The Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis have a deep-rooted rivalry that still exists today. Yet, through the development of the Met Council, an agency serving the 7-county Twin Cities region, these very different areas joined together to address transportation, water, wastewater, conservation, and planning issues with great efficiency and achievement. The following is the second piece of a two-part essay on the history and function of the Met Council. 

Part II: An Innovative Arrangement

The Metropolitan Council is designed to plan for orderly development of the seven-county metro area as well as coordinate delivery of certain services that cannot be effectively provided by a single city or town.  Over 300 separate units of local government, including 7 counties, 188 cities and townships, and 22 special purpose districts are located within this region, which is about 1.9 million acres in size - twice the size of Long Island. ^[i] About 2.8 million people reside in the Twin Cities region.

At the creation of this Council, the region was divided into 16 districts with roughly equal population. Careful consideration of social and natural boundaries allowed delineation of districts with similar land use patterns, cultural heritage, natural habitats, development pressures, social identities, and biological cycles. Municipalities within each district are generally alike, they tend to face similar issues and have corresponding needs. Urban districts located toward the center of the region are smaller geographically compared to rural districts located near the region’s edge. In total, 17 members serve on the Metropolitan Council, one from each district and a chair who serves ‘at large’. Members are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the State Senate. A new Council is appointed with each new term. Because they are appointed and not elected, Council members typically maintain a ‘low key’ presence.^[ii]

The Metropolitan Council’s mission is to guide the efficient growth and development of the metropolitan area by working with local communities to develop a framework to plan for regional systems.⁵  Council programs and services include regional transportation, water and environmental services, housing, regional parks, and planning assistance. Three primary organizational divisions carry out the council’s organizational divisions: The Community Development Division, The Environmental Services Division; and the Transportation Division.

At its core, the Metropolitan Council is a regional planning authority. The Community Development Division is responsible for shaping and coordinating the regional growth plan - known as the ‘Regional Development Framework’ while working with individual communities to develop and advance their own plans. As part of this effort, communities are obligated to communicate their planning goals and objectives with neighboring areas. The Community development division also oversees housing and redevelopment programs and implements strategies for regional parks and open space. One other important responsibility of the Community Development Division is the collection of regional data and analysis of regional growth trends and projections.^[iii]

One of the drivers that led to the creation of the Council was the problems individual communities were having providing adequate sewage treatment for rapidly expanding areas. Today, the Environmental Services Division operates and maintains one of the best intercommunity wastewater distribution and treatment systems in the U.S. This system consists of approximately 600 miles of sewers that collect flow from 5,000 miles of sewers owned by 105 communities. Eight regional treatment plans treat about 250 million gallons of wastewater each day.^[iv] The ability of this system to handle extremely large quantities of wastewater efficiently and cheaply gives the Twin Cities region a competitive advantage for business attraction. This Division is also responsible for environmental compliance, monitoring, and assessment, research and development, water resources assessment, and water supply planning for the region.

During its early years, the Council took over the Twin Cities’ privately owned regional bus system and saved it from collapse. Today, the Council’s Transportation Division is responsible for ensuring regional mobility, which is fundamental to the Twin Cities’ economic vitality and quality of life. With an underlying goal of reducing traffic congestion, the Council oversees transit planning activities, highway planning, air quality planning, travel forecasting, and aviation planning. Guided by the Council’s 2030 Regional Development Framework and the 2030 Transportation Policy Plan, the Council takes a long-range planning approach to transportation planning for the Twin Cities.