2006-02-17 Emergency Special - Laserfiche WebLink

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never examined whether personal property taxes had been paid in all of the time which he had served as Finance Director. Prior to this meeting, on February 16, Councilmembers Wagner and Welsch had met with the city manager to inquire about wide spread rumors they had heard about the city going to the Court on this matter. This meeting lasted from 2:40 – 3:30 PM. Both council members had left with the understanding that the city manager would contact the Council to meet if legal actions were needed. On Thursday evening ,however, when Councilmember Francine Brungardt had inquired about this topic, Mr. Ollendorff informed her that as the chief law enforcement officer under the City’s Charter, he had investigated, not thinking that it was necessary to call a meeting of the City Council. Questioning whether the decision to proceed against candidates for elected city office should be the decision of the full Council or of the City Manager, Ms. Brungardt started calling council members to set up a meeting between the City Manager, City Attorney, and the Council. Under further questioning by Ms. Brungardt, Mr. Ollendorff reiterated that he was chief law enforcement officer with investigating powers; however, he said that he had limited knowledge of the law. Councilmember Brungardt pointed out that his putting a barrier between the candidates and their rights to be on the election ballot demands that a person knowing the law, our City Attorney, must be involved. At 4:10 PM Mr. Ollendorff called Mr. Mulligan and asked him to come to our ongoing meeting. The Council discussed next st who would be suing whom if this situation was presented to a judge on Tuesday, the 21. Would it be the City of University City vs.the City Clerk and the candidates named by the citizen? Councilmember Wagner maintained that this appears that the City is litigating against itself. th Mr.Ollendorff next told the group that state law makes 5:00pm on the 6 Tuesday before an election the deadline for which a city can file to amend its information certifying the candidates to be placed on the ballot. That’s the reason for his quick actions. He was told that Council needs to know who has the authority to direct the City Attorney to go to the Court, the City Manager or the Council, since the City Clerk and the City Manager work for the Council. Ms. Brungardt maintained that the City Manager should NOT take this matter to the Court. She continued that the Council should be involved before the City Manager takes action on an election issue involving our employee the City Clerk. Ms. Brot noted that the new City Clerk had followed what she thought was the proper step in this matter by contacting the City Finance Director; this had been taught to her when she was trained. The City Finance Director told her there were no municipal taxes personal owed. She was not told to check on payment of property taxes; the document signed by the candidates states “municipal taxes”were paid. 3 Revision Date: 2/27/06