Eagan officials agree to end feud, dump effort to switch to charter

The Eagan Charter Commission is throwing in the towel.

In a unanimous vote Wednesday night, the commission ended a years-long quest to change the city's form of government -- an effort that had persisted even after voters soundly rejected two different charter proposals.

Several commission members said that they still believe the city would be better off with a home-rule charter, but that disagreement and animosity have made it impossible for the 13-member group to continue its work.

"It's become much too confrontational," said chair Dee Richards.

"Little did I realize [when I joined the commission] that I would become embroiled in a great political hate-fest," member Eric VeVea said.

The charter debate in Eagan has been plagued from the start with rancor between commission members and elected officials at City Hall. The bad feelings worsened after more than 90 percent of voters defeated the most recent charter proposal in November and the City Council, which has made no secret of its desire to shut down the commission, appointed seven members who said they would try to disband it from within.

The group also faced the likelihood of a public vote this fall that could force it to dissolve. Previously, a commission could only disband by a three-fourths vote of its own members, but legislation passed this spring allows citizens to put the question on the ballot by collecting signatures from 5 percent of registered voters -- or just under 2,000 Eagan residents.

The petition drive was underway, said Paul Bakken, a City Council member and one of the newly named commission members. "The ink wasn't even dry on the governor's signature when we started," he said.

Disbanding also resolves a lawsuit over $1,200 in website work that the commission asked the city to pay for. A Dakota County judge ruled in May that the city didn't have to foot the bill, but on Tuesday the City Council approved a settlement saying it would pay if the commission disbanded on Wednesday.

"It's a hell of a lot cheaper than the city having to run another special election for a charter that nobody wants," Bakken said.

Out of 854 cities in Minnesota, 107 operate under a charter, a constitutional option that the state gives cities that want more leeway to govern. Eagan is the largest city in the state without a charter.

Efforts to pass a charter got rolling in 2000 out of a citizens' group with many members who were political opponents of then-mayor Pat Anderson, giving the movement a partisan flavor that lingered, for some, even after the departure of many original commission members.

In 2004, 80 percent of Eagan voters gave the thumbs-down to a commission proposal that would have enlarged the City Council and given residents more power to call referendums.

A different, scaled-down charter was defeated last fall.

In April, a commission vote to disband failed in a 7-3 vote, with the council appointees unable to drum up the 10-vote supermajority they needed.

Several charter supporters at Wednesday's meeting expressed anger and sadness at what they described as repeated attempts by city officials to block public debate on the issue.

City leaders, said former commission member Jeff Gregory, tried to "bamboozle the people of Eagan into thinking a charter was a horrible animal out of a sewer, ready to eat their children."

Sarah Lemagie • 952-882-9016