OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Rochester Charter Commission Meeting – May 15, 2026

Boards and Commissions — Friday, May 15, 2026
BodyRochester, Minnesota
SessionBoards and Commissions
DateFriday, May 15, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:21:36

Transcript — Verbatim
0:09

Present Phyllis President Michael President.

0:13

Hey, John?

0:14

President.

0:15

Marshall.

0:18

Astan is absent.

0:20

Mal Academy.

0:21

Present.

0:22

Roll me.

0:33

Here.

0:34

Fred?

0:35

Here.

0:35

John?

0:36

Here.

0:37

And CD.

0:40

Absence.

0:42

We have three uh excused absents, or they let us know about that.

0:46

So we do have a quorum.

0:47

We will continue.

0:49

First up, we have approval of the minutes from the March 10th meeting.

0:54

Mode for motion and second.

0:58

Any discussion.

1:02

Rachel, okay, thank you.

1:03

All in favor, then say aye.

1:05

All right.

1:06

Opposed.

1:07

Motion carries.

1:08

Thank you.

1:10

This is the opportunity for open comment period.

1:13

If there's anyone from the audience that would care to speak, preferably on any topic uh not on the agenda, but uh anyone care to speak.

1:24

Mayor, anyone you say not on the agenda.

1:27

I assuming this is on the agenda.

1:30

Your topic is on the agenda.

1:32

Rather probably take comments then.

1:35

I'm guessing it would be interaction.

1:37

That would be fine.

1:40

All right.

1:41

Then we will move on.

1:44

Um we have one unfinished business item, which is the review of the home rule charter.

1:49

This is in reference to some um comments that the mayor has forwarded.

1:54

Um on various sections of the charter looking for response from the commission.

2:00

The document that you should have received, um, you'll remember last time.

2:05

Uh apology that you did not have the document in front of you.

2:08

Um I did, but you you had not, so it wasn't fair to really get into much discussion.

2:14

You should have that document now, and you'll see the comments, the ones that are noted with Jody's um initial.

2:21

Um, that those are a result of a conversation she had with the mayor and trying to capture the the thoughts and document them and uh so those are brought forward for our consideration.

2:34

And then the other comments are from Michael and his um comments on each of the those.

2:41

So we can proceed any way you like here.

2:45

My suggestion is we can start at the top and work through.

2:49

If it looks like it's something really simple, like a grammatical thing, I mean we can decide and move on.

2:56

Um if there's one that takes a little discussion, that's fine.

3:01

If it looks like something that's really gonna run us down a rabbit hole, we may choose to in the interest of time.

3:08

All right, let's set that one aside and move on and then uh address those uh those later.

3:15

Does anyone else have a different preference for how we move through the document?

3:21

Yes, but their question is the mayor have any uh are you okay with following that and commenting as we go, or do you have something of it ahead of the time you want to talk about?

3:30

Well, I think I mean I can just state generally that uh this did stem from some work I had uh been doing going through the charter, you know, it comes out periodically.

3:40

Oh, go look in the chart about that time you do, and I found some dramatic layers, some of them are technical.

3:45

Um that we can talk about later.

3:48

I is a is an issue for me personally, and then there are some that were more like you might want to think about this because it's a little confusing.

3:57

Um so I'm happy to just sit and listen to the discussion and give input as we move along if that's okay with you.

4:06

But this was really just a finding errors that were some of them very technical that I was hoping you just get next.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Procedural█████████████████████████████████████████████59%
Public Engagement████████████████21%
Election Procedures████████11%
Personnel Matters███████9%
Summary of Proceedings

Rochester Charter Commission Meeting – May 15, 2026

Note: The agenda and minutes list the meeting date as May 12, 2026, but the user has specified May 15, 2026. This summary uses that corrected date.

The Charter Commission met to review proposed clarifications and technical revisions to the Home Rule Charter, forwarded by Mayor Kim Norton. The commission approved previous minutes and made several unanimous decisions on specific sections, deferring some items to a later meeting.

