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DOCUMENTS to DOWNLOAD
(Click images or highlighted text to download .pdf files)
saintpaultrash.com/downloads.htm
On June 20, 2018, the MN Supreme Court recognized that citizens still have rights. Halper & Joseph founding partner, Greg Joseph, represented residents of Bloomington, MN to a Minnesota Supreme Court decision (the Jennissen case) that reinforces the right of residents to determine their own trash haulers over mandated use of a hauler selected by city officials.
On November 14, 2018, the St. Paul City Council, via Resolution #18-1922 that disregards binding precedent directly on point, voted 6-1, denying citizens' right to submit trash Ordinance #18-39 to a ballot vote. Despite finding our Petition “legally sufficient,” the City claims that the subject matter is “not appropriate to submit to the electorate.”
We (residents of St. Paul, MN) strongly disagree, and in order to enforce our right to vote on St. Paul's new trash plan, our only remedy is to sue the City. We have retained Greg Joseph, the same attorney who successfully defeated the pre-emption claim on behalf of residents in Bloomington, MN.
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Click here
for access to copies of documents that have been filed in this
referendum lawsuit.
CONCLUSION "Voter disenfranchisement is on full display in Saint Paul, and the damage done by the City's arrogance mounts with each passing day.11 Time and again it has proven that it has absolutely no regard for voter rights under the Charter, even refusing to abide by its own resolution to recognize a referendum on a different ordinance.12 No meaningful argument is made to exclude the Referendum from the ballot. This Court must recognize it as legally sufficient, and the City's refusal to authorize it as arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to law. Petitioners Respectfully request, pursuant to the Charter §8.05, that the Court direct immediate suspension of the enforcement of Ordinance 18-39 pending its approval by the voters at the Fall, 2019 municipal election." [Excerpt from: Petitioners' Reply Brief, April 26, 2019.] "11 At the time of this writing, Saint Paul has just passed the first round of 20 tax assessment Resolutions for eventual placement of liens on private properties for failure to pay garbage bills. These Resolutions will directly affect roughly 6,000 properties in the City. The authority for this action is the subject of the Referendum -- Ordinance 18-39. Petitioners have attached the documents hereto for the Court's convenience." "12 Exhibit F is City Resolution 18-1760. This recognizes the referendum on Ordinance 18-40 as legally sufficient and directs the City Attorney to draft a measure repealing it. This Resolution was passed on October 11, 2018. Today, more than 6 months later, Ordinance 18-40 [has not been repealed]."
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Attorney's
letter to
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City
Council
Petition is Legally Sufficient |
MN
Supreme Court precedent:
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Unpaid / Delinquent Trash Bills February 2019 -- for October to December 2018 (there are 8,452)
saintpaultrash.com/downloads.htm |
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On 08/08/2018
ORDINANCE
18-38
amended
Chapter
60
St. Paul Administrative Code
Are you being billed for empty, unnecessary, unused &/or unaffordable trash carts?
If you did not pay, the city will pay your hauler and demand payment from you. If you fail to appeal the city's order, the city will levy hefty fees and assess your property tax, you will be forever barred from making any future appeals and the assessment (whether proper or improper) shall be final.
You (we!) can fight back...
APPEAL: " Within twenty (20) days after adoption of the resolution adopting the property services costs, any person aggrieved may appeal to the district court."
saintpaultrash.com/downloads.htm
City of St. Paul -- Trash Cart Mandate
Annual costs + Other information
How many carts are required for my building?
Can I share a cart with my neighbor(s)?
As a "zero waster," can I opt out?
