Public Hearing on Northfield's Charter Amendments Scheduled for Tuesday's Council Meeting

Putting into words how Northfield city government currently operates will be up for discussion at Tuesday’s Northfield City Council meeting.

Officially changing Northfield’s government from a “mayor-council” structure to “council-administrator” are among the amendments proposed for the City Charter.

For some time, Northfield has worked as a “council-administrator” city, which means a city administrator watches over the day-to-day operations to the city and is accountable to the City Council.

However, the charter—the city’s guiding document, or constitution—calls for a “mayor-council” form of government, which means the mayor would be the CEO.

Unanimous council approval of the amendment would put the charter in line with everyday practice.

Other changes proposed for the charter include:

• Moving the city’s primary election day from the Monday after Labor Day to the second Tuesday in August.

• Refining the process for residents to seek initiative, referendum and recall elections.

Tuesday’s public hearing is the latest step in what could be considered a lengthy process in making the proposed changes official in the charter. The process is defined by the charter.

After officially receiving the proposed amendments in September from the seven-member , the council voted Oct. 4 to call Tuesday’s hearing.

The charter calls for the first reading of amendments to be conducted within one month of the public hearing. The council is scheduled to do that on Nov. 15. If the first reading is approved by the entire council, the second reading would take place on Dec. 6.

Then, if the amendments are unanimously approved during the second reading, the amendments would be published Dec. 10 and become law 90 days later, on March 9.

In addition to hearing what the public has to say about the amendments currently on the table, councilors will vote on putting additional charter amendments in the pipeline. The Charter Commission is requesting the council call a public hearing and direct the city attorney to review a proposal to establish a board of ethics.

According to a letter to Mayor Mary Rossing from Charter Commission Chair Jayne Hager Dee, the board would hear citizen inquiries about potential ethics violations or conflict of interest by city officials. Many cities, says Hager Dee, have similar boards of ethics.

“The Northfield Charter Commission believes that these changes would be a move towards more transparent governance and offer quick and inexpensive resolution to citizen complaints,” Hager Dee says in the letter. “We ask that you place this on the agenda and receive these changes as quickly as possible.”

IF YOU GO TO THE MEETING
WHEN: 7 p.m. today
WHERE: , 801 Washington St.
WHO CAN GO: Open to the public