Agenda - Council Work Session - 01/14/2014

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CC Work Session 2. 3. Meeting Date: 01/14/2014 Information Title: Update on LRRWMO JPA Amendment Proposal to Allow Weighted Voting for Capital Improvement Projects Purpose /Background: PURPOSE The purpose of this case is to update the City Council on the status of the City of Ramsey's proposal to allow the use of weighted voting when considering the approval of LRRWMO driven capital improvement projects. BACKGROUND The current Lower Rum River Watershed Management Organization (LRRWMO) Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) provides for each member city to receive one vote on matters requiring a vote. Currently there are four member cities in the LRRWMO; Andover, Anoka, Coon Rapids and Ramsey. Each city therefore receives one -fourth of the total vote. However, the City of Coon Rapids will likely soon be removed from the LRRWMO per the related consent agenda item. This means each of the three remaining member city's will receive one -third of the total vote per the current JPA. The City of Ramsey has historically paid about 45% of the LRRWMO's annual costs due to our large area of land within the LRRWMO and our net tax capacity. Comparatively, Andover and Anoka both pay considerably less. So when considering our greater financial obligations, it would seem to make sense that Ramsey should receive a larger percentage of the total vote, especially when considering potential large capital improvement projects, such as the proposed Anoka Dam reconstruction. On October 8, 2013, Councilmember Kuzma submitted a letter to the WMO proposing an amendment to the current JPA. A copy of this proposal is attached. This amendment allows for weighted voting whenever LRRWMO related capital improvement projects are to be considered. However, any time a simple majority vote is required, Ramsey would still only receive an equal vote to the other member cities. The proposed amendment allows capital improvement projects to be approved after receiving a minimum of 66% of the vote with each member city being allocated a percentage of the total vote equivalent to the amount contributed annually to the general fund. This proposal has been discussed on several occasions by the LRRWMO Board, but to date no official action has been taken by the Board. The City's of Andover and Anoka have both indicated they don't necessarily approve of the weighted vote as proposed. Andover feels the current JPA language contains adequate provisions to allow member cities to develop any needed agreements between them, while Anoka has concerns regarding the legality of a weighted voting system based on comments made by the WMO attorney in his memo dated November 11, 2013. A copy of this memo is attached. If the member cities are unable to agree on a proposed JPA amendment, the JPA will terminate on January 1, 2015, and at that time Anoka County will assume the responsibilities of the WMO and act as the WMO for the watershed, or petition the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) for creation of a watershed district. The County or watershed district would then assume all responsibilities of the WMO for surface water management within the watershed area. This is important to note for the following reasons. First, the County or watershed district could fund capital improvement projects within the watershed in any number of ways, but whichever way is used it would generally result in the taxpayers of the largest cities, or the cities having the highest tax value, paying the largest share of capital improvement projects. Second, no city would have a vote in any decisions made by the County or watershed district to undertake a capital improvement project. In other words, it would likely be better to accept and