The County Issue DPPA is running two forums exploring the relationship between Duluth and St. Louis County. How do Duluthians and the City of Duluth interact with the County? What does the County do? Are the processes open and inclusive? Part I Wednesday, February 23 - Overview of the County's roles, including tax forfeit land management. Part II Wednesday, March 9 - Panel / audience discussion, how decisions are made. Time: 7:00 p.m. Place: 3rd Floor conference room, DeWitt-Seitz Deputy County Administrator and DPPA member Gary Eckenberg will moderate. Panelists include Bob Bruce - City Planning, Mark Weber - County Resource Management Supervisor, a city councilor and a county commissioner. With the possible exception of social services, no part of the County's activity impacts Duluth more than the management of tax forfeit lands that make up so much of Duluth's greenspace and green belt. St. Louis County holds three tax forfeit land sales each year, one each in February, June and October. In 2005, the sales will be held on February 8 and June 14 at the Depot in Duluth (10:00 a.m.) and on October 11 at the Miners Memorial Building in Virginia (11:00). Listings for the next land sale will be available approximately one month before the sale date and can be viewed from the county website. Properties that do not sell can be purchased directly from the county Land Department until such time they are reappraised. This can be any time up to two years. In this issue of Common Sense Nancy Nelson looks at the current situation. We also cherry pick some County report highlights, and we map the County districts. Contact information for Commissioners is listed on the County web site: http://www.co.st-louis.mn.us/Commissioners.htm. Dana Frey is the County Administrator, Alan Michell the Attorney, John Ongaro Intergovernmental Relations, David Epperly Land Commissioner, and Barbara Hayden Planning Director. The seven districts of St. Louis County. District 1: Dennis Fink District 2: Steve O'Neil District 3: Bill Kron District 4: Mike Forsman District 5: Peg Sweeney District 6: Keith Nelson District 7: Steve Raukar The districts within Duluth. Duluth is completely surrounded by district 5. Duluth greenspace, tax forfeit land, and the County. By Nancy Nelson, DPPA member "Land is not merely soil; it is a fountain of energy flowing through a circuit of soils, plants, and animals. We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect. That land is a community is the basic concept of ecology, but that land is to be loved and respected is an extension of ethics." These are the words of Aldo Leopold, written in the 1940s. Have things changed significantly since Leopold wrote these words more than fifty years ago? Have we moved closer to seeing ourselves as members of the land community? Bitter and angry battles are still fought regularly over the way we use land. Our society seems unable to find a balance between viewing land as an economic resource that should be sold off to increase the tax base and viewing land as a crucial and irreplaceable part of the interdependent living community. In Duluth, undeveloped greenspaces are the focus of many of these land use battles, and the outcome of each battle depends greatly on who owns the land. Many of Duluth's greenspaces are "tax forfeited land," which is land that was once privately owned, but because taxes were not paid, ownership has reverted to the State of Minnesota. All tax forfeited land is managed by the county in which it is located. In St. Louis County, the Land Department is responsible for the management of approximately 900,000 acres of tax-forfeited lands. According to the county's web site, the Land Department is an enterprise operation which generates a cash flow that exceeds expenses. Income sources include land sales and timber sales. The financial return is distributed to the county, cities, school districts, and townships. Each parcel of tax forfeited land must be classified as "nonconservation" or "conservation." "Nonconservation" lands can be sold at public auction while "conservation" lands are withheld from sale. According to the state statute that governs tax-forfeited lands, if the lands are located within the boundaries of an organized town, the classification or reclassification and sale must first be approved by the governing body of the municipality in which the lands are located. This means that the city of Duluth and the County Board must work cooperatively on the management of tax forfeited lands within the city. For many years, Duluth has maintained thousands of acres of undeveloped tax forfeited land in conservation. Much of the land in Duluth's greenbelt is tax forfeited land, including portions of some parks (for example the upper portions of Lester Park). The city also uses this system to acquire land for public purposes such as stormwater management or road construction as well as to assemble larger land packages for possible development