CR 91-94 Suburban Hennepin Parks Legislation
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. April 11, 1991 ,y 0 P K \ ~ C:) I Council Report # 91-94
SUBURBAN BENNEPIN PARKS LEGISLATION
ProDosed Action
staff recommends adoption of the following motion: Move to
adopt Resolution 91-94 supporting suburban Hennepin parks
leqislation.
Should the legislation supported with this resolution pass
.at the State level, the Hennepin Regional Park district
would become an all-elected 7-member board with
Commissioners representing equal size districts within
suburban Hennepin County.
Overview
Several suburban legislatures have solicited support from
the City of Hopkins for legislation which would change the
process in which Hennepin County Regional Park Board members
would be elected and how budgets would be adopted.
Currently, the Hennepin Park's Board of'Commissioners is a
.~.. 7-member Board with 5 commissioners elected and two
commissioners appointed by the Hennepin County Board. The
Hennepin County Board also has the authority to review and
veto the annual Park District budget as formulated by the
Hennepin Park's Board.
It is the opinion of the Legislators who are supporting this
legislation that the public is dissatisfied with the current
appointment process and the budget review process. .
Although there is little direct impact upon the city of
Hopkins, the Council may wish to take a position on this
policy issue. Staff has prepared a resolution in support of
the legislation should the Council wish to take a position.
primary Issues to Consider
o Does the current process need to be changed?
There has been controversy over the methods and decisions of
the Hennepin county Board of Commissioners with regard to
this issue. Information is attached which details that
controversy.
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Council Report # 91-94
Suburban Hennepin Parks Resolution
o What is the impact of this legislation on the City
of Hopkins.
Staff can see no direct impact of this ..legislation on the
City of Hopkins. The issue is more .one of procedures and
policy which tends to fall more into a regional or country...
wide question.
Sup~ortinq Documentation
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o Resolution 91-55
o Letter from Senator Gen Olson and
Representative Bill SChreiber, March 13, 1991
o Opinion Star-Tribune, February.22, 1991
o House File # 692
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. ~ven~.. Mi:lke, · city Manager
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:. CITY OF HOPKINS
Hennepin County, Minnesota
RESOLUTION NO. 91-:55
A RESOLUTION OF SUPPORT FOR SUBURBAN
HENNEPIN PARKS LEGISLATION
WHEREAS the Suburban Hennepin Regional Park District isa unit of local
government created to develop, manage and' maintain. the Suburban
Hennepin Regional Park System, and is empowered to levy taxes on
the property owners of the Suburban Hennepin Regional Park
District and plan for the expenditure of prorerty tax revenues for the
benefit of the Suburban Hennepin Regiona Park system, and;
WHEREAS an inderendent and democratically elected Suburban Hennepin
Regiona Park District Board of Commissioners is essential to assure
public confidence in the activities and priorities of the Board of
Commissioners, ,
. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of
Hopkins. on this 16th day of April, 1991, expresses unqualified support for
legIslation before the Minnesota Legislature in the 1991 legislative session that
would establish the Suburban Hennepin Regional Park District Board of
Commissioners as an all-elected seven-member board, with commissioners
representing equal size districts within the Suburban Hennepin Regional Park
DIstriCt.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Ci~ Council of the City of HO&kins, on
this 16th day of April, 1991 expressesunquali ied support forJegislation . efore the
Minnesota Legislature in the 1991 legislative session that allows the Suburban
Hennepin Regional Park District Board of Commissions to formulate and
implement annual budgets forthe Suburban Hennepin Regional Park District
without review or veto of the Hennepin County Board. ,
Passed and adopted by the City Council of the City of Hopkins this 16th day of
April, 1991.
Nelson W. Berg, Mayor
I
ATIEST:
. James A. Genellie, CIty Clerk
-'-_."..__.~,_....-..~-_..._.._,-,---~-_. -~.~
. GEN OLSON Senate
Senator 43rd District
Room 125 State of Minnesota
State Office Building
St. Paul. MN 55155
(612) 296-1282
March 13, 1991
Nelson Berg, Mayor
238 -21st. Ave. N.
Hopkins ,_MN,..~55 343
Dear Mayor Berg:
We are excited to announce the introduction of legislation in the
Minnesota House and Senate to establish the Suburban Hennepin
Regional Park District (Hennepin Parks) Board of Commissioners as
an all-elected seven-member board with full autonomy to formulate
and implement annual budgets for the park district. We are
. writing to ask you to give your city's formal support to this
legislation. We have enclosed a copy of the proposed legislation
and a sample resolution expressing municipal support for your
council's consideration.
