIC talked about at its last meeting was whether or not to keep the CLIC in the Charter and from reading the materials voted to keep it in the Charter and not move it to city code. He stated the other issue was the name and again the CLIC voted to keep the name the same. The third issue was the at-large versus the hybrid model which CLIC already had voted to keep it the way it was. He stated the proposal that went to the Council did change the name but didn t move it to city code. He stated the Commission was left with a single issue of discussing and making a recommendation on whether CLIC should have the name changed. Staff Liaison Montero stated in the presentation given by the City Manager it recommended keeping CLIC in the City Charter and adding it to the city code. Commissioner Aune, Jr. stated there was a conflict. The CLIC wanted to keep their name the same and stay in the City Charter and if they were going to change their name, the Charter would have to be changed. Chair Simmons stated he didn t know what it meant by putting it in both places but importantly CLIC recommended leaving it in the Charter. He stated the Commissioners could discuss all three of those items separately but thought the one on the table was the name change because that was the one being recommended to change. He stated he wasn t at the CLIC meeting a month ago to hear the rationale of why the CLIC wanted to keep the name the same. He stated there was a fourth issue which was the youth liaison and talked about it last month that it was a discretion by the Mayor to have a youth liaison. He stated he was fine with leaving that discretion as it was and appeared that the youth liaison had been eliminated from the other Commissions. Commissioner Hultquist stated when he looked at the CLIC duties in the Charter, it said, the Committee shall study all improvements consistent with the present and future needs and requirements of the city where improvements are defined as items that involve future development or redevelopment or that constitutes significant budgetary changes proposed for future fiscal years. He stated with that being their purpose, thought the word community got more at its purpose because they were not trying to improve citizens, they were trying to improve the community. He stated he would be supportive of changing it to Community Longrange Improvement Commission for consistency. Commissioners Secara stated that in Section B, Term of Office Vacancies, in the second sentence, the Mayor shall appoint the committee with the approval of the City Council with the following staggered terms of office from Brooklyn Park residents ; again the word 3

4 residents was used as opposed to citizens. Commissioner Aune, Jr., stated his vote would be to leave the CLIC name as it read in the City Charter, Citizen Long-range Improvement Committee. Chair Simmons stated the City Council hadn t adopted the resolution but if the Commission acted on it tonight they could get a recommendation back to the Council before they drafted an official resolution in January Motion Commissioner Hultquist, Seconded by Commissioner Secara to accept the CLIC recommendation of the Commission Improvement Committee of changing the name in the Charter to Community Long-range Improvement Commission. Commissioner Smalley stated it was a good change. It s what they wanted and agreed with Commissioner Hultquist on the definition of what the CLIC did was better reflected by the recommended name than the current one. He stated he would support changing it. The Vote on the motion carried. Commissioner Aune, Jr. voted no. Commissioner Hultquist clarified that was just the name change in the Charter. The motion had nothing to do with whether or not the Charter Commission would support or oppose of putting it in City code as well. Chair Simmons stated he was not sure why that was being recommended and what necessitated it. He stated that unless there were other organizing facets that were not in the Charter he was not clear why it would be in both, City Charter and city code. He stated he was not hearing the desire to change the youth provision and they talked about it last month, keeping it discretionary and leaving it alone. He stated on the representation of the at-large and the geographic areas was to leave it as it was too. Commissioner Aune, Jr. asked if Section 7d, Orientation, of the resolution needed some kind of details. Chair Simmons stated the proposed calendar showed how Commissions worked and operated in their relationship with the city. He stated some of it was operational about when things happened and didn t object to any of it if it helped the relationships between Commissions and the Council. He stated the joint Commission meeting had typically been in June and was pushed to August and was all for it other than the wordsmithing of the resolution. Commissioner Hultquist stated he didn t want to get into wordsmithing either but Commissioner Aune, Jr., brought up a good point about the orientation that should be 4

