08-10-2022 Work SessionCITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
Richfield, Minnesota
Joint City Council and Charter
Commission Work Session
August 10, 2022
CALL TO ORDER
The work session was called to order by Mayor Regan Gonzalez at 5:32 p.m. in the
Bartholomew Room.
Council Members
Present:
Maria Regan Gonzalez, Mayor; Mary Supple; Simon Trautmann; Sean
Hayford Oleary; and Ben Whalen
Charter
Commission
Members Present:
Marty Kirsch, Charter Commission President; Bill Bullock, Charter
Commission Secretary; Gordon Vizecky, Charter Commission Member; Lisa
Rudolph, Charter Commission Member
Staff Present: Katie Rodriguez, City Manager; Mary Tietjen, City Attorney; and Chris
Swanson, Management Analyst.
ITEM #1 CONSIDER THE CHARTER COMMISSION’S RECOMMENDATIONS FOR
AMENDMENTS TO THE CURRENT CITY CHARTER
City Manager Rodriguez gave an introduction to the Charter Commission and turned it over to
Charter Commission President Kirsch.
President Kirsch thanked commissioners and staff for all the work they have done on the City
Charter. President Kirsch turned over the presentation to City Attorney Tietjen.
City Attorney Tietjen introduced the process of reviewing and proposing amendments to the
current city charter. She then stated this work session is an opportunity for the City Council to discuss
the proposed changes to the charter with the Commission and outlined the next steps for formally
sending the City Charter for adoption by the City Council. City Attorney Tietjen then provided a history
of Richfield’s City Chart along with some general proposed updates. She also discussed background
on the proposed changes to Section 2.06.
Council Member Hayford Oleary asked about what the word "coordinate" would mean when
dealing with a real emergency. He had additional questions about who would have the final authority.
City Attorney Tietjen answered the City Charter is a high level document. In the event of an
emergency, the city has the actual steps, process, and plans outlined in other ordinance and our
emergency response plans.
City Council Work Session Minutes -2-August 10, 2022
Council Member Hayford Oleary stated he would like to see how existing ordinances would
play out in the event of an emergency. He expressed his support of the proposed change around the
Mayors powers, but is interested in leaving "with the consent of City Council" to serve as a balance.
Council Member Whalen stated he had many of the same questions. He wondered how this
would compare to the current response process; a system where the Mayor may declare a state of
emergency, but that declaration remains in effect only until the next meeting where council can
approve/disprove of the action.
City Attorney Tietjen answered the current emergency declaration process will remain.
Council Member Supple commented that as long as the Mayor can declare an emergency if
there is an immediate need and council can ratify that decision, she is comfortable with the proposed
changes.
Mayor Regan Gonzalez asked for more contexts on the historic background for this section.
City Attorney Tietjen stated she was unsure of the intentions on the original drafting but many
cities had similar provisions.
City Manager Rodriguez stated it should be discussed to include Fire in this section as the
department is an important part of the city’s emergency response.
Council Member Whalen stated he still believes that “coordinate” is a vague term. He
wondered if this term is spelled out in City Code. He stated he would like to see something more
specific used or the term more defined before he felt comfortable. He recognized the need to be
responsive in the event of an emergency, but feels like this is too vague.
Council Member Hayford Oleary would prefer the "with the consent of council" remain. He still
does not know what would happen if the Mayor and City Manager disagree on the responses.
Mayor Regan Gonzalez would like state very clear roles in the event of an emergency. She
stated Mayor, staff and City Council all worked well together over the past years, but would like the
guidance to be more detailed.
City Attorney Tietjen stated some updated language can be provided around this section for
the commission to review. She then provided an outline on changes proposed to Section 2.06, Subd.
2.
Council Member Whalen stated that Section 2.06 particularly interested him as he became
council member through a special election. He wondered what would happen if someone stepped
down 2 weeks from an election.
City Attorney Tietjen stated there are specific statutes that outline the timeframe for when a
candidate would need to file to be included in an election and the City Clerk would have more
information.
Council Member Trautmann arrived 5:54
Mayor Regan Gonzalez provided a brief summary of what had been discussed up to that point
in the work session.