projects. Recently, the St. Louis County Board has taken the position that tax forfeited land cannot be held in conservation indefinitely. The County Attorney's interpretation of the state statute indicates that if the city wishes to hold on to tax forfeited parcels, the city must act within six months to permanently acquire the land. If the city does not act in that time period the land will be sold. As a result, the city of Duluth is currently reviewing all tax forfeited properties within its boundaries. The purpose of the review is to designate an intended use for each parcel, for example for public green space/recreation, public utilities, community development, or for sale to the highest bidder. The decision-makers for this process are the Planning Commission, which will provide recommendations to the City Council, which will request that the tax forfeited land be handled accordingly by the County Board, which is the ultimate authority. The review of tax forfeited property is being carried out in four phases, and the city intends to complete the entire review process before bringing the recommendations from Phases 1-4 to the City Council and the County Board. According to the city's web site, the estimated time for City Council and County Board consideration is early 2005. (For more information about the city's process, visit the web site at http://www.ci.duluth.mn.us/city/planning/tflandindex.htm.) To learn more about how the County Board makes land use decisions, please join the DPPA for a two-part forum that will include representatives from both city and county government. The forums will begin at 7 p.m. on February 23 and March 9 in the 3rd floor conference room at the DeWitt Seitz Building in Canal Park. County roles and challenges These notes are from the St. Louis County 2005 Commissioner Orientation Packet, prepared by the County Administrators Office which includes an assessment of Minnesota County Government by the consulting firm Himle-Horner. Structure of St. Louis County Note that most of the boxes on the lower half of the page report to the County administrator, who reports to the Board of Commissioners, who report to the community. The Himle-Horner report lists perceptions of performance in various roles by Minnesota counties, and challenges facing counties. Roles and perceived performance for Minnesota counties Social Services: generally good performance with a difficult and important role. Public Safety: important, done well, could cooperate more with cities for efficiency. Environment: not done well, not a priority, not funded, duplication with cities and state causes confusion. Economic Development: not done well by counties, should be left to cities and private sector. Land Use Planning: best left to cities, collaborate more with cities. Challenges for Minnesota counties Mandates: external state / federal requirements that counties provide certain services. Often not accompanied by funding. Little room for flexibility. Population Growth: strains services, aging population shifts service demands. Population Loss: may increase demands for services when associated with unemployment, cuts in state aid exacerbate the problem. Regional Planning: Twin Cities counties and cities required to produce comprehensive plans, outside that zone comprehensive land use planning is very variable. This hinders vision and long term planning, which can help save resources and identify opportunities. These roles and challenges are aggregated for the whole state. How does St. Louis County compare? Are there factors are unique to St. Louis County and Duluth? Join DPPA's email discussion list If you're not on DPPA's email discussion list, send an email to contact@DuluthPPA.org, and we'll sign you up. It's a low volume list with occasional discussions of issues closely aligned to DPPA's mission - transparent and inclusive government in Duluth. Common Sense seeks editor Like to write? Want to edit a newsletter? Common Sense is in need of an editor. All the layout, graphic design etc. is handled by the inimitable Sally Rauschenfels, but we need someone to collect the text of the articles, wrap them up and get them ready for Sally. If you're interested, email contact@DuluthPPA.org. Bylaw adjustment At the annual DPPA spring meeting, we will discuss and vote on these bylaw changes proposed by the board: Proposed addition V.2.a. Board Meetings: A board member is expected to attend all Board meetings and notify the president if unable to attend. After three occurrences of inattendance with no notification, the board member will be asked to resign. Proposed addition V.2.b. Electronic Communication: Board members are expected to participate in email discussions, helping to guide and focus them within the parameters of DPPA's mission. A board member who fails to participate regularly will be asked to resign. These articles are retained on the web for historical interest and do not necessarily reflect the views or goals of DPPA today.