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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council - 01/28/2002 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE CITY COUNCIL TUESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2002 7:00 PM, CITY CENTER Council Chamber 8080 Mitchell Road CITY COUNCIL: Mayor Nancy Tyra-Lukens, Councilmembers Sherry Butcher, Ron Case, and Jan Mosman CITY STAFF: City Manager Carl Jullie, City Attorney Ric Rosow and Council Recorder Jan Nelson Curielli I. ROLL CALL / CALL THE MEETING TO ORDER Mayor Tyra-Lukens called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND OTHER ITEMS OF BUSINESS MOTION: Butcher moved, seconded by Case, to approve the agenda as published. Motion carried 4-0. V. NOMINATION OF COUNCILMEMBER CANDIDATES Note: Item V was taken out of sequence. Item IV was addressed after Item V and just before Item VI. Tyra-Lukens noted that this meeting is not a Public Hearing. This is the time for the City Council to discuss the issue among ourselves and to get input from staff and legal counsel City Attorney Rosow reviewed the procedures for Councilmember nomination, pursuant to the resolution adopted at the last regular Council meeting. He said each Councilmember may nominate up to two persons for the office. The nominations do not need seconds. The names will be written down on the nomination form. After the nominations have been received, we will go to the voting. There will be a maximum of five rounds of voting. The resolution adopted by the Council sets the criteria under which a tie vote occurs and provides that the Mayor shall make the appointment in case of a tie vote. It takes three votes in favor of one individual to appoint. Rosow said there would be one round of voting after which the ballots will be passed to him and he will read the names and identify the name of the Councilmember who is voting for the individual. If no individual is appointed as a result of the first vote, we would go to the second round, and so forth. He noted the Council was free to have discussions between votes. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES January 28, 2002 Page 2 Tyra-Lukens noted she was hoping the Council would be able to vote to appoint someone because she was reluctant to make the decision on her own. Tyra-Lukens reviewed some ground rules for the discussion: 1. Keep an open mind 2. Work toward consensus 3. Give only positive comments about a candidate 4. Treat each other respectfully 5. The audience should be respectful and not disruptive, with no cheering or booing. If it happens the person will be ask to stop and if not, the person will be ask to leave. If noise from the audience continues during the meeting, she will call for a recess. Tyra-Lukens thanked all those that applied and sent letters. She said people made their interest known in several ways. Some contacted City Hall and said they were interested. That information was forwarded to all Councilmembers. Others called, wrote or emailed Councilmembers individually. She did not discuss the interested persons that contacted her with the other Councilmembers. She noted her pool of candidates interested in the position was probably entirely different from that of the other Councilmembers. Tyra-Lukens reviewed the traits that she was looking for: someone with experience on City boards and commissions, the School Board or a City Council; someone who is not perceived to be a single issue person; someone of high integrity; someone with strong links to the business community; someone not seen as a crony of any Councilmember; and someone with a positive attitude who is a team player. She said she was also looking for someone who was not interested in running for the position in the fall because she liked the idea that the next election would be one where all the people running were on an equal plane. Tyra-Lukens nominated Frantz Cornielle and David Luse. She said Mr. Cornielle was involved in community planning and is President and CEO of his company. She said he stated that he would not run for the Council in the fall. She said Mr. Luse is a former President of the Chamber and served as a Councilmember in another community. She said Mr. Luse is seen as an independent thinker and is not seen as a single-issue player. Butcher said we find ourselves in a difficult situation tonight as we determine who will serve as the Councilmember over the next year. She said it was heartening to see the interest in this level of government from the emails and calls that she received about the position. She was worried that this appointment process removes our objectivity. In her opinion this process is flawed because it does not allow people to vote for the person of their choice. Consequently, she believed the best approach to fill the vacancy is to validate the results of the last election. She thought the one candidate that was clearly the choice was Randy Foote, and that was the one name she brought forth in nomination. Case said he wanted to begin with a word about the process this evening. He