Charter Commission

CHARTER COMMISSION Columbia Heights City Hall, 3989 Central Ave NE, Shared Vision Thursday, October 17, 2024 7:00 PM MINUTES Call to Order Roll Call/Status of Membership Members present: Matt Abel, Kathy Ahlers, Wolid Ahmed, Larry Betzhold, Christine Brown, Bill Hugo, Leo James, Veronica Johnson, Carolyn Laine, Julie Rose, Frost Simula, Gregory Sloat, Marsha Stroik, Susan Wiseman Members absent: Excused: Unexcused: Ben Harris Also Present: City Attorney Scott Lepak, Connie Buesgens substituting for Council Liaison Rachel James 1. Introduction of Commissioner Leo James Approval of Agenda Motion by Abel, second by Wiseman. Motion passed. Approval of Minutes 2. July 18, 2024 Meeting Minutes Motion by Abel, second by Johnson. Motion passed. Correspondence Old Business New Business For information only, President Laine handed out the November 1981 announcement by then President Mel Aanerud, in which he briefly mentions the history of the Charter Commission going back to the 1950s. 3. Motions offered for changes to Recall section of Charter a. Motion by Simula, Second by Brown to insert a new section between Section 46 and Section 47, adapted from the Charter of the City of White Bear Lake:  “Section [#]. Right of Recall. The people of the City of Columbia Heights hereby reserve to themselves the right and power to remove from office at any time any or all of the elected officers of the City for malfeasance or nonfeasance in office. The exercise of this power shall be designated as “the recall”.” Discussion: Friendly motion by Wiseman, second by Simula to append “in accordance with state law”. Amended change reads: “Section [#]. Right of Recall. The people of the City of Columbia Heights hereby reserve to themselves the right and power to remove from office at any time any or all of the elected officers of the City for malfeasance or nonfeasance in office in accordance with state law. The exercise of this power shall be designated as “the recall”.” Roll call vote: 13 Ayes (Abel, Ahlers, Ahmed, Betzhold, Brown, Hugo, James, Johnson, Laine, Rose, Simula, Stroik, Wiseman), 1 Nay (Sloat). Motion passes. b. Motion by Ahmed to include definitions adapted from the Charter of the City of Richfield: “For this purpose, the word ‘malfeasance’ means the performance of an act in his or her official capacity that is unlawful or wrongful, and the word ‘nonfeasance’ means the failure to act where there was a duty to act.” Discussion: Friendly motion by Sloat, Second by Wiseman to remove the words “or wrongful”. Friendly counter motion by Johnson, Second by Hugo to keep the words “or wrongful”. Roll call vote: 8 Ayes (Ahlers, Hugo, James, Johnson, Laine, Rose, Simula, Stroik), 6 Nays (Able, Ahmed, Betzhold, Brown, Sloat, Wiseman). Motion passes. c. Motion by Wiseman, Second by Sloat to add eligibility as borrowed from a 2019 St. Paul case: “Signatures must be from eligible voters who are on active status on the Statewide Voter Registration System.” Discussion: Friendly motion by Brown, Second by Wiseman to append “at the time of the petition verification.” Friendly motion by Simula to replace “who are on active status on” with “according to”. Amended change reads: “Signatures must be from eligible voters according to the Statewide Voter Registration System at the time of the petition verification.” Question called by Hugo. Roll call vote: Aye (unanimous). Motion passes. d. Motion by Simula, Second by Ahlers to replace “his or her” with “their”. Amended change reads: “For this purpose, the word ‘malfeasance’ means the performance of an act in their official capacity that is unlawful or wrongful, and the word ‘nonfeasance’ means the failure to act where there was a duty to act.” Motion passes. Summary In complete, the above changes composes a new section which reads: “Section [#]. Right of Recall. The people of the City of Columbia Heights hereby reserve to themselves the right and power to remove from office at any time any or all of the elected officers of the City for malfeasance or nonfeasance in office in accordance with state law. For this purpose, the word ‘malfeasance’ means the performance of an act in their official capacity that is unlawful or wrongful, and the word ‘nonfeasance’ means the failure to act where there was a duty to act. The exercise of this power shall be designated as “the recall”.” Discussion will continue in January 2025. President Laine suggested using the next meeting to discuss whether a recall should continue to include an election for a successor, or simply let the vacancy be “filled as provided by this Charter.” ADJOURNMENT Motion: Ahlers , second Wiseman. Motion passes. Meeting adjourned at 8:11pm. Next meeting is January 16, 2025 at 7pm.