Consent Calendar

  • Motion to approve the minutes of March 10, 2026 (unanimous).
  • Motion to cancel the July 2026 meeting (unanimous).
  • Motion to continue the charter review discussion to the September meeting (unanimous).

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No members of the public wished to speak during the open comment period.

Discussion Items

  • Section 3.011 (Term Limits): The mayor questioned the enforceability of term limits after a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling. Commissioners debated whether to remove the section or add an explanatory note. A motion to repeal Section 3.011 in its entirety and forward to the City Council passed unanimously.
  • Section 3.02 (Residency Requirements): The mayor raised concerns about enforcement and whether candidates should provide proof of residency. Commissioners argued that enforcement is not the charter commission's role and recommended no change. A motion to leave the section as is passed unanimously.
  • Section 3.06 (Vacancy in Elective Office): The mayor sought clarity on succession during extended absences or death. After discussion about redundancy with Section 4.05, a motion to keep the language unchanged passed unanimously.
  • Section 4.00 (Mayor Duties): Only technical corrections (a typo and gender update) were approved. A motion to take no other action on this section passed unanimously.
  • Section 4.05 Subdivision 5 (Council Order of Succession): The mayor requested changing "five days" to "five business days" and removing the phrase "at its annual meeting." A motion to amend accordingly, striking the time element and referencing the city council's rules, passed unanimously.
  • Mayor's Authority to Examine Books/Papers: The mayor stated that under current interpretation she is not allowed to speak directly with department heads. Several commissioners noted that the charter gives the mayor authority to inspect books and papers, but this does not equate to directing staff. No motion was made on this issue.
  • 5 Business Days vs. 5 Days: The mayor requested changing the timeline for ordinance review from 5 days to 5 business days to account for weekends and holidays. This item was deferred to the September meeting.

Key Outcomes

  • Approved minutes (unanimous).
  • Repeal Section 3.011 forwarded to City Council (unanimous).
  • Keep Section 3.02 as is (unanimous).
  • Keep Section 3.06 as is (unanimous).
  • Technical corrections only in Section 4.00 (unanimous).
  • Amend Section 4.05 subd. 5 to remove "at its annual meeting" and tie succession to council rules (unanimous).
  • Continue charter review to September 2026 (unanimous).
  • Cancel July 2026 meeting (unanimous).
  • Motion to adjourn (unanimous).

Meeting Transcript

Present Phyllis President Michael President. Hey, John? President. Marshall. Astan is absent. Mal Academy. Present. Roll me. Here. Fred? Here. John? Here. And CD. Absence. We have three uh excused absents, or they let us know about that. So we do have a quorum. We will continue. First up, we have approval of the minutes from the March 10th meeting. Mode for motion and second. Any discussion. Rachel, okay, thank you. All in favor, then say aye. All right. Opposed. Motion carries. Thank you. This is the opportunity for open comment period. If there's anyone from the audience that would care to speak, preferably on any topic uh not on the agenda, but uh anyone care to speak. Mayor, anyone you say not on the agenda. I assuming this is on the agenda. Your topic is on the agenda. Rather probably take comments then. I'm guessing it would be interaction. That would be fine. All right. Then we will move on. Um we have one unfinished business item, which is the review of the home rule charter. This is in reference to some um comments that the mayor has forwarded. Um on various sections of the charter looking for response from the commission. The document that you should have received, um, you'll remember last time. Uh apology that you did not have the document in front of you. Um I did, but you you had not, so it wasn't fair to really get into much discussion. You should have that document now, and you'll see the comments, the ones that are noted with Jody's um initial. Um, that those are a result of a conversation she had with the mayor and trying to capture the the thoughts and document them and uh so those are brought forward for our consideration. And then the other comments are from Michael and his um comments on each of the those. So we can proceed any way you like here. My suggestion is we can start at the top and work through. If it looks like it's something really simple, like a grammatical thing, I mean we can decide and move on. Um if there's one that takes a little discussion, that's fine.

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