Currently, the Hennepin Parks Board of Commissioners is a seven~
member board with five commissioners elected and two
commissioners appointed by the Hennepin County Board. The
Hennepin County board also has the authority to review and veto
the annual park district budget as formulated by the Hennepin
Parks Board.
Since Hennepin Parks is a local unit of government empowered to
.levy,property taxes on the citizens of suburban Hennepin.County,
we believe the Hennepin Parks Board should be fully accountable
to those citizens through the democratic election process. We
also believe that as an independent local unit of government,
Hennepin Parks should have the power to formulate and implement
annual budgets for the park district without review or veto by
the Hennepin County Board.
Furthermore, one cannot ignore growing public dissatisfaction
with controversies surrounding appointments to the Hennepin Parks
Board. We believe an independent and democratically elected
Hennepin Parks Board is essential to restore and assure public
. confidence in the board's activities and priorities.
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Star Tribune
Established 1867 Roger Parkinson Publisher and President
Joe' R Kramer Executive Editor
Tim J, McGuire Managing Editor
Robert J. White Editorial Editor
Friday/February 22/1991
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An al~-elected county parks board
The Hennepin Countv Board's decision to over- Recently, however. a split developed between
ride last fall's election results and put David elected and appointed members. And when Dom-
Dombrowski back on the Suburban Hennepin browski - who had been appoi'nted to the board
Parks Board was more than just a slap in the face to fill a vacancv -.:.. was defeated in his first try for
for voters. It was a slap in the Legislature's face as election, the split exploded into open warfare.
well. And legislators should not let their 1991 Now the board can't even agree on who should
, session end without doing something about it. serve as permanent chairman.
.' That something should be to strip the County This isan intolerable situation that the Legislature
Board of its power to appoint two Parks Board helped create and therefore has an obligation to
members to serve alongside the five members correct. But the Legislature has more to do here
directly elected. The Legislature gave county com- than just repair its own mistakes. It also has a duty
missioners the appointment authority as a com- - higher than any other - to uphold the demo-
promise between their desire for full control of the cratic process and the right of the people to decide
parks system and the public's desire to keep the who should represent them, and who should not.
parks independent of county politics.
That right has clearly been violated by the Henne-
The unusual arrangement was considered at the pin County Board's decision to put pombrowski
time a reasonable wav to balance the interests of back into a job from which the voters had ousted
county government ~ith the interests of park him. To make sure that never happens again, the
users. And for several years it worked reasonably Legislature should make the Suburban Hennepin
well. Elected and appoirlted board members gener- Parks Board what it ought to have been all along: a
~allyp pulIed~togeJhec e,!~en,()n jssues,as biuerly bodL consisting entifi~ly of.members elected by
controversial as the acquisition of a new park on and representing the peoph~of suburban Hennepi'n"'
Lake Minnetonka. County,
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. 03/05/91 [REVISOR ] HMW/KS 91-1791
Senators Olson, McGowan, Riveness, Merriam and Traub introduced-_
S. F. No. 692 Referred to the Committee on Local Government
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1 A bill for an act
2 relating to the suburban Hennepin regional park
3 district: setting the size of the board: removing
4 powers of the Hennepin county board to review and veto
5 reserve district budget; amending Minnesota Statutes
.- 6 1990, sections 383B.68, subdivisions 1, 3, and 4, and
7 by adding a subdivision: and 383B.73, subdivision 1;
8 repealing Minnesota Statutes 1990, sections 383B.68,
9 subdivision 2: and 383B.69.
10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:
11 Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 383B.68,
12 subdivision 1, is amended to read:
13 Subdivision 1- Effective January 1, %993 1993, and
14 notwithstanding any provision of sections 398.02 to 398.04, or
15 any other law to the contrary, the board of park district
16 commissioners of the suburban Hennepin eoa~ey regional park
M 17 ~~'t'e$et'.,e-district shall consist of seven commiss_loners appo1:~eeo ~.....
18 or elected as provided in this section.
19 Sec. 2. Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 383B.68,
20 subdivision 3, is amended to read:
21 Subd. 3. P1:ye Seven park district commissioners shall be
22 elected as provided in this subdivision to represent those
23 portions of Hennepin county outside of the city of Minneapolis.
. 24 One park district commissioner shall be elected without party
25 designation from each of the districts established pursuant to
26 subdivision 4. Elections under this subdivision shall be held
27 at the same time and in the same manner as elections for the
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03/05/9L [REVISOR ] HMW,KS 9:-~ 791
1 office of county commlssioner beginning ar the B66 1992 general .