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C O D E |
Chapter 220, St. Paul Legislative Code (Adopted 09/05/2018, Ordinance 18-39) Residential Coordinated Collection This ordinance is the subject of a Petition for Referendum, and it is also the subject of a lawsuit in Ramsey County District Court. If plaintiffs' claims prevail, operation of ORD 18-39 (i.e., Chapter 220) will be suspended pending a referendum in November 2019, at which time a majority of voters might choose to repeal ORD 18-39. |
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220.07 e. Assessment of delinquent Accounts. The delinquent account shall be a debt owed to the city and any unpaid costs shall be collected by special assessment under the authority of Minn. Stat. § 443.29 and the Saint Paul City Charter by the procedure outlined in Chapter 60 of the Saint Paul Administrative Code. Unpaid costs shall not include additional interest beyond that charged in section (a) above. Action under this section does not preclude any other civil or criminal enforcement procedure. |
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U T H O R I T Y |
Rubbish Removal |
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| § 443.29 RATES CHARGED AGAINST PREMISES. The rates for rubbish disposal shall be a charge against the premises from which rubbish is collected, and the owner, lessee, or occupant of the premises, or against any or all of them, and any claim for unpaid rates charged or rentals which have been properly billed to the occupant of the premises may be collected in a civil action in any court of competent jurisdiction, or, in the discretion of the city council of the city, may be certified to the county auditor with the taxes against such property served, and shall be collected as other taxes are collected. Payment of delinquent rentals shall be credited to the fund as are current funds for that purpose. | |||||||||
| § 443.27 DEFINITIONS. | |||||||||
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| § 443.28 POWERS OF COUNCIL. | |||||||||
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P R O C E D U R E |
Chapter 60, St. Paul Administrative Code | ||||||||
| 60.03 f. Certification to county for collection with taxes. After adoption by resolution of the property services costs and assessment rates therefore, the city clerk shall transmit a certified copy of said resolution to the county department of property taxation to be extended on the proper tax list of the county and collected the following year along with current tax | |||||||||
| 60.03 g. Appeal. Within twenty (20) days after adoption of the resolution adopting the property services costs, any person aggrieved may appeal to the district court in the manner set forth in Chapter 14 of the City Charter. | |||||||||
| Chapter 14, St. Paul City Charter | |||||||||
| Sec. 14.01. - Power to levy assessments. | |||||||||
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The city shall have the power to levy assessments to pay all or any part of the cost of improvements as are of a local character, but in no case shall the amounts assessed exceed the benefits to the property. |
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| Sec. 14.01.2. - Charge for services. | |||||||||
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The council may provide, by ordinance, that the cost of any services such as street cleaning, street flushing or oiling, and tree trimming on streets, sidewalks, boulevards, or other public or private property undertaken by the city may be charged against the property benefited. Service charges shall be collected and levied like special assessments or in such other manner as the council determines. The council shall have the power to abate nuisances on any particular property and shall have the power to collect the costs of such abatement as a special assessment in the manner provided in this chapter. |
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| City Charter Sec. 14.01.4. - Appeal. | |||||||||
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(1) Within twenty (20) days after the order adopting the assessment, or making a reassessment, a new assessment or supplemental assessment, any person may appeal to the district court by filing a notice of appeal with the city clerk stating the grounds upon which the appeal is taken. Such notice shall be filed with the clerk of the district court within ten (10) days after the filing with the city clerk. |
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(2) The only defense to an assessment shall be that the assessment is fraudulent, or that it is made upon a demonstrable mistake of fact or law, or that the assessment is in an amount in excess of the actual benefits to the property. The jurisdiction of the court shall not be affected by an error, act or omission not affecting the substantial rights of any person. |
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(3) A person who fails to file the notice of appeal with the city clerk within the time specified or fails to file the notice of appeal with the district court within the time specified shall be forever barred from proceeding with an appeal and trial in said court, and the assessment shall be final. |
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(4) In case of an appeal, the appellant shall be given a copy of the assessment roll or any part thereof upon payment of an amount designated by administrative ordinance. This copy shall be certified to by the proper city officers and filed by the appellant in the district court. |
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Cost
Analysis by John Genereux
- August 2018
saintpaultrash.com/downloads.htm |
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St. Paul "Free Market"
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Maplewood "Organized" Prices
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St. Paul "Organized" Prices
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