5 considered. He stated new Commissioner Irvin was appointed during a vacant term and it was not May or June. He stated that a person shouldn t have to wait for orientation to take place ten months later if they were appointed in September. He stated they might want to consider adding something that said that it took place in April or May or for new members to fill an unscheduled vacancy during the year. Chair Simmons stated if someone was filling an unexpired term they could have the orientation sooner and made sense versus if doing it by the letter of the law. He stated the goal was to have a better orientation and more substantive orientations for all Commissioners. 5. Reports of Officers, Boards, and Standing Committees 5.1 Update on Ordinance Amendment to the City Code relating to the Application and Appointment Procedure for filling a vacancy Chair Simmons stated the last series of amendments to the code about filling the vacancy was adopted on the Consent agenda by the Council on November 27, He stated the ordinance amendment from the city attorney was unanimously supported by the Commission. Staff Liaison Montero stated that along with the adoption of the amendment to the city code, the Council policy was also adopted and had been posted on the city s website for the public to view. 6. New Business Charter Commission Work Plan Chair Simmons stated Staff Liaison Montero added the Charter Commission Work Plan items to the new proposed Work Plan. Staff Liaison Montero stated other items added to the Work Plan were: To invite the Recreation and Parks Director Yungers for a presentation on the park bond and Inviting the Minneapolis election officials regarding the recent elections on Ranked Choice Voting. Chair Simmons stated since the last meeting he got an from Director Yungers about when the park plan was going to the Council for a vote. He stated it would be after the next meeting of the Park Planning Committee on January 17, He stated the question was whether the Commissioners wanted Director Yungers and or someone from Finance to come in and talk about the bond because they would have details on the numbers and the process in January. He stated the draft park plan was now on the city s website and available for public comment through January 1. 5

6 Commissioner Aune, Jr. stated the example of the Work Plan showed only the top section and not everything by month compared to the old Work Plan. He asked if they should also have the bottom section from the old Work Plan. Staff Liaison Montero stated the old Work Plan was being replaced by the new proposed Work Plan. Chair Simmons stated with the changes from the Commission Improvement Committee they were going to the new form of planning. He stated it just showed what the Commission had done and was a good record to refresh their memory and could be used for the annual report. He stated going forward they were using that way of reporting because it fit in with the goals of the BP 2025 plan which was actually one of the other changes that affected all Commissions doing it that way. Commissioner Aune, Jr. stated if they didn t have it by the month, they had to plan their agenda only a month ahead of time. He stated the Ranked Choice Voting discussion was coming up in three months but according to the Work Plan they wouldn t know when. Staff Liaison Montero stated it would be indicated under the Outcomes of the new Work Plan. Chair Simmons stated the bottom part of the old Work Plan had items that happened in prior meetings translated to outcomes. He stated that if they wanted to note what month it occurred, they could add it. He stated he was interested in going forward on what the Commission wanted to tackle in the early months of Council Liaison Parks stated that as far as the RCV went, he was on the Charter Commission before he got elected and people knew his feelings on RCV. He stated that if the Commission had people from Minneapolis to talk about RCV, he would like to have it so there were two people, to talk about the pros and cons instead of one coming to sell it to the Commission. Commissioner Hultquist stated his thought was to have the Minneapolis election officials not try to sell the Commission on it but just talk about the latest election. He stated the Commission had heard from both sides. He stated it was to get some more relevant and current data on what happened with the last election, especially in Minneapolis because it might be informative. Chair Simmons agreed and stated it was not as an advocacy event but informational to be educated on what happened on that election cycle that didn t occur four or two years ago. He stated he didn t want to waste anyone s time by having that conversation if they wanted to do it he was fine with it. He stated from his perspective, he didn t see anything changing on Ranked Choice Voting. He stated he hadn t heard anyone in the community come forward saying they wanted to consider RCV or wanted anything different than the last outcome. He stated he was not against having a conversation and educational session if the officials from 6

7 Minneapolis were willing to do it and shared their experience but wanted to do it on the recommendation of the Commissioners. Commissioner Hultquist stated he was not trying to resurrect Ranked Choice Voting because he was one of the opponents and his opinion hadn t changed. He recalled when they shelved it, one of the things they discussed at that time was to take a look after another election cycle in Minneapolis or St. Paul that used RCV and learn from those experiences. He stated it was something Commissioner Williams talked about. He stated he was not going to advocate the Commission bringing someone in January for that purpose and was more indifference to more of what the previous Commission actions had been. Chair Simmons stated City Clerk Casey Carl or elections staff would likely be presenting on RCV. He stated Director Yungers could speak to the bond issue or with a Finance staff too. He stated it was not necessarily a Charter issue but was important as far as what was going on in the city and the Commission did talk about bonding several times. He stated it would be helpful and informative and once the Council said go for it then there was no advocacy and local governments couldn t advocate it, they could only explain it. He stated he was looking for input on where the Commissioners want to go. They spent a lot of time on elections and there were other things they could look at in the Charter. He stated they were not sitting on anything from the Council to look at and was nothing on their to do list. He stated they could always ask the Council for input if there was something they wanted the Commission to look at. He stated the Commission always welcomed the Council s input and extended the invitation to Council Liaison Parks. Commissioner Secara asked about the park and recreation bond, if there was another way to close the issue and take off the Work Plan. He asked if there was something in the proposal that would be questionable the Commission would need to reopen if the bond referendum, the way it was structured or the way it was written would create any conflicts with the Charter or would raise any other Charter issues. He stated he was not opposed to reopening it if it was absolutely necessary and might be another example of why there needed to be a triggering mechanism limit. Chair Simmons stated a park bond was a mandatory referendum under state law and had to go to a referendum. He stated the size was considerable so it would relate to their triggering discussion. He stated it was one of those types that had to go to the public if it didn t it would fall back into their conversation about meeting the threshold. He stated his understanding was that it was considerable and didn t know if the Council got a preview of the price tag yet. Chair Simmons stated the Council would have to see the options and if they wanted it to pass they would have to fashion something that in their opinion was going to work. He stated it was not necessarily a Charter issue because there was no intersection to a Charter provision. 7

