Petition to place Minneapolis parks proposal on fall ballot moves ahead

Minneapolis park independence proposal now heads to the Charter Commission and City Council to reach the fall ballot.

By STEVE BRANDT, Star Tribune

Last update: August 18, 2009 - 10:29 PM

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Organizers of a petition drive to place a Minneapolis park independence proposal on the November ballot have met the required threshold for signatures, the city announced Tuesday.

According to the city election department, the charter proposal petition had as many as 600 signatures to spare.

The proposal would amend the charter to declare the quasi-independent Park and Recreation Board a separate, independent government unit, with more financial and legal control over its affairs.

"Obviously, we're very pleased that we're able to meet the threshold," said former park commissioner Scott Neiman, one of the sponsors of the drive.

But the next step may not be so easy. The city Charter Commission now needs to formally transmit the proposal to the City Council. But the commission still hasn't announced a meeting date and reportedly is having difficulty finding one to fulfill a council request that it meet before Aug. 27 so the council can act on the proposal two days later.

If the commission can't convene before its next regular meeting on Sept. 2, the council could schedule a special meeting, to fall before a Sept. 11 deadline to submit the proposal to the county for the fall ballot, according to Council President Barbara Johnson.

The council's adopted schedule declares the week of Labor Day an "off week," when council members frequently travel, so the subsequent regular council meeting would fall on Sept. 18.

Park supporters last week delivered petitions with what they said were 17,086 signatures to election officials, who had to verify that at least 10,449 of them represent registered Minneapolis voters. Officials validated 63.5 percent of the signatures, with about 600 extra unchecked signatures.

A proposal by some council members earlier this year, later sidetracked, would have subsumed parks into City Hall as a regular city department.

Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438

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