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<br />CASSCOUN1Y <br />GOVERNMENT <br />1..1.. <br /> <br />State's Attorney <br /> <br />Birch P. Burdick <br /> <br />Assistant State's <br /> <br />Attorneys: <br /> <br />Mark R. Boening <br />Tracy J. Peters <br />Trent W Mahler <br />Aaron G. Birst <br />Earle R. Myers, Jr. <br />Leah J. Viste <br />Reid A. Brady <br />Kara Schmitz Olson <br />Jonathan H. P. Anderson <br />Gary E. Euren <br /> <br />Victim/Witness <br />Coordinators: <br /> <br />Brenda Olson-Wray <br />Debbie Tibiatowski <br /> <br />Check Division/ <br />Restitution: <br /> <br />Linda Workin <br />Charlotte Johnson <br /> <br />Box 2806 <br />211 Ninth Street South <br />Fargo, North Dakota 58108 <br /> <br />PH: 701-241-5850 <br />Fax: 701-241-5838 <br /> <br />MEMORANDUM <br /> <br />RECEIVED <br /> <br />TO: <br /> <br />Scott Wagner & Robyn Sorum <br />Cass County Commissioners <br /> <br />DEe 1 c 2005 <br /> <br />C~ASS COUNTY COMMISS!ON <br /> <br />FROM: <br /> <br />Birch P. Burdick <br />Cass County State's Attorney <br /> <br />RP~ <br /> <br />DATE: <br /> <br />December 15, 2005 <br /> <br />RE: Comments on Conversion of Certain Elective Offices <br />within Cass County to Appointive Offices <br /> <br />..................... <br /> <br />This Memo addresses some questions that recently arose from the local <br />governance advisory committee's consideration of converting certain <br />elective offices into appointive offices, namely the County Treasurer, <br />Register of Deeds (n/kla Recorder) and Auditor, as contemplated within <br />Cass County's Home Rule Charter (HRC) Art. 6, 91,113 (copy enclosed). <br />(That HRC provision also refers to the Clerk of Court, however the Clerk <br />is no longer a county department.) I have directed this Memo to you as <br />the Commissioners who volunteered to look at the matter. It is my intent <br />that it may be used to assist you in your consideration of whether, and if <br />so how, to address such a conversion. <br /> <br />The HRC, passed in 1994, provides that the Commission "may" convert <br />those elective offices into appointed offices via an ordinance. There are <br />certain restrictions. The ordinance must: (1) be after January 1, 2002, (2) <br />it cannot shorten the term of an elected official, and (3) it cannot reduce <br />the salary of that official's office during that term of office. That HRC <br />provision is not in conflict with the general "powers" the Legislature <br />granted to home rule charter counties in NDCC 911-09.1-05(3), nor with <br />the more general provision within the HRC, namely Art.2, 93. <br /> <br />In reviewing the matter, I have not found any court cases specifically on <br />point. However, on a somewhat similar topic, the Attorney General issued <br />an opinion stating there was no conflict between a statutory provision <br />(NDCC 911-10.2-02(1)) allowing the elimination of a county office by <br />resolution of a county commission in a non-home rule charter county and <br />the ND Constitution Art. VII, 99. NDAG Opinion 98-F-14 (copy enclosed). <br />That opinion also stated there was no conflict between the statute <br />allowing a voter initiative to eliminate a county office (NDCC 911-10.2- <br /> <br />Page 1 of 3 <br />