City Attorney Tietjen discussed a summary of the proposed changes for Section 3.01.
Council Member Whalen asked if there is a legal definition of “reasonable.”
City Council Work Session Minutes -3-August 10, 2022
City Attorney Tietjen stated that since the charter document is meant to be broad, this term is
positioned to provide the most flexibility.
Council Member Trautmann stated he doesn’t like the term “reasonable” but also doesn’t like
the current “12 hours.”
City Attorney Tietjen stated this section is built to have the flexibility to call emergency
meetings. There is the assumption that cities would want the most flexibility in the event of an
emergency but that other code and standards limit timeframe for calling a special meeting.
Council Member Whalen stated that “12 hours” still seems unreasonable. He wondered if it is
possible to call a meeting within this current amount of time.
City Manager Rodriguez stated this section is specifically for emergency meetings, not special
meetings.
City Attorney Tietjen explained the wording can be clear that this section only applies to
emergency meetings.
City Attorney Tietjen provided council a summary of proposals to Section 3.09 of the charter.
She outlined how this new process would allow a moratorium ordinance that would go into effect
immediately. The current process is clumsy and takes time and requires a number of meetings and
notices.
Mayor Regan Gonzalez asked why this section doesn’t say "moratorium" explicitly.
City Attorney Tietjen responded it is the statutory language for a moratorium. She then
summarized the changes to Section 3.11 and 3.13. She also stated the changes gives authority to the
city.
City Attorney Tietjen summarized the chapter 4 slides. She stated these proposed changes
bring the charter in line with state statute and best practices.
Council Member Hayford Oleary asked a general question about if Richfield is required to hold
a primary. He explained the primary process is challenging to small grassroots candidates, but also
noted there are also challenges in having a large number of candidates.
City Attorney Tietjen and City Manager Rodriguez both stated they were unsure of the answer
to this question.
Council Member Supple noted the school board has many candidates and the rules may be
different in their elections. She feels like this could be a good place to look as an example.
City Attorney Tietjen provided a summary of changes proposed to section 4.03. She noted
there were a few corrections she discovered during her review and she would make the corrections.
Council Member Whalen noted there was some prior conversation with the charter
commission around special elections and wondered the reasoning for leaving the language as it was.
City Attorney Tietjen stated that she believed there was a lot of discussion around this matter
but the commission settled on the updated language.
City Council Work Session Minutes -4-August 10, 2022
Commissioner Vizecky stated the city would probably want to leave the 2 weeks for 4.03 due
to notice period and he agreed with City Attorney Tietjen’s statements on the changes proposed in
Section 4.03.
Council Member Whalen said he was open to discuss the changes around special elections
but if everyone is comfortable with the proposed language he would also support the current proposal.
He said he recognized that there is very low turnout for special elections.
Commissioner Bullock provided a general history of special elections in Richfield. He
mentioned there was a lot of discussion on this matter at the charter commission meetings and is why
the joint session was scheduled.
Council Member Hayford Oleary stated he would like to see a year for appointments but would
be comfortable with the two year max if there was a strong leaning from other council members. He
recognized the same recall options would be available if the community had issues with who the
council appointed.
Council Member Trautmann agreed and would also have a preference for an appointment to
make sure business gets done.
Council Member Supple echoed the low turnout comment.
Mayor Regan Gonzalez said she would be interested in the appointment process. History
would show that council members may run for mayor. She stated she was in support of a process by
which members could be appointed to fill out the remainder of a term but would like to learn more.
Council Member Supple recognized one of the big challenges for special elections was staff
time and expense. She would like to not have a special election every six months
City Attorney Tietjen outlined the current appointment process. She said it seems like council
would be comfortable with a proposal whereas if there were 365 days or less left in the term the
council would appoint, if 365 days or more, there would be a special election.
Council Member Hayford Oleary stated that was a good summary.
Council Member Trautmann stated not much happens in 90 days and almost cuts across the
reasons for supporting these changes.
City Attorney Tietjen said that this choice varies across cities, and is really a policy decision.
