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Membership and Functions <br />of a Planning Commission: <br /> <br /> Once the decision has been made to establish a <br />planning commission, questions arise as to how <br />legally to proceed, how many meynbers to appoint, <br />and what its functions should be. <br /> <br /> After the determination has been made of the <br />size and functions of the planning commission, the <br />local governing body passes an ordinance reflecting <br />these decisions. Counties, cities, and townships in <br />Minnesota, through enabling legislation (the <br />Municipal Planning Act, M.S. 462.351 et seq., the <br />County Planning Act, M.S. 394.30 et seq. and the <br />Rural Township Planning Act, M.S. 366.10 et <br />seq.) are authorized to establish planning commis- <br />sions for the general purpose of assisting the local <br />elected officials in establishing and carrying out a <br />planning program. At the same time, the com- <br />munity should adopt a set of bylaws to govern the <br />appointment of the planning commissioners <br />and the conduct of the planning commission. <br />Some model bylaws for a planning commission <br />have been included in the Appendix as a guide for <br />local communities. <br /> <br />. A. MEMBERSHIP <br /> <br /> One of the issues that generally is raised when <br />the local-community first decides to appoint a <br />planning commission is the make-up and size of the <br />commission. <br /> <br /> Theoretically, a planning commission should be <br />representative of the local community in which it <br />serves. For that reason, in appointing members to <br />the commission, every attempt should be made <br />to .draw members from every walk of life and at <br />the'same time obtain a proPer balance between <br />different interest groups in the community. For <br />example, an attempt should be made to obtain a <br />proper balance between urban.rural interests, <br />developer-consumer interests, economic develop- <br />ment-ecology interests, professional-layman in- <br />terests, and so on. In some communities, the <br />planning commissions have become overly domi- <br />nated by one group or interest, which usually has <br />been business-develoPer (urbanized areas) or <br />farmers (rural areas). The result has been that the <br /> <br />-9- <br /> <br /> <br />