The City of Crookston Charter Commission held a meeting on Wednesday evening to learn the findings of City of Crookston Attorney Charles Reynolds after he researched the validity of holding a special election and bonding for city employees.
SPECIAL ELECTIONS
The first topic discussed was the validity of a special election after the City had two conflicting legal opinions, one from former City Attorney Chuck Fitzgerald stating that the city can’t hold a special election, and one from current City Attorney Corky Reynolds that they can. This was first discussed at the December 2, 2019, City Charter Commission meeting (click here). That caused a lot of confusion and questions from the Crookston City Council and Charter Commission, and Reynolds has been researching to see if they can have a special election since the Charter Commission meeting on December 7, 2020 (click here).
Reynolds said both opinions are right after looking at the facts of Fitzgerald’s reasoning in that situation. “There was a previous opinion issued by then-City Attorney Chuck Fitzgerald in a similar situation where they needed to appoint a new councilperson. He indicated it wasn’t proper and couldn’t be done, and he was correct given the facts,” said Reynolds. “There were some facts with state-mandated timelines of state-mandated filing affidavit of candidacy. The candidates couldn’t get those done, and the city wouldn’t have been able to get it on the ballot in an appropriate manner. So he was correct, given those facts.”
Reynolds said it wasn’t the charter that wouldn’t allow it. It was state guidelines that didn’t allow it at the time. The Crookston City Charter allows special elections, but it has to meet state timelines and guidelines. “Believe it or not, both opinions, in my opinion, are correct. The charter allows a special election if chosen to do so. The council can act as they did in the last appointment by having a committee making recommendations and a resolution passing. Again, to have a special election, you have to meet the state requirements about affidavits of candidacy, you have to meet certain dates on which an election can be held given all the calculations, and there is a cost of about $20,000 to $30,000 for the city.”
BONDING/INSURANCE FOR CITY EMPLOYEES
The second topic was to check whether the city employees were bonded/insured and up to what number. The city is currently covered up to $400,000, but the question was what happens if there is malfeasance or swindling, and it is $1 million. The city would have a big gap that wouldn’t be covered. “Our city charter requires the City Administrator have a surety bond before assuming office. We are covered under the League of Minnesota Cities general policy, but with a limit of $400,000,” said Reynolds. “We had a discussion about if it was appropriate and maybe we should look at some type of umbrella coverage and what it might cost us, how much we could get, and whether that would wave our statutory limit at $400,000. They (the commission) didn’t make a motion, but I got the general sense that they concur that we should be looking at options that might be available for broader coverage.”
Tom Noah, the owner of Noah Insurance, is a member of the Crookston Charter Commission, and he said if he was on the city council, he would be looking into it. He would also look at cybersecurity insurance or something across that line. “That was the whole purpose, to see how we can better protect the city,” said Reynolds. “We are all here to serve the city, and that would be better protection.”
