10/19/2005 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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7. The City of White Bear Lake still utilizes city staff to represent the city on the WMO Board. BWSR has worked with the City for two years to allow for a smooth transition to a citizen commissioner as required by Minnesota Statue. In part, this was done to avoid losing either the "institutional memory" that the public works director carried or the considerable momentum he brought to the WMO activities. We believe the City has ample time to find a citizen replacement. The continued presence of a city employee voting on matters before the WMO Board will be viewed as an organizational shortcoming in any deliberations BWSR may undertake regarding the VLAWMO's implementation status. 8. The funding mechanisms utilized by Bassett Creek WMO and Hennepin County is a potential funding alternative. At the meeting I outlined direct levy and "indirect" levies obtained through the JPA members. The direct levy issue was address in items 4 and 5 of this memorandum. JPA members could raise their portion of the budget by utilizing their general fund, storm water utility, sub watershed ad- valorem taxation, or, theoretically, direct assessment. In addition to these mechanisms, the WMO can "directly" fund capital improvement projects (contained in their approved plan) by certifying them to the county for payment (MS 103B.251). The WMO may apportion the costs district -wide or by subwatershed units. They may also establish more then one tax district for this purpose. 9. The VLAWMO plan will expire before the new plan is finished. We see no way the VLAWMO can complete even a rough draft of a watershed management plan before the expiration of the current plan. We understand that substantial time was consumed as the organization grappled with the governance issue. For this reason and at this time, BWSR staff does not intend to initiate an investigation of the WMO's inability to implement the Metropolitan Surface Water Management Act immediately upon expiration of the old plan. However, our continuing position that the WMO needs to be making progress on the plan remains. The last year has seen the WMO unable to make significant progress in even issuing a request for proposals to hire a consultant to perform the work. We hold serious doubts that the WMO will have any substantial work started on the update of the watershed plan before the old plan expires. We encourage the WMO to act more urgently in getting this progress underway. Failure to move ahead in this critical component of implementing the Metropolitan Surface Water Management Act could lead to governance structures that a majority of the communities in the VLAWMO currently do not wish to pursue. We hope our response is clear on these issues and we remain available to discuss the WMO's options for moving forward.