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wwko-w SH"L+E REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION Date: 11/28/11 Item No.: 13 . a Department Approval City Manager Approval Ak Item Description: Consider Revised Joint Powers Agreement Regarding Grass Lake Water Management Organization and Funding Request BACKGROUND The Grass Lake Water Management Organization Board met with the City Council on 3 November 21, 2011 to discuss their Task force findings regarding future governance issues. 4 They recommended GLWMO remain as a joint powers organization funded equally by the City 5 of Roseville and the City of Shoreview. They presented a funding request for 2012 through 2014 6 for the organization. To remain a joint powers WMO the agreement needs to be revised to limit "7 the budgetary control of the cities. The revised draft agreement attempts to limit the city 8 budgetary authority. (Attachment A) 9 The Grass Lake WMO was created in 1983 through a joint powers agreement between Roseville '1 0 and Shoreview as a result of legislation requiring watershed management separate from city 1,1 operations. It was created to manage water resources in the most cost effective and efficient 1 d"'? manner with city technical staff supporting the Board and carrying out the business of the WMO. '1 3 Water regulation has changed significantly since the creation of Grass Lake WMO. The Board is '1 r^ currently working with an engineering consultant on its third generation Water Management '1 5 Plan. This plan is required to be updated every 10 years to bring it in compliance with current '1 6 water regulation and to update their goals and policies. The Minnesota Board of Soil and Water 1��7 Resources (BSWR) has been monitoring watershed organization activity for several years as a '18 result of a Legislative audit in 2007 and have been communicating with those organizations they '1 9 feel have not taken an active enough role in protecting water resources. The Grass Lake Board is 1�20 committed to a more proactive role in to ensure they are improving the resources and meeting 1,211 water regulation requirements. They have completed studies of water quality in response to dll�Ydll; action levels triggered by declining water quality in Lake Owasso. The draft Plan has regulatory R�,��,,,,� standards similar to the surrounding watershed districts. The new draft Plan will also contain a dll��n `�2`4 capital improvement plan to help achieve the WMO goals. `25 The WMO hired part time administrative staff in 2009 to help manage the increased expectations 26 and activity of the Board as the two city staff s could not absorb the increased workloads. They are currently meeting at least on a monthly basis. The new draft Plan will require significantly '28 more administrative and board activity than years past. This has raised the question of 1�29 governance and whether the cities will respond positively to additional revenue requests. The 3o Board discussed an alternative financing option with the Council in June that would create a 31 surcharge on Stormwater fees for those properties in the GLWMO jurisdiction for GLWMO d? funding. 33 Grass Lake WMO is the smallest organized watershed in geographic size in the state. This is one 34 reason it has been managed as a joint powers WMO rather than a watershed district with its own Pagel of 3