Public supports Council’s goals

Council Chair

Peter Bell

The Metropolitan Council is not the best known or most widely understood agency of government. I often joke that 90 percent of the public doesn’t know what we do and the other 10 percent goes to bed at night worrying about our every move.

That’s a bit of an exaggeration. Indeed, our latest survey of metro area residents indicates that the Council is making significant progress in gaining public understanding and acceptance.

In the survey, conducted in the fall of 2006, 73 percent of the respondents said they had heard of the Council, an increase of nearly 20 percentage points from a decade ago.

Of those respondents who are aware of the Council, 42 percent rated the Council’s performance as “good” or “very good,” while only 15 percent gave us unfavorable marks.That’s the highest rating the Council has received since we began asking the question in 1997.

These results suggest strong public support for the goals of this Council:

To accommodate growth by working collaboratively with local communities,
To expand transportation choices,
To preserve our natural assets, and
To maximize the value and effectiveness of regional investments.

“
I am very proud that this Council has held our property tax levy flat for four years.
”
- Peter Bell

In the next four years, our guiding principles will remain the same. We’ll continue to work collaboratively with local officials in the seven-county area as they prepare to submit their updated comprehensive plans, which are due at the end of 2008.

We’ll work aggressively to expand transportation choices, as we move forward with plans for commuter rail in the Northstar Corridor and light rail transit in the Central Corridor.

We’ll pursue the idea of establishing a regional parks foundation to raise funds from private sources and accelerate acquisition of land needed for the expansion of our wonderful system of regional parks and trails.

And, of course, we will continue to make certain that all of our regional services are provided in a cost-effective manner. I am very proud that this Council has held our property tax levy flat for four years, trimmed 200 FTEs and achieved numerous operational efficiencies. That’s a record I intend to build upon in the next four years.

Peter Bell

March 2007