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• • WS - 2 WORK SESSION STAFF REPORT Work Session Item No. 2 Date: Council Work Session, September 6, 2006 To: City Council From: Gordon Heitke Re: VLAWMO Joint Powers Agreement Background In November, 2005, the City Council concluded that the best course of action related to the continuance of the Vadnais Lakes Water Management Organization joint powers agreement was to follow the actions of the other member units in agreeing to an additional one -year extension of the JPA, allowing for progress to be made on the completion of the water plan, developing plans for obtaining adequate funding for the future, and resolving issues of governance related to member unit representation, eligible representatives, and voting. At this time the VLAWMO has a draft water plan that will be going through a public review and comment period and public hearing. Attempts to increase funding by obtaining levy authority through special legislation failed when no legislator was found to serve as author of the bill. The new agreement expands the sources of revenue to fund operations by including a levy (requiring legislative authorization) and a VLAWMO operated storm water utility. Issues related to governance are being addressed in this proposed joint powers agreement by suggesting more involvement of elected officials by being the primary commissioner or alternate and being present for annual budget discussions, and that local government staff are not eligible to be board members. Recent discussions indicate that the other municipalities and township support the continuation of VLAWMO. Staff will be conferring with other government units and the Board of Water and Soil Resources to determine if there is any new information to report at our work session. The term of the proposed agreement is until January 1, 2012. The timeline for finalizing • the joint powers agreement has a membership meeting tentatively set for September 21 to 1