The City of Morris is one of only 107 Minnesota cities that operates under a home rule charter, and after several decades, the Morris City Council has appointed a new charter commission. This doesn’t become wholly official until the Chief Judge signs off on it, but for now, the seven individuals appointed are ready to serve and most attended one meeting together with the city council to hear a presentation on Home Rule Charters, charter commissions, and their role in a community. 

The presentation, given by League of Minnesota Cities Attorney Tori Kee, detailed the functions of charter cities and charters, the role of a charter commission, and the process and procedures for amending charters.

In 1974, the previous charter commission was established and has not been changed since. Only two of the members of that commission are still living, and have been removed from the commission by the chief judge, paving the way for new members to be appointed. Appointing a new commission is not for the purpose of completely overhauling the charter, but to have an active group that can be available on an ad hoc basis. Mayor Kevin Wohlers recommended the new members familiarize themselves with the charter and take it one step at a time. There hasn’t been a commission for a long time, so he cautioned against becoming overwhelmed by it. He added that not only is the city required to have a commission, but that it’s important to have this governing body made up of citizens to have that voice.

The newly appointed charter commission members are Autumn Johnson, Carol Beyer, Tom Loew, Gregg Prest, Diane Baum, Deb Economou and Julie Snyder.

What does being a home rule charter city mean, and what does the charter commission do?

In Minnesota, a city can be incorporated as a home rule charter city, or as a statutory city. Statutory cities are authorized and empowered by Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 412. This means that everything they do has to be enumerated to them specifically in chapter 412 to do it. 

Charter cities are authorized by the Minnesota Constitution, Article XII, section 4 and Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 410, and are empowered by the City Charter, which exercises powers granted by the charter. This means everything that the council does comes from that charter and gives them those powers. However, this doesn’t mean they don’t have to comply with laws, but they have many more opportunities to dictate how the government acts and the power the city council holds.

Under a city charter, there are four forms of charter government:

• A weak mayor-council: this means the mayor has no more or less power than the rest of the council. The city council acts as a whole to make decisions.
• A strong mayor-council: the mayor is at the top of the council below, and any department managers. Minnesota has only four cities with this structure: Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth, and St. Cloud.
• Council-manager: this means all of the administration is delegated to a manager. A council is reserved for legislation, making ordinances, and making rules. This is the structure that Morris operates under.
• Commission: where every council member is the manager of a specific department in the city, so each person manages their department, and there’s no manager or anyone else, just the council. There are currently no cities operating under this structure.

Statutory cities can only adopt ordinances when authorized by statute to do so, but home-rule charter cities can adopt ordinances on all appropriate subjects unless prohibited by law. 

Statutory cities provide services like police, fire, sanitation, and utilities, which are also available to charter cities, however, these are things that are specific to statutory cities that are enumerated. Basically, a charter city can do these same things, but they also have the opportunity to do things that statutory cities can’t. Initiative, referendum and recall are special powers a lot of charter cities have or have in their charters. Charters can also dictate the size of the council, what a quorum is, as well as the structure of the commission, and how it operates.

It allows the city council to use any of their legally authorized power under state law and the state constitution, which gives them the tools they need to serve the city and get the job done. It can also make people a little concerned that too much power is given to the council. This is why checks are in place, and why there is one in the Morris City Charter, which is the recall referendum and initiative. These are not available to a statutory city. Recall is the opportunity for voters to recall an elected official due to malfeasance or nonfeasance, and it’s specific to the act of their duties. Initiative is when a group of voters can bypass the council by proposing, by petition, an ordinance or change they want to see, and then it will go to the ballot so that people can vote on it. Lastly, a referendum. This one is if people feel that the council has come up with an ordinance that they don’t think should go into effect, which can be petitioned to stall it, and either go back to the council or it can be put to the voters to decide. 

Typically, if a city wants to become a charter city, they get a group together and bring it up to the chief judge in their district. In 1974, the previous commission members in Morris were appointed by the chief judge to dole out the first city charter. After that first charter draft was completed, it was then submitted to the court, provided to the council, and then the council called for a vote by the public on the charter whether or not they wanted to proceed. 

So, what is the role of a charter commission? The charter commission is a permanent body and should be meeting at least once per year. Failure for the commission to meet or be formed does not end its existence, however, the only way a charter commission goes away is if the city abandons the charter altogether and switches to a statutory form of government. The commission must have between seven and 15 members, and be qualified voters of the city. They can hold other offices, like council member, but they cannot be a judge. The charter could specify, however, that a council member or another person holding a specific position, cannot be on the commission. A charter commission could also have term limits, but they don’t need to. 

Charter commission members should be knowledgeable about the city charter and city code. Commission members can propose changes, and draft proposed charters. 

The charter commission can bring about changes of their own accord, at the request of the council, or by a petition of the voters. Those three situations are when an amendment might be made and would call the convening of the charter commission outside any regular meetings they might hold.

Kee stated in her presentation to the commission that the essentials of a good charter have a comprehensive grant of power, is simple and brief with clear language, allows the city council to provide more detailed regulations through ordinances, ensures workable city government and eliminates barriers, centralizes administration, and has a representative democracy. She also added that charters should generally be reviewed every 10 years, or upon proposal by the commission, citizen petition, ordinance by city council, or charter commission recommendation to the council. It can also be amended for outdated language and processes, to clarify vague language, if something is found to be unconstitutional, or as needed.

As of September 5, the chief judge has not signed off on the new charter members, but once that has been completed, the new members will be sworn in and official.