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Regular City Council Meeting Monday,November 21, 2011 Page 13 Mr. DeBenedet responded that it couldn't work; and didn't effectively change the final cost; further opining that Ramsey/Washington Area WSD already had avail- able sufficient staff with varying levels of expertise. Karen Eckman, GLWMO Board Chairperson Ms. Eckman noted that she and GLWMO Board Member Mary Kay Von De Linde had met with representatives of both organizations proposed as merger op- tions in February and March of 2011; even though the task force process was fast- tracked. Ms. Eckman advised that the process was necessitated in part due to changing directives from BWSR during this complicated process, and their sub- sequent rejection of the Third Generation Plan until a revised JPA was updated and in place. Ms. Eckman advised that this finance/governance consideration had been initially started, and then put on hold, until after the Plan had been finalized, at the suggestion of a former GLWMO Board member. Ms. Eckman reviewed three (3) other WMO's in the metropolitan area that had come up for BWSR review, two (2) of which had dissolved. Ms. Eckman advised that she was also a minority member of the GLWMO Board, and while not in attendance at the November 4, 2011 Special GLWMO Board meeting, she would have added her vote to that of the minority. Ms. Eckman opined that the GLWMO was simply too small to succeed; and having been on the GLWMO Board for almost six (6) years, she was not able to determine how it could be done. Chuck Westerberg, GLWMO Member/Vice Chair Mr. Westerberg advised that he was completing his third year on the GLWMO Board; and after listening to public comment at the Public Hearing on the Third Generation Plan held last Friday evening, it was obvious to him that there was a strong sentiment to remain independent to retain local control of the WMO and to use those dollars locally rather than solve problems of neighbors to the east, many with more highly urbanized watersheds with multiple levels of heavy metals and toxins, with more resources required to address those problems. Mr. Westerberg noted that those problems were not prevalent in the GLWMO; and that through increased staffing and funding, and in implementing recommendations of the past BARR Engineering report to address problems specific to the GLWMO, and good faith efforts to implement strategies of the Third Generation Plan, it would signif- icantly improve water quality in the GLWMO. Mr. Westerberg expressed his frustration in the paradoxical nature of the over- sight of WMO's by BWSR and their consolidation efforts for WMO's when the MPCA and EPA were taking the opposite position in addressing the most vexing problems affecting water quality resources by focusing on local land use practices and working with individual property owners to address loading.