HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 4City of Lakeville
Public Works
Memorandum
To: Mayor and Members of the City Council
Justin Miller, City Administrator
From: Paul Oehme, Public Works Director
Date: April 22, 2019
Subject: Metro Cities Membership
Lakeville was a member of Metro Cities until the 2008 timeframe, when it was dropped due to
budget reductions. Metro Cities provided the following description of their organization:
Metro Cities was created in 1974 as the Association of Metropolitan Municipalities. Its primary
objective is to be an effective voice for metropolitan cities at the Legislature and Metropolitan
Council, so as to influence state legislation affecting metro area cities, and regional policies that
accommodate the needs of metro area cities.
Metro Cities is the only metro-wide entity that lobbies and monitors the Metropolitan Council, and
the only region-wide organization representing cities before the Legislature and Executive Branch.
Metro Cities represents 89 member cities which represents 90% of the region's population,
including the core cities, inner ring and developing communities
Metro Cities provides a forum for bringing city officials from across the region together to share
ideas and experiences and works to foster open lines of communication between city officials and
officials at the state and regional levels of government. Metro Cities lobbies on a wide range of
policies, including transportation, local government aids, wastewater, redevelopment and
housing. Legislative policies are developed each year by consensus of our membership.
By statute, Metro Cities makes municipal appointments to the Met Council's Transportation
Advisory Board (TAB), Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) and gives metro area cities a
voice on these important boards and committees.
Public Works Director Paul Oehme currently serves on TAC and is the chair of the Funding and
Programming (F&P) subcommittee. The F&P Committee manages and sets priorities for the
use of federal transportation funds. The F&P Committee also oversees the soliciting metro
area federal grant program. Every two years, a regional solicitation process allocates
approximately $250 million in federal transportation funds to locally-initiated projects to
meet regional transportation needs. The F&P Committee also develops regional policies and
processes at the direction of the TAB to allocate federal transportation funds, and to manage
regionally selected projects. Paul first was appointed to TAC and the F&P Committee in May
2014. He has been chair of F&P since January 2018. The term for the F&P chair is three years.
He has also been “acting chair” five times prior when the previous TAC or F&P chairs were
absent.
Becoming a member of Metro Cities would not only allow Public Works Director Oehme to
remain on the influential TAC board but would also allow city council members to serve on
the TAB, Metro Cities Board of Directors, and other metro-wide boards that are not currently
available. Annual dues to Metro Cities would be roughly $13,000, with our first year being
billed at a 50% reduction ($6500). 2019 funding would be provided through existing
budgets.
Attached: Letter from Metro Cities