8 Commissioner Smalley stated that on the periodic review of chapters in the City Charter wondered if it would be a good idea for the Commissioners to get assigned other City Charters to take a look at and report back to the Commission on what was working in their Charters and not in the City s Charter. He stated it would be an interesting way to compare what the city was doing compared with the other Charter cities. Chair Simmons asked if it was current issues facing other Charter Commissions or what were other Charter Commissions were tackling. He stated he didn t want to make a work exercise out of it and was always the one to say he didn t want to copy other Charters. He stated that was an idea to see what was topical in other Commissions. He stated the Minneapolis Charter Commission was looking at but withdrew the idea of going to even-year elections. He stated that was a big issue for the Minneapolis Charter Commission this past year. Council Liaison Parks stated he would be assigned to another Commission next year because the Mayor liked to move the Council around to different Commissions. Chair Simmons asked the Commissioners if they wanted to hear about the Minneapolis 2017 Ranked Choice Voting elections or leave it tabled for the time being. Commissioner Bishman asked if they could do an information session in January on the park bonds because once they started talking about it, it would take up a lot of the meeting. In February they could have the Minneapolis election officials come in and talk about RCV changes or the data they had from their election this year. Chair Simmons stated it would be timely to have the park bond presentation in January versus February because all public comment would be back in. He stated there was a meeting of the Park Planning Advisory on January 17 and could check with Director Yungers. If she was prepared on the financial side she could go solo but if there was someone from Finance staff to come with her it would be worthwhile to hear about it. He stated they would also have an opportunity to look at the Charter Commission annual report in January. Commissioner Secara stated he would like to hear from someone from the Park and Recreation to discuss the bond. He asked about the review of legislative changes. He stated the legislature met again in February and asked if there was a way to get an update on the legislative changes that could affect the Commission. Commissioner Hultquist stated typically it took place after the legislative session was over. He stated there were always issues that were going to be discussed and there was a lot that was brought up that didn t make it through the process. Chair Simmons stated it was an after-the-fact item that occurred that affected Charter cities or Charter Commissions. He stated he wanted to put back on the Work Plan the part-time employees being on the Council issue and would like to review it again in 2018 regardless what 8

9 the Legislature did. He stated that without objection, they could do the park bond and annual report in January. He stated that as it became clearer to the scheduling they could add it to the Work Plan. He stated it was a living document and the invitation always existed for the Council or the City Manager to provide any issues for the Commission to consider. He stated that on the Council/Commission joint meeting in August he would like to know more details on what it was going to look like to make it a valuable work session. He stated he couldn t tell Commissioners right now what CLIC was doing and would like the Commissioners to know what other Commissions were doing. Staff Liaison Montero stated once the calendar was finalized everyone would get a copy of it to add to their guidebook. Commissioner Bishman stated since she was the Secretary/Treasurer, she was supposed to provide a Treasurer s Report in January. 7. Correspondence/Communications Council Liaison Parks stated the Council had their last meeting of year on December 11 and some items were: New buildings coming in to the city The light rail The budget was passed Awarded a new four-year contract to Kennedy and Graven for Civil legal services He stated the city just lost a police officer a week ago while on vacation in Colorado from a heart attack. He stated on Friday there was a memorial and funeral services at the Marriott Northwest hotel. He stated there had been a couple of fundraisers for his family at the Elks Lodge and VFW and their prayers were with his family. Commissioner Hultquist thanked Council Liaison Parks for his service on the Charter Commission and his attentiveness and to see what the Charter Commission did throughout the year. Chair Simmons also thanked Council Liaison Parks for his attendance, input and contributions to the Charter Commission. 8. Adjournment Motion Commissioner Aune, Jr., and seconded by Commissioner Bishman to adjourn the 9

10 meeting. The motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 8:32 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Devin Montero, Staff Liaison 10