The Duluth City Council on Tuesday could make it easer for city employees to run for public office -- which would be exactly the opposite of what the Cloquet City Council did a few nights ago.
Duluth Councilor Jeff Anderson wants to remove language from the City Charter that states city employees must take a leave of absence from their job before running for office.
Anderson called the ordinance "housekeeping," saying state law already bans the leave-of-absence rule and that state law supersedes city law.
"As I understand it, the state law basically says you can run for whatever you want, it just can't interfere with your job," he said.
Anderson tried to make the change when he was on the Charter Commission two years ago, saying then-city attorney Bryan Brown ruled that state law bars putting restrictions on employees running for public office. Brown said Thursday he couldn't remember how he interpreted the law.
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Other cities, however, have put restrictions on city employees running for city office.
The Duluth city attorney's office did not respond when asked for its interpretation of state and city law.
On Tuesday, the Cloquet City Council voted 4-3 to prohibit city employees from holding elected city positions. The city of St. Paul requires employees who have been elected to a city position to take a leave of absence, according to St. Paul city clerk Shari Moore.
The ordinance takes effect immediately but won't apply to the two city employees who currently serve on the council, Erik Blesener and Barb Wyman, until they finish their terms of two and four years, respectively. Blesener is a police officer and Wyman is a civil engineer. If either decides to run for re-election and wins, he or she would have to take a leave of absence or quit his or her job.
Jeannette Bach, research manager at the League of Minnesota Cities, said she occasionally sees cities that incorporate similar restrictions into their charter or fold them into an ethics or personnel policy, but she hasn't seen a city adopt a free-standing ordinance barring city employees from holding a local office.
Because Anderson's ordinance is a change to the Duluth City Charter, it would need a 9-0 vote for approval. That won't be easy, as some councilors fear if employees are elected to the council they could have substantial conflicts of interest.
"How could they vote on anything?" asked Councilor Jay Fosle. "From whatever department that person is in, it could totally set the stage for that department."
The council's regular Monday meeting is postponed a day because of Duluth/St. Louis County Days at the Capitol.
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Cloquet Pine Journal staff writer Lisa Baumann contributed to this report.
