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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes October 24, 2000 • Page 6 t Mr. Hubmer explained that the City of St. Anthony has traditionally been a part of the 2 Middle Mississippi Watershed Management Organization (WMO). The City belongs to 3 Rice Creek Watershed District, which is all water that discharges into Silver Lake. Any 4 water that discharges south and towards the City of Minneapolis belongs to the Missis- 5 sippi Watershed Organization. This organization has not been very active because, in 6 part, of some changes in the legislature. As part of the reorganization process, it has been 7 decided to re-evaluate St. Anthony's involvements with the Middle Mississippi. 8 Mr. Hubmer presented a couple of different options, such as taking part of the Rice Creek 9 Watershed District and.incorporating this into the Middle Mississippi. Mr. Hubmer; 10 however, did not feel that this was a viable option. 11 Mr. Hubmer explained the WMO has-a board of managers, and those managers are com- 12 prised of representatives from each community. Amy Sparks is currently the City's repre- 13 sentative. 14 Mr. Hubmer continued by' ekplaining and outlining various options for the Council. 15 However, he stated that at this point, he would recommend that the Council consider remaining part of the WMO, which would mean participating in both the Rice Creek Watershed District, and the Middle Mississippi Watershed Management Organization. 18 Horst inquired what promoted this discussion. Mr. Hubmer responded that because of 19 changes in the legislature, the WMO has had to undergo certain changes. 20 Sparks added that originally the WMO thought that they could levy on what is called a 21 "subwatership basis" (only for the Minneapolis portion of the watershed). Recently, how- 22 ever, it was discovered that the City of Minneapolis couldn't isolate the levy. In other 23 words, St. Anthony must be included in their levy. Originally it was thought that the 24 City of St. Anthony could,staU ut of the levy, but because of certain circumstances and 25 changes in the legislature, the City cannot be excluded and the City must make a decision 26 about whether to participate with the WMO. The levy will cost taxpayers approximately 27 $13-$22 per year. 28 Cavanaugh expressed his support for the City participating in the WMO. 29 Bill Anderson, Deputy Director of the'.Environment Services for the City of Minneapolis 30 approached the Council and spoke about the background of the WMO. He noted that the 31 members that contribute would benefit from the organization. Mr. Anderson continued by stating that approximately 95% of the watershed is in Min- it but there are projects in St. Anthony that he felt the City would be interested in