said the open meeting law permits him to call another Councilmember and lobby for something he needs that individual’s vote on. The law does not permit him to tell one Councilmember what the other one said or attempt to form a consensus outside of the Council Chamber. Because of CITY COUNCIL MINUTES January 28, 2002 Page 3 the gravity of the task this evening, he chose not to talk with any other Councilmember about who they wished to see appointed. Consequently he had no clue who the others were going to nominate, except for Councilmember Butcher who was quoted in the newspaper. Case said there have been some residents who questioned why we did not call an election or just appoint the third place finisher from the last election whom Councilmember Butcher had just nominated. He thought most people believe an election would not be the best use of our resources. He noted the State Legislature lets us use our best judgment and that is what we are doing this evening. Case said the approach of going back to the last election and selecting the 3rd place finisher is more perplexing to him. If the 3rd place finisher had received only a handful of votes and was not considered competent to serve on the Council, he didn’t think we would be having this discussion. He was concerned that using this rationale might set a dangerous precedent for future situations. Furthermore, since it is technically an opening brought about by the Mayor’s position being vacated, the argument to go back to a former election should require that we look at Michael Rush. Mr. Rush received over 10,000 votes for mayor in the last Mayoral election while Tyra-Lukens received zero votes since she did not run for mayor at that time. While he was not suggesting that a wrong decision was made to select Tyra-Lukens for mayor, he was saying that if we use only the criteria of going back to the last election, then instead of Randy Foote we should be looking at Michael Rush. Case said he was not aware of any other offices in the country that replace a position by going back to the last election. Our system views the non-selected candidates from a prior election as non-selected candidates. While we did appoint the 3rd place finisher in 1995 when Ross Thorfinnson was appointed to the Council, the major reason for selecting him was his standing in the community and his proven competence. The fact that we had just had an election one month prior made choosing him justifiable. Case thought our mistake in 1995 was not in choosing Mr.Thorfinnson but in not more clearly delineating that we were not selecting him simply because he was the 3rd place finisher one month earlier. Case said he believes the process we are using tonight is not only a reasonable alternative but is also the very best alternative, legislatively sanctioned and directed, to select a Councilmember to serve out the remainder of a Council term. He noted that the city is blessed with an incredible number of people who are actively involved in bettering our community—commission members and community volunteers who give many hours of their time to causes that benefit all of us. We also have long-term residents who have tremendous experience from decades past or in recent years who could help out in the short term. Case said he had intended to bring forth the names of Jack Provo and Randy Foote as his nominees; however, over the weekend he decided to nominate David Luse rather than Randy Foote since Randy was being nominated by Councilmember Butcher. He said both Provo and Luse are very well respected in the community. Provo was the highest-ranking former elected official living in Eden Prairie today. He served on the Hennepin County Board from 1964 to 1972, serving as Commission Chair the last four years. Provo has served on countless boards and commissions and is up to date on recent city government issues. Luse served on Victoria’s City Council from 1982 to 1988 and was president of the CITY COUNCIL MINUTES January 28, 2002 Page 4 Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce in 1997-1998. He too has served on a long list of boards and commissions as well as non-profit groups. Case thought both Provo and Luse are consensus builders and would work hard in the next few months to bring a sense of stability and confidence after our year of transition and change. He noted that Provo has promised to not run next fall. Case thought Provo offers the most grounded, respected perspective and would be able to bring the community together and for that reason he plans to vote for Provo. Mosman thanked all the people who offered their names for service. She said many have called or written to her expressing their support or concern about the appointment. She said she first spoke to Harry Moran, Chair of the Human Rights & Diversity Commission, about the nomination; however, he decided he did not want to subject his family to the type of negativism that has been seen in the newspaper over the past year. Mosman said her two nominees are both businessmen and have had different levels of government experience beyond