Brooklyn Park Charter Commission Meeting Minutes Wednesday, February 14, :00 p.m. Brooklyn Township Conference Room

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1 1. Call to Order/Roll Call Brooklyn Park Charter Commission Meeting Minutes Wednesday, February 14, :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., Nausheena Hussain, John Hultquist, John Irvin, Dennis Secara, Scott Simmons, Jason Smalley. Absent: Commissioners Mary Ann Bishman (excused), Heidi Ritchie (excused), Ann Uhde (excused) and David Williams 2. Additions/Approval of the Agenda Chair Simmons stated that due to invited guests, he would like to move Item 4.1 immediately following the Approval of the Agenda. Motion Chair Simmons, second Commissioner Aune, Jr. to approve the agenda as amended. The motion carried unanimously. Chair Simmons stated that due to hearing issues, Vice Chair Aune, Jr., would conduct the meeting. 4.1 Minneapolis 2017 Election Presentation Minneapolis City Clerk Casey Carl Chair Simmons introduced Minneapolis City Clerk Casey Carl. City Clerk Carl also introduced Eric Jeffreys-Berns, Election Administrator, Elections Services Division. City Clerk Carl gave a power point presentation regarding the Ranked Choice Voting process for Minneapolis. The presentation covered the following items: Working Definitions, Voting Systems, Rules of the Game, Voting System Evaluation Criteria, What is a Majority. City of Minneapolis-Quick Overview, Historical Trends, RCV in Minneapolis in 2009, 2013 RCV Ordinance Amendments, RCV in Minneapolis in 2013, RCV Process Improvements, 2013 Tabulation Process, 2013 RCV Feedback, 2017 RCV Ordinance Amendments, RCV in Minneapolis in 2017, 2017 Tabulation Process, 2017 RCV Feedback; Odd-Year or Even-Year, 2017 RCV Lessons Learned. A question and answer period was held with City Clerk Carl and the Commissioners. Page 1

2 3. Approval of Minutes 3.1A JANUARY 8, 2018 MINUTES Commissioner Hultquist provided some minor correction to the minutes. Motion Vice Chair Aune, Jr., seconded by Commissioner Hultquist to approve the minutes as amended. The motion carried unanimously. 4. Old Business 4.2 Continuation of the Discussion on Bonding Related to Park Projects Chair Simmons stated the response from Recreation and Parks Director Yungers was included in the Charter packet because it talked about the terms of maximum bonding as far as tax valuations. He stated it answered the question the Commissioners asked some time ago about the statutory limit and 3% was in the memo and wanted everyone to know that. He asked Council Liaison Mata if the Council acted at the last meeting regarding the financing of the Park Plan. He stated he didn t hear from Director Yungers today if the Council acted on the financing or anything with regards to the Parks Plan. Council Liaison Mata stated the Council adopted the plan but no formal financing mechanism was voted on. For the last 4 months there were discussions about how to put the steps in the process to put it on the November ballot. He stated it would be a bond question the voters would have to say yes or no. He stated he was hearing in discussions with the Council Members that it was not a 100 percent unanimous vote they wanted to go that route. He stated some Council Members were questioning to the let the bond fall off because it was already taxing a pool of money and was already there. He stated if they let it fall off, there was another pot of money, that would be every year it was sitting there. Vice Chair Aune, Jr., asked for clarification on the information provided if it was more at looking at what each resident was being charged to get the bonding funded or not going out to the public to get bonding at that point. Council Liaison Mata stated that in order to get bond funding it had to be voted on at an election. He stated those were preliminary numbers and the bond was going to end at the end of the year. He stated that if they didn t bond again, that was what they were trying to do was get money the citizens said they wanted in the Park Plan and were going to pay it that way. He stated the Park Plan was presented by the Recreation and Parks Department staff to the Council. Chair Simmons asked if the Council agreed on a total valuation of what the Park Plan should be in terms of overall costs. He stated that when it was said the Council approved the Plan, asked if they approved a dollar amount because there were different scenarios and each scenario had a different cost. Page 2

