04-29-2003 Charter Commission Regular Meeting - 1 -
Minutes of the Hopkins Charter Commission
April 29, 2003
The Hopkins Charter Commission met on April 29. Present were Commission members:
Dorothy Boen, John Frane, Fran Hesch and Jim Shirley. Assistant City Manager Jim Genellie
was also present.
The meeting was brought to order at 6:40 p.m.
Election of Chair and Vice-Chair.
Commissioner Frane was nominated for Chair and Commissioner Hesch was nominated for
Vice-Chair. The Commission voted unanimously to elect John Frane as Chair and Fran Hesch as
Vice-Chair.
Approval of the Minutes of the Previous Meeting.
Commissioner Boen moved and Commissioner Shirley seconded a motion to approve the
minutes of February 12, 2002. The Commission voted to approve the minutes.
Reports.
There were no official reports.
Communications
There were no communications.
Old Business
There was no old business
New Business
Commissioner Hesch had a presentation about alternative voting systems, specifically Instant
Run Off Voting (or ranked ballot voting.) She introduced Tony Anderson Solgård, of FairVote
MN. Commissioner Hesch explained how Instant Run Off voting works. Mr. Solgård explained
that the Federal Government has made money available to the states to upgrade their elections
through the Help America Vote Act (HAVA.) The State of Minnesota has established a
committee to make recommendations on how the money should be spent in Minnesota.
FairVote MN is advocating spending the money on voting machines that would be able to
support Instant Run Off voting.
The Commission discussed the issue. It was the consensus of the Commission that although it
was not ready to make any recommendation about changing the voting method for Hopkins, it
supported the idea that new voting machines should at least have the capability to support
alternative voting methods should such methods be desired in the future.
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The Commission discussed passing a resolution urging the City Council to pass a resolution
directed at the HAVA committee urging the Committee to require any new election equipment,
which is purchased with the federal funds, be compatible with ranked ballot voting.
Commissioner Boen moved and Commissioner Shirley seconded a motion to approve such a
resolution. The Commission unanimously endorsed this provision.
The Commission then discussed adding language to the resolution that would urge the Hopkins
City Council to require any new or updated voting equipment, which the City might acquire,
have the ability to handle ranked ballot voting. The Commission discussed this provision as well
as alternative language and decided not to include it in the resolution.
The Committee voted unanimously to adopt the resolution.
Adjournment.
Commissioner Boen moved and Commissioner Shirley seconded the motion to adjourn. The
meeting adjourned by unanimous consent.