City Charter Commission

AGENDA City Charter Commission Meeting 5:30 PM - Tuesday, March 11, 2025 City Hall Council Chambers Page 1. ROLL CALL 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 2.1. Approval of the City Charter Commission meeting minutes dated January 23, 2-5 2025. City Charter Commission - 23 Jan 2025 - Minutes - Pdf 3. NEW BUSINESS 3.1. Discussion on the following sections: 6-8  Section 2 Wards and Precincts  Section 28 Duties and Powers of the Mayor  Section 60 Special Meetings  Section 66 Procedures and Ordinances  Section 82 Board of Health  Section 87 Police Department  Section 101 Library Board  Section 180  Section 221(6) Duties of City Manager City Charter Sections to be Discussed 03-11-2025 3.2. Schedule Next Meeting 4. ANNOUNCEMENTS 5. ADJOURNMENT Page 1 of 8  MINUTES City Charter Commission Meeting 5:30 PM - Thursday, January 23, 2025 City Hall Council Chambers The City Charter Commission of the City of New Ulm was called to order on Thursday, January 23, 2025, at 5:30 PM, in the City Hall Council Chambers, with the following members present: PRESENT: EXCUSED: 1 ROLL CALL Present at the meeting were Commissioners Les Schultz, Dave Christian, Michelle Markgraf, Duane Hansel, Rick Jensen, and Mike Boyle. Also present was City Manager Chris Dalton and Finance Director Nicole Jorgensen. City Attorney Rober Scott attended via telephone. Absent were Commissioners William Swan, Linda Heine, and John Brownfield 2 ELECTION OF OFFICERS a) Elect Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretary for 2025 2023-2024 Officers:  Chair - Duane Hensel  Vice-Chair - Rick Jensen  Secretary - Mike Wise Duane Hansel presided over the meeting until he was replaced as Chair. Once elected Chair Rick Jensen ran the remainder of the meeting. Duane Hansel nominated Rick Jensen for the Chair position. Dave Christian moved to elect Rick Jensen as Chair of the Charter Commission. The motion was duly seconded by Les Schultz and approved by unanimous vote of all members present. Les Schultz nominated Dave Christian for the Vice Chair. Duane Hansel moved to elect Dave Christian as Vice Chair. The motion was duly seconded by Mike Boyle and approved by unanimous vote of all members present. Duane Hansel nominated Michelle Markgraf Secretary. Mike Boyle moved to elect Michelle Markgraf as Secretary. The motion was Page 1 of 4 Page 2 of 8  duly seconded by Les Schultz and approved by unanimous vote of all members present. 3 APPROVAL OF MINUTES a) Approval of the City Charter Commission meeting minutes dated February 22, 2024. Dave Christian pointed out one spacing error in the roll call section of the meeting. That will be corrected before the minutes are published. Les Schultz made a motion to approve the minutes of the February 22, 2024 meeting. The motion was duly seconded by Michelle Markgraf, Mike Boyle abstained from the vote due to the fact that we was not a Commissioner or present at that meeting. The motion was approved by unanimous vote of all remaining members present. 4 NEW BUSINESS a) City Attorney will present overview of Commission duties and procedures under MN State law. Robert Scott broadly explained the roles and responsibilities of a City Charter Commission. He explained the Charter is best described as a local constitution; it is a document the controls the structure of the local government. It generally addressed the delegation of responsibilities to the City Council, other boards and commissions, and the City Manager. It establishes procedures for the Council to pass ordinances and resolutions. The powers that the City Government is authorized to take action on. In New Ulm's case the Charter confers a broad, all powers grant on the City generally exercised through the City Council unless the powers are delegated elsewhere. An all-powers grant is authorized to take any actions that any City in Minnesota could lawfully exercise. The caveat there is the City can't do anything contrary to State law or State public policy. The Charter is not a place to do legislation for the general wellful. That is a function of the City Council by passing ordinances. What is the role of the charter Commission is that of a standing constitutional convention. The Commission's role is to review the City Charter, propose amendments if changes are needed, and on occasion, if you receive a petition by a sufficient number of citizens or the majority of the City Council the Commission would have a duty to consider a Charter amendment. The Commission is authorized at anytime, by State Statute to propose amendments to the Charter to the City Council. There is a number of ways that the Charter can be amended. Usually that results in an election of the citizenry. The one option for a more