By Kevin Duchschere
Organizers of a grass roots effort to let Ramsey County residents vote on a proposed stadium sales tax said Wednesday that they expect to kick off their petition drive within the next two weeks.

Ady Wickstrom, a Shoreview City Council member, said 16 people met Tuesday night for a long session to discuss strategy and timing. They will seek a referendum on either a county charter amendment or a county ordinance that would bar sales tax revenue for a big league football or baseball stadium without a vote of the people.

No petition is ready now, she said. Nor will it be available at Shoreview City Hall, which because of Wickstrom's ties is getting phone calls from people anxious to sign.

But the group wants to launch the petition drive as soon as possible, before the special session that Gov. Mark Dayton has proposed calling for Thanksgiving week.

"The time is now. It's on people's minds. Come the holidays, it's going to be a distant memory," Wickstrom said.

Questions still remain, including whether the required signatures need to be collected inside a 90-day time frame. That provision is on the county's website but not in the county charter.

The Ramsey charter, which dates from 1990, apparently has never been amended by petition before. "We're on new ground here, and because of that nobody's ever asked these questions before," she said.

The ad hoc group chose a committee of five — including Wickstrom, former St. Paul school board member Tom Goldstein, and Ramsey County Charter Commission member Rod Halvorson — to spearhead organizing efforts. Wickstrom estimates they'll need 1,000 volunteers to go door-to-door, work street corners and make phone calls.

If the group opts to seek a charter amendment, it will need to gather 14,874 signatures; if it wants to pass an ordinance, it will have to get 27,817 names. Both figures are based on recent voting or voter registration numbers.

Ramsey County's plan to build the $1.1 billion stadium, spearheaded by a couple of county commissioners, would require a $350 million contribution from the county paid with a half-percent sales tax. The Charter Commission last week turned down a proposed referendum on the sales tax, saying it had no authority over policy matters.