2000_0419_packet_Charter Comm - Laserfiche WebLink

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F;.~:~seville Charter Commission ~;.~ ~seville City Hall Council Chambers ~,:~';nutes of Meetin€; of April 19, 2000 I, '.all to Order/Roll Call: The meeting was called to order by chair Vicky Lorenz at 7:C~5 p.m. 'resent: All merr~bers were present. II. ~~pproval of Mimrtes: A question was raised about a statement made by guest Iauke Addicks at the March P~ 5, 2000 meeting ,minutes were then approved. III, ~::iuest Speakers: I:ay Faricy. Mr. Faricy served on the St. Paul Charter Conunission for ten years. He was .lso chairman of ~ he study commission for the Ramsey County Charter. '/Ir. Faricy described himself as an advocate of city charters and in leis remarks he i°eferred to ex~.mples and i ncidents from hi:~ experience on the St. Paul Charter Commission. ~ big advantage of the charter is that it liminated the necessity to go to the state legislature for legislation to get things done. Initiative and eferendum, thou;;h rarely used, are available to charter cities. He addressed thc. problems of the effect of pressure groups end poorly worded statements in the use of initiative and referendum. Recall has never peen used in St. Paul. Mr. Faricy stressed the importance of having "people with. sense" on the charter ~:ommission. Questions from commission members included the problem of the possible abuse of the ~, power of initiative. and referendum, distinction between initiative and referendum and the process for their use, use of initiative and referendum to place limitations on spending, purpose of the charter commission ,after a charter i.~ adopted, and the question of whether the commission is a watchdog of the city ;,~,;overnment. The speaker's answer to the last question was "no". i'at Johnson and Jack Brewer will send a letter of appreciation to Mr. 1 aricv. ~-~ IV. 'ublic Comment; Judy Stuthman and Carolyn Cushing, representing. the League of Women Voters of '~ ;oseville, Maplewood, and Falcon Heights, presented the League's position on initiative and referendum. i :ach Commission member received a printed statement of the League's long-standing position in pposition to initiative and referendum, a statement of the rationale behind this position, and comments on initiative and referendum from David Broder's book, Democracy Derailed. The chair has received from 'William Schrenker a newspaper article on David Broder's book. ^' .mmission Discuaion: To further our investigation of initiative and referendum, Al Sands volunteered to ;: 1 all the charter cities in our information notebook for information about their experiences with initiative 3:: ,,i referendum and the results. ~,:,: Johnson propo,~ed a motion that a press release be prepared and sent to the Roseville Review, the t.~: Seville Wrap, th~, St. Paul Pioneer Press, and Focus News, inviting citizens of Roseville to the public ;~::~~nment period of the commission meeting on May 17, to tell us what specific issues they would support for r;.:iative and refere 1dum, if any. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously. ~:'~ ~mmission members were asked to prepare for the next meeting and consider suggestions for the June r.,,,:eting on wards a1d even-year elections. V. ,`adjournment: Thy: meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m. ~':Teorgiana Sobola `h~ecretary