01-11-2016 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, January 11, 2016 7:00 o'clock p.m. LMCDBIG ISLAND REPORT — GABRIEL JABBOUR, REPRESENTATIVE (continued) Jabbour stated the main issue with the LMCD is that the cities with only one or two percent of the lake are entitled to the same vote as Orono, who has 35 percent of the lake. A number of years ago Lake Minnetonka was divided into five areas and Orono is in four of the five zones. Orono also pays between 18 to 19 percent of the LMCD budget and Minnetonka pays 20 percent. Even though those two cities comprise almost 40 percent of the LMCD budget, last year the City of Spring Park reprimanded Orono and Minnetonka for the LMCD budget being too low. Jabbour stated what it all means is that Orono has to pay a disproportionate amount but yet does not have a stronger voice than the other cities that pay far less. Jabbour indicated he has been trying to change things this past year but unfortunately things have not changed much. Jabbour stated in his view the executive director of the LMCD has not done his job properly and that he requested a consultant be hired to determine what the job of the LMCD is. Jabbour indicated that was done, and that following the study, half of the board felt the executive director should not stay on board. Jabbour noted he also sits on the DNR AIS Advisory Committee and that they have been informed that the DNR is going to cut their grants for AIS from $700,000 to $200,000. As a result, the LMCD will be receiving $29,000 less in grant money in 2016. Currently the LMCD receives two grants from the DNR. If the status quo is maintained and no services are cut, the LMCD will need to increase its budget by $29,000. Jabbour stated in his view the services should be reduced given the redundancy. Jabbour noted the LMCD levied the member cities $90,000 for AIS efforts and that they only spent $60,000. Jabbour indicated he would also like to reduce the LMCD reserve since the LMCD has no infrastructure it needs to maintain. In addition, only one member of the LMCD board knew about the strategic plan that was in existence. Jabbour stated he only recently found out there are bylaws and that the last time they were amended was in 1967. Jabbour stated he does not believe the City of Orono can rely on one citizen spending a couple years of their lives trying to get the LMCD back on track, but that it is very hard for legislators to change things. Jabbour stated he is also trying to get all the LMCD board members to be engaged. At the present time almost 99 percent of the duties are performed by Staff, with the majority of the board members merely attending the board meetings and not doing anything else. Council Member Walsh asked what services he is thinking about reducing. Jabbour stated one would be the milfoil harvesting. Jabbour noted not one member of the LMCD staff or the people they employ to harvest the milfoil have had training on the proper ways to transport the milfoil or on zebra mussels. Jabbour noted a couple of years ago one of the harvesters cut the telephone line to Big Island and sunk the harvester. The utility company had to spend three days trying to fix the telephone line. Jabbour noted there is also an 8000 kv power line near the telephone line, and if they had cut that, the people driving the harvesters would not be alive today. Jabbour stated he is attempting to get the LMCD back on track and that controlling aquatic invasive species is extremely important. Jabbour stated he has personally asserted himself in a number of places to help address this issue and that he has spent his own money to partner with the University of Minnesota and the DNR to do a three-year study on AIS. Page 4 of 24