The days of the controversial Eagan Charter Commission may be numbered, after a judge released a ruling Tuesday that a majority of its members can be appointed by the Eagan City Council.
Council members interviewed 21 applicants Tuesday night for seven seats on the Charter Commission that they were ordered to fill by Scott County Chief District Judge William Macklin.
Mayor Mike Maguire took pains to inform the applicants that they weren't interviewing for the job of ending the commission, but to serve on it.
"It's up to the commission to decide whether or not to disband it," he said.
But it was Maguire and other council members who asked the commission to disband in November, after a proposed charter was rejected by 91 percent of Eagan voters.
Dee Richards, chair of the Charter Commission, said that a majority of commission members appointed by the council may stymie efforts to do the work of the commission and improve the city's government.
The council, she said, has made it "very clear on more than one occasion what they intend to do, and I believe them."
The City Council planned to complete its interviews Tuesday night and announce its appointments at the council meeting next Tuesday.