FAIRMONT– The Fairmont Charter Commission spent the entirety of its meeting on Tuesday figuring out who the members of its board are and what the board’s purpose is.

Several absences were apparent as just eight of the 12 board members were present at the start of the meeting. Soon after it started, Commission Member Dale Martens handed around a sheet of paper and said that since his name was no longer on the “list,” he was leaving and he exited the meeting.

Martens was referring to a list compiled by the City Clerk of the people who have recently been appointed by a district judge to either continue with new terms terms or start new. City Clerk Matt Skaret, who was present, said that four new members were appointed.

Over the past few months there were some disagreements among both the city council and charter commission on what names would be appointed to the judge.

On Tuesday, the new list of names was shared. It includes returning members Conrad Anderson, Robyn Buhmann, Robert Gunther, Kacey Kasel, Ron Lindberg, Alice Maday, Jay Maynard and Jim Zarling. New members include Richard Bradley, Bill Cieslinski and Jon Omvig.

The board is down one member as it was shared at the May 13 city council meeting that board chair Jon Davis had resigned. Previous board members Terry Anderson, Chuck Omvig and Mike Katzenmeyer had reapplied to serve but were not reappointed.

Buhmann, who is serving as secretary, said she wanted to make sure she had a correct list of members and all of their contact information. She then asked who would serve as chair and vice chair as the members who served in those capacities were no longer present.

Gunther was nominated to serve as chair and Lindberg as vice chair after several others declined the offer. Buhmann then turned control of the meeting over to them but without much on the agenda, Gunther asked whether there was any new business to discuss.

Zarling asked whether Skaret had access to a letter that Davis was supposed to send to a judge prior to resigning. The letter in question was discussed at the last charter commission meeting came from a motion made by Katzenmeyer to have the chairman submit a letter to the district judge asking that Jay Maynard be removed from the commission based on Minnesota statute 410.05 subdivision 2 and that a copy of Maynard’s post on Facebook, dated March 26, and his initial resolution submitted to the city council also be included with the letter.

Skaret said he did not have the letter and the topic was dropped.

Zarling then asked whether the board should stop meeting under a study is completed. He made a motion to suspend all meetings until the American Legal has some feedback for the board.

“If their responsibility is to be sure that the code and charter are in alignment, I hope to think that they know more about the requirements than we as individuals do. Until they’re done with their work there’s really nothing for us to do,” Zarling said.

Bradley asked why the charter commission had begun meeting in the first place. Maday, who has been on the board for several years said, “it (the charter) had not been reviewed in 30 years and it was time to review. Some changes had happened but they might not even be in here.”

“So the commission was supposed to review the charter and what?” Bradley asked.

“Bring it up to date,” Maday said.

Skaret said the American Legal has been hired to review both the city charter and city code of ordinances and review how they mesh with state law because there might be some revisions inconsistent with state statute.

“We were going through the document ordinance by ordinance and having open discussion up until a year ago or so,” Buhmann said.

Bradley questioned why they would continue to do that if they’re not sure whether the revisions are in compliance.

Zarling’s motion to pause meetings over the new few months while the review is done passed unanimously. The charter commission will plan to meet next on October 15.