The Albert Lea Charter Commission will hold a special meeting Monday evening to discuss the pending petition supporting four-year mayoral terms.

The commission meeting will begin at 5:15 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at City Hall, during which time the petition committee members will present the proposed City Charter language amendment and petition form.

The meeting is to verify that the necessary paperwork is in order and procedures are followed before the petition will begin to circulate.

Former Albert Lea Mayor Randy Erdman, who is part of the petition committee, said city officials do not know if the meeting is a necessary one, but the committee wanted to take the necessary precautions to do so before signatures start coming in.

Immediately after the meeting, the petition will be able to be signed by those in favor of the change.

There will be five people on the petition committee seeking signatures. To sign, people must be registered voters with a valid address.

There needs to be 5 percent of the registered voters in the city from the last state election to sign the petition. That’s equal to about 400 voters, though proponents hope for more.

Albert Lea started out with one-year terms, but in 1903, it switched to two-year terms.

The Charter Commission in June voted against supporting the change of the city’s mayoral terms, voicing concern that they had not been presented with a significant number of residents in favor of the change or any kind of petition or direction from the City Council.