the city level. She said her first nominee, Jeff Strate, led multi-government groups to save natural areas. He is diplomatic and has a proven positive track record of dealing with people. He has extensive experience with municipal issues. Mosman said her second nominee, Mark Michelson, is a full time engineer who has been involved in a number of Eden Prairie resident issues over the years including limiting expansion of Flying Cloud Airport. At this time Rosow pointed out that item IV. on the Agenda was not discussed in sequence. IV. SET TERM FOR NEW COUNCILMEMBER MOTION: Mosman moved, seconded by Butcher, to set the effective date of the appointment to be made tonight of an individual to fill the vacant Council position formerly held by Nancy Tyra-Lukens as February 5, 2002. Motion carried 4-0. VI. VOTING ON NOMINATED CANDIDATES The Council proceeded with the voting for the nominated candidates. Rosow read the results of the voting after each round. Round One Voting: Mosman voted for Jeff Strate, Case voted for Jack Provo, Butcher voted for Randy Foote, and Tyra-Lukens voted for Frantz Corneille. Tyra-Lukens asked the Councilmembers if anyone feels the need to have more discussion prior to voting again. Case thought if we don’t have more discussion, we are just shooting in the dark. He thought the Councilmembers should think through what is the most critical attribute we would like to see considered as the main criteria. He thought all six nominees are excellent candidates and he was impressed with the elected official experience. He thought there is a difference between experience on boards and commissions and being an elected official. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES January 28, 2002 Page 5 He also thought the second most critical thing is to help bring a sense of healing since we went through a very tough year last year. Case thought Mr. Luse pulls in the business community in addition to his other attributes. Mosman liked the idea of perspective—the candidate should be able to see the forest for the trees. She thought we need someone who has not been engulfed in this government system and who has not formed strong opinions. We need someone who can communicate well, and she agreed with the importance of having a business type of connection. Butcher said she has explained where she is coming from and why over the past two meetings. Tyra-Lukens said she reviewed her list of attributes and thinks that some of them are needed because of the position we are in at this time, and some are valuable for any Councilmember. Looking at where we are at this time, her sense was that it would not be wise to go with a person who is not broad-minded nor one who comes into the position with any kind of agenda. She thought in this situation we need someone who can make the best decision based on what is best for the entire community--someone with a positive attitude and who is a real team player. Case said he could see advantages and disadvantages to asking the nominees whether or not they intended to run for office next fall, but he had decided it was not fair to ask that of them. Tyra-Lukens said she could let go of the issue of not running in the fall because she is not sure of all the six candidates’ positions on that issue. Round Two Voting: Mosman voted for Michelson, Case voted for Luse, Tyra-Lukens voted for Luse, Butcher voted for Foote. Mosman said she thought we need someone who is known by all in the community, and someone who has not been attached to an issue. She thought perhaps her two nominees have been perceptibly attached to one main project. She agreed the business tie is very important and would give a fresh perspective on the Council. She thought it might be good to go with someone who has the most experience in what we are looking for in terms of community government. Round Three Voting: Mosman voted for Luse, Butcher voted for Foote, Case voted for Luse and Tyra-Lukens voted for Luse. Tyra-Lukens stated that the Council had come to an agreement with a 3-1 vote to appoint David Luse to the vacant Councilmember position. She congratulated Mr. Luse on being selected. She thanked all the candidates who responded and noted that it is difficult to be in a position where Councilmembers have to make the selection. She was confident that Mr. Luse will do an excellent job. She thanked the audience for their respect during the discussion and voting process. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES January 28, 2002 Page 6 VI. OTHER BUSINESS Rosow noted that this meeting was noticed as having two items on the Agenda. He said the Flying Cloud matter was taken off the agenda because we are still working on the terms of the agreement with MAC. Tyra-Lukens asked if we have a date when we will hear about the matter. Rosow said it would be the 2nd meeting in February or the 1st meeting in March. XV. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Case moved, seconded by Butcher, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 4-0. Mayor Tyra-Lukens adjourned the meeting at 7:50 p.m.