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Council, partners convene regional policy conference

Growing economic boundaries may call for new regional responses

Four decades after they were drawn, the boundaries of the seven-county metropolitan area are as outdated as love beads.

High commuting rates into the seven-county metropolitan area, rapid growth in adjacent counties and increasing economic interdependence are stretching the economic boundaries of a region defined by the Minnesota Legislature 40 years ago.

Hazel Reinhardt, marketing consultant and former state demographer, put it this way: “We’ve got to – one way or another – come to terms with what size the region truly is.”

The size of the “real region” was one of several themes that emerged at a regional policy conference held in late June, titled “After 40 Years of Regionalism: Where Next?”

Other themes that emerged:

• The Metropolitan Council is striking a good balance between local control and regional efficiency.
• The aging of the population will create new challenges for the region.
• Closing the achievement gap between white students and students of color is critical.
• The region and state lack a coherent vision.
• The Council needs to once again take a greater role in convening local governments and other groups to address critical issues.
• More revenue is needed to support transportation.
• Staggered terms for Council members could allow for more independence.

Following is a sample of what was said during the daylong conference.

Lessons learned from the first 40 years

Incentives work. “I think the Council has been most successful in its relationships with local governments when it has used incentives rather than penalties,” said Karen Anderson, former mayor of Minnetonka, citing the Livable Communities grant program and the Council’s partnership with communities to reduce stormwater in the regional wastewater system.

Convening role is important. The current Council needs to renew its role as a convener of local governments to find and advocate for the best regional solutions, Anderson said.

Other speakers agreed. “The Council needs to think a little less about what you can control and a little more about what you can influence by raising the issues early, even if it departs from conventional thinking,” said Ted Kolderie, former director of the Citizens League, who mentioned health care as a “real problem” that is not being addressed adequately. 

Partnerships are critical. John Boland, chair of the Council from 1973-79, said that the Council has been most successful when it has worked in partnership with local governments and the Legislature. Designating a staff liaison for each of the metro area communities was an important step in strengthening relationships with local governments, said longtime Council member Roger Scherer.

When you connect scale with capacity to act, good things happen. It took a regional body to solve the problems of inadequate wastewater treatment in suburban communities in the 1970s, said former Council regional administrator Jim Solem. That success led to a regional parks system, a regional housing and redevelopment authority, a regional 911 system and other appropriate regional solutions.

Governance and accountability matter. When the Council’s planning functions merged with operation of wastewater treatment and transit in 1994, it created a streamlined administrative structure and more accountability. “You wouldn’t have light rail today under the old system because there was no way to get the decision made…in the fragmented, goofy planning system that we had,” Solem said.

The region’s next challenge is to figure out the tools and incentives that “will help link the seven-county region with the real region we all know is a part of this metro area,” Solem said. “It’s inconceivable that we can go much longer without transit service to the surrounding counties.”

Big changes ahead for the region

The U.S. Census long ago recognized the boundaries of the Twin Cities area as much larger than the seven counties, said Reinhardt in her keynote address. By 2040, this metro area is likely to be larger than the 11 Minnesota counties currently designated by the Census, she said.

Upcoming changes in the population of the region – in distribution, age and ethnicity – will also have major implications for regional governance, she said. A shift in the population’s capacities, a labor force shortage for highly skilled jobs and increasing health care needs are among the likely results.

More about demographic changes in the region.

Insights from other regions

While the Twin Cities area is seen as a national model for its pursuit of regional solutions, initiatives in other regions offer lessons for this region, explained Kathryn Foster, Director of the Regional Institute at the University of Buffalo, in her conference keynote address.

Collaborations from Augusta, Maine, to the European Union provide models for tackling issues that transcend local boundaries.

More about how other regions collaborate.

What’s ahead for the Council

While recognizing the signs of the growing economic region, the Council is not seeking expanded authority, said Council Chair Peter Bell. Bell meets twice a year with local officials from counties adjacent to the region to discuss issues of mutual concern and explore opportunities for voluntary cooperation.

In an afternoon session at the conference, panelists and conferees had a lively exchange of ideas about how the Council might move forward in the future. 

Expand the Council’s agenda. “We seem to be kind of resting on our laurels from 30 years ago, as opposed to…being the innovators,” said St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman. While supporting the Council’s current mission and services, he challenged the Council to “move it to the next level” and start addressing education, wireless internet technology and other business infrastructure issues that are “the kind of challenges we face in the 21st century.”

State Representative Mary Liz Holberg, Lakeville, said that some communities may not be able to support a broadened Council agenda if they are located “in a part of the region that receives virtually no added value from the Metropolitan Council” beyond some of the past regional planning and regional systems that are already functioning.

“I believe deeply that the biggest chokepoint for a region, including its economic future and its robustness, is that we are too decentralized in the ways we think about education,” said Foster.

Keep cost-effectiveness the measure. Whether a service is more cost-effectively delivered at the regional level is one of the key measures of determining if it belongs on the Council agenda, as opposed to being delivered locally or with joint powers agreements, argued Chanhassen Mayor Tom Furlong.

“Let’s not try to create a regional structure that is fixed for everybody,” Furlong said. He advocated for flexibility, such as the option of delivering transit services on a sub-regional basis.

Spend more to improve transportation. “The funding streams we have right now are not adequate,” said State Senator Terri Bonoff, Minnetonka. “The people who live in this community are saying that we want more transit choices.”

Paul Jacobs, Landfall, said he was concerned about the long-term sustainability of current funding mechanisms. “I really think the tax on gas should be paying to build up the transit system so that when gas gets too expensive we’ve got a transit system.”

While the transportation agenda may not be moving as quickly as some people would like, it is moving forward, Bell said, citing the dedication of the motor vehicle sales tax to transportation as well as the Council’s advocacy for the dedication of leased-vehicle sales taxes to transit.

Possible changes in governance. Several conferees expressed support for staggering the terms of Council members to provide a measure of independence from any one governor. University of Minnesota professor Judith Martin floated the idea of providing some ex-officio seats for some representatives from the collar counties “just to get a taste of what it would be like to work in a cooperative way.”

State Senator Ann Rest advocated for establishing some areas of expertise that would be reflected in the appointment process to give the Council a balance of people with experience in land-use planning, transportation, the environment or other areas. Russ Adams, Alliance for Metro Stability, said that creativity, inventiveness and experimentation ought to be base criteria for evaluating potential Council members. “What will yield a more bold vision?” he asked.

About 180 people from state, regional and local governments, nonprofit organizations and academia attended the conference. It was co-sponsored by the Metropolitan Council, Citizens League, University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute and The McKnight Foundation.