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1 FREQUENTLY A SKED QUESTIONS: METROPOLITAN COUNCIL R EFORM PRINCIPLES 1) Why now? Over the years, the role of the Metropolitan Council has expanded from that of a regional planning agency to its now self-described role as “the regional policy-making body… and provider of essential services for the Twin Cities metropolitan region.” In no other major metropolitan region in the United States are duly elected representatives so divorced from policy-making and the provision of regional services. Reform of the Metropolitan Council has been a growing concern of many local governments for many years, as the Council’s responsibilities have expanded and the lack of accountability to metro-area residents has increased. The release of ThriveMSP2040 reinvigorated the drive for reform in many cities and counties who were unhappy with aspects of the plan and the process by which it was produced. However, our call for change is not a reaction to the specifics of the plan, or to how it allocates resources. Instead, the experience drove home what little incentive the Council has to take into account the opinions of local governments. Councilmembers do not answer to the local constituency, but rather to a constituency of only one elected official: the Governor. We realized this was the core problem, and the release of Thrive2040 was the catalyst that renewed our efforts to build a coalition for governance reform. 2) Who makes up the coalition? The coalition originated with elected officials from Anoka, Carver, Dakota, and Scott Counties, who share a collective opinion that the Metropolitan Council must be more accountable to the regional constituency. They made the decision to develop principles for reform, and, knowing it was important to have the perspective of cities represented as well, invited interested elected city officials to join the group. The city officials (listed in Attachment A) represent themselves alone, and do not necessarily represent the views of their entire councils. Together this group developed a mutually-agreed-upon set of principles for reform. 3) You’re asking cities to adopt these principles, knowing that they go against the position of Metro Cities. Doesn’t this undermine the work of the Metro Cities organization? Metro Cities is a voluntary membership organization, representing 88 of the nearly 140 cities in the metro area. We believe that Metro Cities plays a vital role in advocating for city interests, and we did invite them to play a part in the development of the shared principles. However, they ultimately decided to withdraw from the group due the incompatibility of some of our