efficient amendment of a City Charter that New Ulm has followed several times is to have the Charter Commission formally propose amendments to the City Council. Then the Council, including the Mayor, vote unanimously to approve the amendment. There is also a procedure for the Page 2 of 4 Page 3 of 8  Charter Commission to put an amendment directly on the ballot if the City Council rejects the proposed amendments. The Commission is not a legislative body. It is not a second City Council that is passing laws for the general welfare. It is not an oversight entity. You are not charged with overseeing all of the different actors within the City to make sure they are complying with the Charter. It is not an enforcement agency; if there is an allegation that someone has acted in violation of a Charter provision that is something that would have to be resolved by the courts. You're focus in on the language of the Charter and recommend changes. Specific statutory responsibilities that Charter Commissions have are few. Most statutes set forth requirements for Charter Commissions in the process of adopting a new Charter or completely revising existing Charters. Once a Charter is in place the Commission is a standing body that meets to consider the language and whether any amendments should be suggested. The actual requirements are to meet at least once a year, consider petitions if received and they comply with statutory requirements from either the voters or a majority of the City Council, and submit an annual report of activities to the judge. The Commission is a public body and subject to the open meeting law and the government data practices act. The Commission, as are all government entities in the state, is required to keep a complete record of all activities. That requirement is met by the taking of and approval of minutes. The annual meeting and report requirements are in Statute but there is no recourse if not the requirements are not met. The Commission would continue to exist. Commission Boyle asked who usually initiates the amendments to the Charter. City Manager Dalton explained in the past the Commission or staff has recommended changes and then the Commission talks through them and then the Attorney prepares them for recommendation to the Council. Dalton explained that there will likely be another meeting in approximately 30 days so that all of the Commissioners have time to review the Charter and identify any possible amendments. Commission Schultz asked about the Mayor's initiative to make changes to some of the boards and commissions. Attorney Scott confirmed that the Commission would only be involved if the specific board of commission are defined in the Charter. City Manager Dalton stated that most of the changes the Mayor would be recommending will be made by ordinance. b) Initial consideration of potential Charter amendments  Section 32. Vacancies - How Created. Council vacancies and what items may disqualify a candidate The incorrect ordinance was attached to the agenda for this item. Attorney Scott explained that this item was considered by the Commission in 2024 but while preparing to present the recommendation to Council he came across an authority that caused him to retract his proposal and the amendment was not considered by Council. His current recommendation to the commission is that no amendment is needed for section 32. The issue in section 32 of the Charter addresses how Council vacancies are created. This issue is already controlled by State Statute section 351.02. The original proposed amendment was to change the language regarding when a Councilor moves out of their ward to state that a vacancy would only be created if the Councilor moved out of the City, not the Ward. Attorney Scott later discovered that per an Attorney General opinion if a Councilor moves out of their ward a Page 3 of 4 Page 4 of 8  vacancy is created. The City Charter is already consistent with the opinion and no revision is needed for Section 32. c) Establish Meeting Schedule Chris Dalton explained that he would like to wait about 30 days for the next meeting to allow the Commissioner time to review the Charter and explained that the Utilities Director has idnetified some possible amendments for the Charter Commission to consider. Commissioner Chrisitan asked if the recommendations would be sent out prior to the meeting. City Manager replied yes. Chris Dalton will send a doodle poll to schedule next meeting the week of February 24th. 5 ANNOUNCEMENTS 6 ADJOURNMENT Dave Christian moved to adjourn. The motion was duly seconded by Les Schultz and approved by unanimous vote of all members present. The meeting adjourned at 5:54pm. CAO Mayor Page 4 of 4 Page 5 of 8 Page 6 of 8 Page 7 of 8 Page 8 of 8