2 election. Each park district: commissioner elected 'pursuant to
3 this 5'-lodi'Jis ion shall be a resident af the dist:-ic,: re~Jres!'lr.ted
4 and shaL. serve for a term of four years and 'Jnt il a sUccessor
5 is elected and qualif:es, except that the term of oEEice of e",ch
6 park district commissioner elected at the general election held
7 in the year of a federal census shall be only two years and
B untll a successor is elected and qualifies. At the general
9 election following redistricting as required in subdivision -i,
10 the en!:'ee four commissioners from odd-numbered districts shall
II be elected for four-year terms and the ~."o three commissioners
12 from even-nJmbered districts shall be elected for two-year
13 terms. ~~-~-~a~~~ey-oee~r~-i~-eke-o~~iee-ef-a~y-eommi~~~one!:'
14 e%ee~eo-~~r~~ant-~O-tki~-~~bdi~i~ion7-eke-board-of-~ar~-oi~e!:'i~~
15 eomm~~~ioner~-~ha%%-a~~oine-a-~~eee~~e~-~e~idin~-i"-ehat
16 di~eriet-~o-fiz~-ehe-~ne~~ired-eerm.
17 Sec. 3. Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 383B.68, is .
18 amended by adding a subdivision to read:
::'9 Subd. 3a. If a vacancy occurs in the office of any
20 commissioner elected pursuant to subdivision 2, a commissioner
21 shall be elected to fill the unexpired terl1 in the :~rst general
22 election following the creation of the vacancy, unless the
23 vacancy occurs less t~,an 20 days before the general election in
24 which case the board oE parl< district commissioners shall, nct
25 earlier than February 1 f 0 lbw i ng t!"'.e general election, aopoint
26 an interim commissioner to fi 11 the unexcired term. If a
27 vacancy occurs in the office of a com..'Tlissioner IBO days or more
28 before the first general election following the vacancy, the
29 board of park district commissioners :nay appoint an interim
30 commissioner to serve until a new commissioner i.s elected. Each
31 park district commissioner elected or appointed pursuant to th:s
32 subdivision shall be a resident of the distr:ct reoresented.
33 Sec. 4. Minnesota Stacutes 1990, section 383B.68, .
34 subd:vi.sior. -i, is amended to read:
35 Subd. 4. Aft e r September l, t965 1991, and after at least
36 30 days' notice and public hear ing, the board of pOl rk dlstrict
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03/05/91 (REVISOR ] HMW/KS 91-1791
. 1 commissioners of the Hennepin county park reserve district shall
2 divide the territory of Hennepin county outside the city of
3 Minneapolis into €~ve ~ districts, which constitute the
4 suburban Hennepin eo~ft~r regional park ~e~e~ve district. Each
5 district ~shall be composed of contiguous territory as regular
6 and compact in form as practicable and as nearly equal in
7 population as possible, provided that no district shall vary in
8 population more than ten percent from the average of all the
9 districts, unless compliance with this requirement requires
10 division of a voting precinct. After each federal census and by
11 riot later than'12o days-before the""'nexCensulnggeneral
12 election~ after at least 30 days notice and public hearing, the
13 board of park district commissioners of the suburban Hennepin
14 ee~ft~y regional park ~e~e~ve district shall redistrict ~he its
15 territory e€-the-He~~e~~~-ee~~~r-~a~~-~e~e~ve-e~~t~~et into new
16 commissioner districts as necessary to comply with the
. 17 provisions of this subdivision. The districts established
18 pursuant to this subdivision shall remain effective until new
19 districts are established. Any person aggrieved by a
20 districting plan established pursuant to this subdivision may
21 challenge the plan in the same manner as a county commissioner
22 districting plan may be 'challenged pursuant to section 375.025.
23 The district court in reviewing any challenge to a districting
24 plan under this subdivision shall proceed in the manner
25 prescribed by section 375.025. Each districting plan
",~ . ':6' established pursuant to. this subdivision shall. be filed in the,
27 office of the director of finance of Hennepin county or any
28 successor office and shall be ~ffective 31 days after its
:':9 publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the county.
30 Sec. 5. Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 383B.73,
31 subdivision 1, is amended to read:
32 Subdivision 1. (LEVY.] To provide funds for the purposes
. 33 of the suburban Hennepinee~~ty regional park ~e~e~ve district
34 as set forth in its annual budget, in lieu of the levies
35 authorized by any other special law for such purposes, the board
36 of park district commissioners may levy taxes on all the taxable
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03/05,91- [REV:SOR , HJ.\WiKS 9>~ 792.
