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6 are confident that an eventual nomination process would take pains to ensure geographic equity. Furthermore, it is worth nothing that although current Council members do reside in Council districts they have no accountability to those districts. Their job security rests entirely in the hands of a single individual- the Governor. And even if one considers current Council members to be “representing” their districts, this does not guarantee geographic balance. For many years not a single Councilmember resided in Scott County, for example. 18) What about Metro Cities’ argument that if local elected officials were on the Council they would serve as both “regulator” and the “regulated”? The Council does have limited regulatory functions. However, they are structured to encourage regional compatibility and consistency, rather than setting standards to be measured against. Furthermore, for the things that are regulated by the Council (e.g. sewers) the collective public interest will outweigh the interests of single municipality. Even when the Council does exercise its limited regulatory responsibilities, its members should have strong ties to the electorate so that stakeholders have input in the implementation of such regulations. Any issues with regulation can be addressed through targeted reform of the Council. 19) Isn’t it important to the Council’s effectiveness that it be a separate regional government, able to operate independently from local governments? We support keeping the Metropolitan Council as its own separate entity. However, as an organization with a $1.5 billion budget and authority to levy taxes, it cannot and must not be truly independent- it must, of course, be subject to oversight. That oversight is currently provided by the Governor and the Legislature; we are not asking to remove either entity from this process. The Governor and the Legislature will likely always play a role in shaping the future of the metropolitan area. All we are asking is that local governments, who have the greatest amount of expertise on the practical impact of the Council’s policies, have a voice as well. The creation of a Council with a broad-based constituency will strengthen the regional government and make it more responsive to the needs of the region, thus strengthening its legitimacy. 20) Wouldn’t having local elected officials serve reduce the amount of regional expertise on the Council? This argument belittles the vast amount of knowledge and broad range of expertise of so many local elected officials. Local elected officials do not operate in a vacuum; they all must consider the region in which they operate and be aware of regional issues in order to be effective in their