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P.10/1.2 SEP -02 -1998 12 52 LEAG'LE OF MN CITIES Valley Lag Tam* The court refused to disqualify a town board supervisor for asking a 309 Mae. 438234 landowner to circulate a petition for a road. By its very nature, the xw.2a 3LS (1975) decision to establish a town road is of interest to all local citizens, including town board members, who often may be in the best position to be aware of the need for a road. The court said that the ability of affected property owners to appeal to the district court would adequately protect them from any possible prejudice. ii. Street vacation f oce ee. 6,199sae Lc It is arguable that a street vacation is not essentially different from establishing the street, where abutting owners have been held not to have Alio Map a disqualifying pawn of q fying interest. However, the attorney general ruled that a A SA= 234 councilmember who bad an interes tit a g a propased street k Mina. 296, 43 N.w.m at p9s1) vacation could not participate in the strce vacation proceedings. - - -- In light of this ruling it is advisable that a counci /member who owns property abutting a street proposed to be vacated refrain from participating in vacation proceedings before the council. 7. Urban renewal An interest in property subject to an urban renewal decision rnav be grounds for disqualification. However, when the property is within the arerufrlarger urban renewal program but not in the project area subject to the decision, it is arguable that the councilmember would not be disqualified from voting. Since there have been no Minnesota cases addressing this issue councilmembers with these types of interests may wish to abstain from voting on these matters, or seek an attorney general opinion regarding the legality of their participation. 8. Licenses Although there have been no Minnesota cases directly on the subject, it seems obvious that when a councilmember is an applicant for a license to a .. . +: - counc ere is enoul of a . e s i i S . ; . 1. interest d :.- mem.. s Quid not take part in the decision on the a plication. 4 A f HS-Rs licensing . o If a general licensin ordinance is the subject of the action, even a Apr. 29, 1952 councilmember who does not hold a license may have a possible conflict of interest that could disqualify him or her from voting. The attorney general said that a councilmember who was a part - time employee ofa liquor licensee could not vote on the question of reducing the liquor license fee if could be shown that the councilmember was personally 26 League or Minnesota Citib