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1 property in the county and park distrlct at a rate not exceedi:'lg .
2 0.03224 percent of market value. Not'",i thstanding section
3 398.16, on o!: before Octobe!: 1 of eacn year, a f:e r public
4 hearing, the board of park district commissioners shall adopt a
5 budget for the ensuing yea!: and shall determine the to::a.!. amou~t
6 necessary to be raised from ad valo!:em tax levies to meet its
7 budget. ~h~-bear~-of-~~r~-di~eriee-~emmi~~iener~-~~a~l-~~bmt~
8 ehe-b~d~ee-eo-ehe-ee~ney-beard~--~he-~o~nty-boara-may-~eeo-or
9 mo~tfy-an-reem-eon~ainea-t"-~he-b~d~e~~--if-ehe-eo~n~y-board
10 d~~ermine~-~o-~eeo-or-eo-modify-an-ie~m-in-ehe-b~d~e~7-ie-m~~e7
11 wi~hin-~5-d5y~-efter-the-e~d~ee-weo-~~b~itted-by-the-di~t~iet
12 board7-~tete-in-wriein~-the-o~eeifie-rea~on~-Eor-te~-oojeeeion
13 to-the-ieem-~eeoee-or-the-rea5on-for-ehe-~odifteeeion~--~he-~e~~
14 re5er~e-di~eriee-board7-efter-eo"~idereeion-of-the-eo~ney
15 boare~5-ob;eetion~-and-~ropo~ed-med~fieeeien~7-mey-ree~pro~e-e
16 ~e~oed-~tem-er-e~e-er~~~ne~-~er~ion-o~-en-ieem-w~th-~e~~eet-to
17 wMie~-a-medi~~~etie"-ha~-bee"-~~o~o~ed7-by-e-t~o-eh~rd~ .
18 mejor~~Y7--%f-the-di~e~t~t-boerd-doe~-not-ree~pro~e-e-~eeeed
19 i~em7-ehe-~tem-~he~1-be-de~eted-from-the-b~d~ee~--ff-th~
20 di~~rie~-boerd-doe~-noe-~ea~proYe-ehe-ori~inar-~e~~ton-of-e
21 mod~fted-item7-the-item-~harl-be-tn~l~ded-in-ehe-b~dget-a~
22 modi~iee-by-~he-eo~nty-board7 Afte!: adoption of the final
23 budget and no later than October 1, the superintendent of the
24 park district shall ce!:tify to the office of the HenneI;Hl; county
25 directo!: of tax and public records exercising the functions of
26 the county auditor the total amount to be raised from ad valorem
27 tax levies to meet its budget for the ensuing year. The
28 director of tax and public reco!:cs shall add the amount of any
29 levy certified by the dist rict to other tax levies on the
30 property of the county within the district for collection by the
31 director of tax and public reco!:ds with other taxes. When
32 collected, the director shall make settlement of such taxes ;.Ji::::,
33 the district in the same manner as other taxes are distrlbuted
34 to the other political subdivlsions in Hennepin county. .
35 Sec. 6. [REVISOR INSTRUCTION. ]
36 In the next editions of Minnesota Statutes and Minnesota
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03/05/91 (REVISOR 1 HMW/KS 91-1791
. 1 Rules, the revisor shall change the term "Hennepin county park
2 reserve district" to "suburban Hennepin regional oark district"
3 wherever it appears in sections 3838.68 to 3838.74, except in
4 section 383B.703.
5 Sec. 7. (REPEALER. 1
6 Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 383B.68, subdivision 2;
7 and 383B.69, are repealed.
8 Sec. 8. (EFFECTIVE DATE.]
9 Sections 1 to 4, 6, and 7 take effect the day after the
10 suburban Hennepin regional park district board complies with
11 Mr~neso~~ siatITt~i, section 645.0:2l,subdivision 3. If the
12 board does not file an approval before August 1, 1991, the
13 matter shall be submitted for a vote of the people who reside in
14 the park district at a special election in 1991. The question
15 proposed shall be:
16 "Shall the sUburban Hennepin regional park district board
. 17 be changed from a partly appointed to a wholly elected body?
18 Yes Ill..... .
19 No II
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20 If a majority of those voting on the question vote yes, the
21 act shall be effective for the 1992 election and thereafter.
22 Section 5 takes effect the day after the suburban Hennepin
23 'regional park district board complies with Minnesota Statutes,
24 section 645.021~ subdivision 3.
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