Consider Adopting Resolution 14-08-170 Amending the Joint Powers Agreement for the Creation of the Lower Rum River Watershed Management Organization.

Purpose:
The purpose of this case is to adopt Resolution 14-08-170 amending the Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) for the creation of the Lower Rum River Watershed Management Organization (LRRWMO).

Background:
The amended JPA, drafted by LRRWMO attorney Charles LeFevere with Kennedy & Graven, clarifies certain provisions of the existing JPA related to funding LRRWMO driven capital improvement projects, updates citations to state law making the form of the citations uniform, provides for the consistent use of defined terms, cleans up various typos and grammatical errors, removes all references to Coon Rapids as they are no longer a member city, and extends the term of the agreement another 10 years to January 1, 2025.

On August 12^th, the City Council approved the attached amended and restated LRRWMO JPA with Mayor Strommen abstaining from voting due to her employment with the Board of Water and Soil Resources which has authority over the LRRWMO.  The City Councils of the other member cities, Andover and Anoka, have also approved the amended JPA and will soon be adopting companion resolutions to allow the amended JPA to be in full force and effect.

No notifications are required for this case.

Observations:
Though the City Council initially hoped for more extensive changes to be made to the amended JPA to more clearly define the capital improvement project funding process, the City Attorney believes the amended JPA will more clearly prevent member cities from being forced to pay a capital improvement project allocation.  And if objections are raised to capital improvement project funding, the issue will go to non-binding arbitration, then if that fails the capital improvements will be funded via Minnesota Statute section 103B.251 (County bonds).

Alternatives:
Alternative Actions:

1. Motion to adopt Resolution 14-08-170 amending the Joint Powers Agreement for the Creation of the Lower Rum River Watershed Management Organization.
2. Motion denying adoption of Resolution 14-08-170 at this time. If this alternative is selected, the existing JPA will expire on January 1, 2015, unless Council receives approval from the other two member cities to incorporate additional revisions to the JPA before then.  If the existing JPA expires, the LRRWMO would be dissolved and Anoka County would assume the responsibilities of the WMO for the watershed, or they could 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 Lower Rum River watershed. The County or watershed district could then 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. In addition, none of the member cities would have a vote in any decisions made by the County or watershed district to undertake a capital improvement project. For these reasons, staff recommends approving alternative action #1.