She believed there was good direction and will discuss some proposals with the full charter
commission. She then summarized Chapter 6 which included general updates to the city manager
section.
Council Member Whalen stated he was in agreement with the proposed changes although he
worried the language did not seem to allow the city manager to take some time off. He wanted a
simple process for designating an acting city manager in times of absence.
Council Member Trautmann stated he would support this proposal.
Council Member Hayford Oleary noticed Section 2 still has “fire civil service commission” listed
and believes this an error.
Staff confirmed this was an error and would remove.
City Council Work Session Minutes -5-August 10, 2022
City Attorney Tietjen outlined how the changes in Chapter 6.04 were to eliminate extra
language that seems unnecessary. She then provided a summary of proposals including the eminent
domain and franchise sections.
Council Member Whalen stated the "or" in the proposal is doing a lot of work. He feels the
term "exclusive" also proves a challenge to him. An example is he would prefer to have one company
providing a garbage service for the entire city.
City Attorney Tietjen stated garbage would not be considered a utility in this matter and the
option would still be there.
Council Member Trautmann stated he felt like it may be useful to have a tool to grant an
exclusive franchise if an opportunity presented itself. He also felt this proposal could be useful to push
back against companies trying push a city into contracts like these. All said, he would lean towards
having the authority to grant a franchise.
Commissioner Vizecky mentioned these comments were similar to the discussion at the
charter meeting.
Council Member Whalen was concerned about creating a monopoly. He wanted to ensure this
language still allowed the city to enter into an agreement with another company for services.
City Attorney Tietjen stated that was correct as the main term was exclusive and does not
currently offer exclusive franchises even if some utilities, by lack of competitors, appear as such.
City Attorney Tietjen provided a summary of some general clerical and language cleanup
changes proposed to Section 10.04. and 11.04 as well as proposed updates for added clarity of
Chapter 13.
Council Member Trautmann stated he had a general question and wanted to know if there was
a conscientious objector or something similar, right when taking the oath of office.
City Attorney Tietjen stated she was not sure, but any constitutional right would preempt any
city statutes if approved.
City Attorney Tietjen provided a summary of the official bonds section, outlining the general
clerical updates proposed. She then summarized new language for Section 13.14 and stated the city
currently has the authority to spend money for public benefit. She went on to explain how charter
cities have the unique opportunity to adopt a more expansive language for expending funds on
community events, celebrations and staff trainings. She stated this proposed language had been
vetted by the Minnesota State Auditor’s Office.
Council Member Whalen asked about some additional bullets in the slide show.
City Attorney Tietjen responded they outline the public expenditure test and the items listed in
the proposed language would meet this test.
Council Member Trautmann asks what authority the city has now for determining public
expenditures.
City Attorney Tietjen stated the standard authority provided to all statutory cities. She outlined
how the language would expand and broaden the definition of the public expenditures through the
City Charter.
City Council Work Session Minutes -6-August 10, 2022
Council Member Trautmann asked if it is necessary to be this prescriptive in the changes. He
wanted to know if we could just adopt something providing authority to the full extent of the state
statute.
City Attorney Tietjen stated how this was an issue, state statute does not allow communities to
spend money on these events, but Richfield, as a home rule charter city has some flexibility to
broaden what it can consider a public expenditure.
Mayor Regan Gonzalez expressed excitement about expanding the lists as there has been a
lot of need from the community for additional financial support.
City Attorney Tietjen proposed deleting specific Chapter 13 provisions as they are no longer
relevant. She then provided a summary for next steps.
President Kirsch thanked the commissioners and staff for pulling these proposals together.
Mayor Regan Gonzalez also extended her thanks to the commission members and staff. She
said she recognized it was a lot of work.
Council Member Trautmann wanted to thank everyone involved. He stated there have been a
lot of hours spent on this work by the commission and that much of this work is done without a lot of
public acknowledgement.
ADJOURNMENT
The work session was adjourned by unanimous consent at 6:49 p.m.
Date Approved: September 13, 2022
Maria Regan Gonzalez
Mayor
Chris Swanson Katie Rodriguez
Management Analyst City Manager