3 Council Liaison Mata stated the Council didn t go there at all and he would not have voted for the Plan if there was a dollar amount to it. Chair Simmons asked if the Council acted on a number because the Citizen Long-range Improvement Committee was discussing bonding at its March 8 meeting. He stated he was not sure how the Council would talk about bonding without knowing how much bonding they wanted. Council Liaison Mata stated that anything they voted on never had a dollar value in it. It was conceptual and talked about different parks, different things to do with the parks, and where the anticipation of the money was. He stated there was even discussion of a pool that might be in there based on studies, conversations and surveys and the Signature Park. He stated what was happening now was the Recreation and Parks Department was asking for a huge pot and huge plan. If the voters said no then they were putting themselves in a box on what they really could do. If the voters said yes it might give the city the ability to spend a bunch of money. He stated they had to start with the Recreation and Parks Plan and then it would have to say to fund it by a bond. He stated they had to start the process of putting a bond language together and there was a consultant that would come in and write how viewers would read a paragraph that went on the ballot in addition to, if you vote yes, you will increase your taxes statement which the school boards used when they put a question on the ballot. He stated it never came to the Council to vote on it or to put it to a bond question and that had not happened. Vice Chair Aune, Jr. stated that after the Council Work Session there was a meeting with the Charter Commission, Recreation and Parks Advisory Commission and he wasn t able to stay for it. He asked what happened and where did it leave the Parks and Recreation as far as what they were going to do. Council Liaison Mata stated there was a bunch of wish lists in the plan. He stated they already knew the park bond money right now was about one million a year. He stated that money each year was going to pay for something like park infrastructure. He stated if they decided to bond again they had another million dollars a year to keep doing what they were doing and had some focus of things inside the Park Plan they wanted to deal with. He stated that how he read it the Council could cut things out of it if there were 4 votes to cut things in the Plan. He stated the Plan had been adopted but all of the items had not and the Council had not voted on whether to have a pool for the city but yet the Plan showed they were looking at a pool, water park or water feature. He stated they didn t know what yet and was not down to a line item detail, dollar value, the year it would be built and the year it would happen. He stated those items were not there. Chair Simmons stated his understanding was the consultant was going to go forward which was surveying another research mechanism to gauge the community s appetite for a bond, the size Page 3

4 of the bond and the scope of the project. He stated that information was going to come back to the Council and the Council would take that information and decide a number and that number would be used to create a bond question. He stated the clock was ticking because there was a drop dead date by which the Council had to act. At 8:39 pm. Chair Simmons departed the Brooklyn Township Conference Room. Council Liaison Mata stated there was not a dollar value with it and the Council did not vote on it and it wouldn t be unanimous for the bond to go on to a ballot. He stated they were just presented by the Recreation and Parks Department the best way to do it on an even year election year and bonds did not win on odd year elections. He stated in November it was a bigger ballot and more likely to pass according to their statistics and studies. That was why they were on a timeline to get it there. He stated that once it came to that it would have to be voted on to put it on a bond. He stated the Recreation and Parks Department was trying to get as much buy-in as they could by everyone because they wanted it to pass. He stated the people who decided what the residents would be taxed on were the Council and didn t think they were on the same page with Recreation and Parks Department. Staff Liaison Montero asked the Commissioners to let him know if they were attending the Citizen Long-range Improvement Committee on March 8 so he could post a quorum notice. 5. Reports of Officers, Boards, and Standing Committees 6. New Business 7. Correspondence/Communications Vice Chair Aune, Jr. asked if there were any additions or deletions to the revised Work Plan. None were noted. Staff Liaison Montero stated the By-laws had been updated and asked the Commissioners to verify their addresses he had. He also stated that on February 26, 2018 was the public hearing and first reading of an ordinance amendment regarding the Citizen Long-range Improvement Committee, changing it to Community Long-range Improvement Commission. The Charter Commission was also scheduled to present the 2017 Annual Report. 8. Adjournment Motion Commissioner Hultquist and seconded by Commissioner Irvin to adjourn the meeting. The motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m. Page 4

5 Respectfully submitted, Devin Montero, Staff Liaison Page 5