Agenda - Council - 02/26/1979 - Laserfiche WebLink

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METROPOLITAN COUNCIL 300 Metro Square Building, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55101 Rural Area Task Force Minutes of the Rural Center Subcommittee Meeting July 21, 1978 MEMBERS PRESENT: Dehn, Harris, Lind, Lyons MEMBERS ABSENT: Fischer, Hiller, LaValle, McDowell, Stalke The meeting was convened at 1:45 p.m. The minutes of the June 30 meeting were accepted as mailed. Members first discussed the draft of findings and recommendations compiled by Mary Abdul-Rahman of staff. Ms. Abdul-Rahman explained that the four- page draft included fourteen findings and seventeen recommendations which had been culled from the subcommittee's several months of discussion and presentations of the various rural center issues. She asked members for their reactions, amendments, additions or deletions. She noted that insofar as no subcommittee conclusion had been drawn regarding the problem of tax-exempt property servicing mentioned in Finding 8, a recommendation on it had not yet been formulated. Members discussed the matter and determined that staff should draft a recommendation which urged the Legislature to take steps to provide adequate compensation to communities supporting tax-exempt properties within their boundaries. The Legislature should examine means by which non-local public entities owning such properties could themselves provide services to their own facilities. Members also discussed at length a particular issue of Finding 9: that many rural centers face considerable hardship in financing even part-time personnel to administer and enforce their local plans and ordinances. Members asked that a further recommendation be added which would be directed at the establishment of a federal or state funding program for rural centers to aid in salaries of administrative and enforcement personnel. Recommendation X was also amended to read: "Potential energy scarcity and increased cost should be a recognized factor ..." Ms. Harris indicated that any final decisions on the subcommittee's recommendations would await review of the survey responses. However, since several members were absent, it was agreed to delay presentation and discussion of the rural center survey results and their part in the subcommittee report until the following week. Members chose to individually look over a number of the responses that had been made to get an idea of the range of responses. The meeting was adjourned at 4 P.M. ma:tv