Minnesota Legislature / Senate rejects bill to elect Met Council

03/16/2007

BY DENNIS LIEN
Pioneer Press


A bill that would require Metropolitan Council members to be elected instead of appointed was defeated Thursday in the Minnesota Senate.

Senators voted 36-26 against a proposal that would transform the powerful 16-member regional planning authority into an elected body instead of one appointed by the governor.

The bill's chief sponsor, Sen. Charles Wiger, DFL-North St. Paul, characterized it as an effort to empower the people of the seven-county metropolitan area. "The bottom line is this: If you support the right of the people to elect their government, you are for it,'' Wiger said.

Others, however, said they believed it would make the council more political.

"My biggest concern is making this more partisan and bringing more politics into it,'' said Sen. Claire Robling, R-Jordan.

"I think we finally have a council that's working well, and I would hate to change it,'' she added.

The council, which operates out of downtown St. Paul, handles such issues as bus service and wastewater treatment in Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott and Washington counties. The Legislature created it in 1967 to coordinate development in the Twin Cities area.

After the Senate's action, language requiring the council members to be elected to staggered four-year terms was removed from an omnibus transportation bill. A House bill on electing the council members is in committee.

This is the latest of several attempts to pass such a bill in recent years. Gov. Tim Pawlenty, when he was a legislator, co-sponsored a bill similar to Wiger's in 1997. It passed both the House and Senate, but Gov. Arne Carlson vetoed it.