FAIRMONT– The Fairmont Charter Commission met on Tuesday. While the charter commission had been meeting monthly since April of 2021, it had not met since November, following the general election when seven of the commission’s 10 ballot questions were struck down by the voters.

Commissioner Mike Katzenmeyer said they cancelled two meetings because they were waiting for “things to settle down.”

Despite having a full agenda, before the meeting got started, Commissioner Dale Martens spent nearly 10 minutes reading a statement he had written up. He gave background on what a charter commission’s duties are and also detailed the amendments the the charter commission was trying to make which the voters did not pass.

“Reflecting back to the previous election, the voters approved three of our recommendations, turning back the other seven. Why these seven were returned I simply cannot explain,” Martens said.

He said some of the amendments were editorial in nature, and defining, and should not have been controversial. Martens said he believes some difficulty with getting the amendments passed is due to the fact that the charter commission came together after not meeting for 30 years.

“I’m also of the opinion that sometime we need to take another look at the questions that were turned back and possibly resubmit them,” Martens said.

He then said he believes the charter commission needs to reorganize and restructure itself and he proposed to come up with a slate of officers, including a chair, vice chair, secretary, treasurer and two board members who will constitute the executive council and can meet and make executive decisions subject to later approval in an emergency situation.

Katzenmeyer asked if that was a motion. Martens said it was. Commissioner Alice Maday seconded it.

Commissioner Jim Zarling said, “I can see absolutely no reason for an executive committee to make emergency decisions. This is a deliberative body that’s making recommendations to change the charter. We meet once a month, I can’t imagine what would be an emergency that we would need to have a special group that makes those decisions for us.”

Commissioner Robynn Buhmann said that many boards and commissions have a chain of command and that she thinks it will be a professional way of running the group.

Zarling said he supported what Buhmann said but reiterated that he couldn’t imagine a

scenario where six members of the board would need to take emergency action between the commission’s monthly meetings.

Katzenmeyer said that there was a timing issue in putting questions on the ballot. He claimed that officials “sat on” the questions until July 9, which was the deadline for filing the ballot questions.

“That was an issue. That was something that had to be dealt with without being able to come back here because we didn’t have a meeting until the following Tuesday,” Katzenmeyer said.

Commissioner Jay Maynard said that he had three issues with the proposal. He said it’s allowing a small body, smaller than a quorum, to act in the name of the body. He said the group would also be subject to open meeting laws and finally, he asked why the group of four officers need two more members.

“Aren’t you kind of handicapping yourself by making that group six instead of four?” Maynard asked.

He then said that he can’t support acting around the quorum requirement.

Buhmann asked whether Maynard can even be on the Fairmont Charter Commission anymore as he’s now a member of the Fairmont City Council.

“You’re voicing a lot of opinion and we’re going to vote on something so if you’re not supposed to be here you shouldn’t be voicing your opinion,” Buhmann said.

Maynard then read part of Minnesota law, section 410.05, which governs the appointment of charter commission members. In part, it says “except as otherwise provided in the charter, no person shall be disqualified from serving on a charter commission by reason of holding any other elective or appointive office other than judicial. The charter may provide that members of the governing body of the city cannot serve on the charter commission.”

The conversation switched back to the topic of whether an executive council needed to be created. Commissioner Chuck Omvig said he thought they should go with four officers who would establish the agenda and have the ability to call for a special meeting if needed.

“Otherwise, we really can’t do anything without going through the whole board,” Omvig said.

A motion was made to amend the motion on the table and drop it from four officers and two board members, to four officers.

Commissioner Terry Anderson asked to call a vote on the original motion. It failed. A new motion to add a treasurer to the officers was made by Omvig and seconded by Zarling.

The motion passed unanimously.

The charter commission then moved to its next agenda item which was budget discussion.

Katzenmeyer asked for those present to read chapter 7.12, accounts and reports, in their charter handbooks.

“Last year, until August, we hadn’t received any information from the city regarding budgetary balances or sufficiencies and all of a sudden we got a minuscule byline, print, that said ‘this is what we have expended in attorney fees,'” Katzenmeyer said.

He then said that last October the charter commission was told it had over-spent its budget. Later that month, some members of the Charter Commission spent money on an ad to place in the Photo Press and because there was no money left in the budget, it was paid for with private funds.

Anderson made a motion that the funds that were distributed last year outside of the budget money privately be reimbursed out of this year’s charter commission budget.

“I think we need to take it out of our budget this year and make it right,” Anderson said.

Maynard said he had two concerns. One was that they would be paying a 2022 expense with 2023 funds and the other was that the city council specifically said it would not reimburse that expenditure.

“So now you’re looking to do a run-around council,” Maynard said.

Omvig said he thinks a problem with last year’s budget was that money came out of it for each of the commissioners to be given a binder with the city charter in it.

Martens said they also shouldn’t have been charged attorney fees because the charter says all agencies should have access to a legal officer.

“That legal officer still has to be paid for,” Maynard said.

Buhmann said she feels that the charter commission’s budget was used up inappropriately by a city staff member to “stifle” them so the charter commission wouldn’t be able to go forth with legal questions.

“Charging us with material that was grossly inappropriate and it was done deliberately to stifle us,” Buhmann said.

The charter commission closed debate and took a vote on the motion on the table to reimburse privately funded expenditures from last year, in the amount of $375 and $90.

The motion passed with 6 yes votes, 3 no votes and 2 abstentions.

An hour into the meeting, the board voted to table the remaining six items on the agenda, all of which were under new business.

Several members left but it was pointed out that the meeting had not been officially adjourned and that officers had not been elected.

Katzenmeyer was elected as chair, Omvig as vice chair, Barry Altman as secretary and Buhmann as treasurer.