Agenda Packets - 1990/06/11 - Laserfiche WebLink

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• INTRODUCTION The League of Metropolitan Municipalities (LMM) was originally created in 1967, as a subsection and affiliate organization of the League of Minnesota Cities (LMC). The impetus for forming the LMM was the creation of the Metropolitan Council , and the growth in importance and power of the regional operating agen- cies. It was felt that the cities of the seven-county metropolitan area needed an organization, separate from but complementary to the LMC, to interact with those agencies. In 1974, the LMM merged with the Suburban League of Municipali- ties to become the Association of Metropolitan Municipalities (AMM). As the needs of AMM member cities have changed over the years, the Board of Directors has strived to keep the organization relevant. During the late 1970' s and throughout the 1980' s, the Association' s focus has broadened from strictly "metropolitan" affairs, to protecting the interests of member cities in state- wide issues with unique impacts for the metropolitan area. The most prominent recent example is the distribution of state aids to local governments. In 1984, the Association convened its -first Mission and Membership Services Task Force to do an in depth study of the AMM and recommend needed changes. The major concern of that Task Force was the proliferation of splinter municipal lobbying groups within the metropolitan area. The 1984 Task Force was concerned that the AMM could lose its viability as an umbrella organization for all metro- • ::olitan cities in the face of a growing number of smaller groups with differ- ences of opinion on the allocation of state aid resources. The group made 13 recommendations, all of which have since been implemented, with the exception of expanding the staff. The final recommendation of the 1984 report was that the Mission and Membership Services review process should be revisited every five years. Fortunately, predictions of any demise of the Association were ill-founded. Since the 1984 report was issued, five additional communities (West St. Paul , South St. Paul , Arden Hills, Blaine and Shoreview) have joined AMM. The Member- ship now includes 68 metropolitan cities, covering over 90 percent of the popu- lation in the seven-county area. This is an all-time high for the Association. Ironically, one of the splinter groups which existed in 1984, the Municipal Caucus, has since gone out of existence after concluding that its aims and purposes were not that different from those of AMM. The meetings of this year' s Mission and Membership Services Task Force, however, have taken place within the context of an increasing split between the metropo- litan area and Greater Minnesota over taxation, local government aid, and other state fiscal policies. The Task Force has studied carefully how the AMM might be a more effective and united voice at the legislature on behalf of all cities in the seven-county metropolitan area. The Task Force has also considered the Association' s relationship to the League of Minnesota Cities, and how it might help strengthen that organization in serving the interests of all cities throughout Minnesota. At the same time, the Task Force has not neglected the original focus of AMM, which was to monitor and work with the metropolitan agencies. Of particular - 1 -