Metropolitan Council Tells Scott County Group Working Together as a Region is "Difficult"

On April 13, members of the Metropolitan Council met with Scott County Association For Leadership And Efficiency (SCALE) members in Prior Lake to start a conversation on how the two can better work together.

Metropolitan Council Chair Susan Haigh empha­sized that she had “… heard the concerns that many of you (SCALE members) have been expressing,” par­ticularly as they relate to the (Highway) 169 corridor, the proposed (Highway) 101 river crossing, transit, and general agency-to-agency relationship issues.  “Honestly, it is difficult to work together as a region,” she noted. “There are a lot of natural tensions that arise when we’re dealing with limited resources. We need to put our focus on prioritization and partnerships.”  

Haigh gave some history of the council and its mission (“To foster a prosperous, livable metropolitan region”). She also talked about its areas of planning or coor­dinating responsibility (local comprehensive plans; transportation, aviation, regional parks, and regional sewer systems) as well as operations (regional transit, regional wastewater, and metropolitan housing and redevelopment). 

Haigh also summarized previous initiatives in which the Scott County communities have partnered well with the council, more notably in the areas of regional park planning and acquisition, park and ride transit planning, and federal funding for transportation projects. 

New SCALE Chair LuAnne Lemke (Louisville Township) opened up the floor for a question-and-answer session, in which topics ranged from the 101 bridge (asked by Shakopee Mayor Brad Tabke) to transit funding, and governance issues (Commissioner Jon Ulrich). 

At the end of the session, Lemke asked, “How do we move forward from here? How can we work with each other and not just simply deal with each other? It’s my intention to have some kind of follow-up to this meeting within 30 days, with meeting participants and topics to be decided in the next few days.” 

Chair Haigh and the SCALE members present agreed with Lemke’s approach.

This was also the meeting in which Sen. Claire Robling (R-Jordan) stunned the crowd by announcing her decision to not run for re-election this fall. In an emotional message, she stated that she “…. Wanted all of you to be the first to know; I have been truly honored to represent this community for the last 16 years.  But after a lot of thought, I decided that this was the time for me to step aside.”  

To view the Metropolitan Council presentation in its entirety, click here.

The next SCALE meeting will be held at 7:30 a.m. Friday, May 11, at Prior Lake City Hall. 

For more information about SCALE, click here.

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