Nancy Edmonds Hanson
Though the Minnesota Legislature doesn’t convene for three more months, the Moorhead City Council endorsed a quartet of legislative priorities for 2022 at its regular meeting Monday.
Governmental affairs director Lisa Bode told council members that the four priorities are “essential to Moorhead’s prosperity and long-term goals.” The first, however, is of immediate concern: Finding a resolution to the the problems action by the last session created for interstate cooperation by neighboring North Dakota law enforcement with Moorhead and Clay County officers.
The problem dates back to last spring, when legislators revised state law regarding officers’ use of deadly force. The new law implemented last March sets a different standard than the other 49 states, leading Fargo and Cass County agencies to stop cooperating with their counterparts on the Minnesota side on SWAT, child abduction and drug enforcement teams.
Mayor Shelly Carlson said members of agencies in both counties have met to try to solve the issue, but have found no practical solutions. The outcome of a lawsuit against the statute now in Ramsey County Court is unknown at this point; a temporary injunction issued by the judge this summer failed to stem North Dakota agencies’ concerns.
Thus, city leaders expect to turn to elected officials to try to resolve the issue. The recommended action is to continue to engage with the Minnesota legislative and administrative branches about the law’s impact on Moorhead and Clay County.
Flood mitigation figures large in next year’s priorities, Bode said. “Moorhead fared very well in the 2020 bonding bill,” she pointed out, receiving $2.8 million for flood control as well as $65 million for the 11th Street underpass and $7.5 million for the county’s waste management campus. Since the 2009 flood of record, Minnesota has invested more than $83 million in flood protection. But a number of projects still need attention.
The city is requesting $17.5 million from the next bonding bill for the second phase of the north Moorhead project as well as the First Avenue North levee and flood wall, sanitary and stormwater lift stations, and the Riverview Circle levee and raising 40th Avenue South. Several potential capital investment initiatives also lie in the future, including the final $12.7 million in voluntary flood acquisitions from 2009, water infrastructure for Moorhead Public Service, and the possibility of the community science museum that’s now being discussed finding a location in Moorhead.
Bode listed the Border Cities Enterprise Zone and Disparity Reduction Credit program among the priorities, though she said Moorhead is in good shape since the 2019 addition of funding to the state’s permanent budget. “We need to remain vigilant,” she said.
The fourth priority listed by Bode was continuation of efforts to achieve local discretion and flexibility for border cities like Moorhead on building code disparities between Minnesota and neighboring states. She pointed out, however, that the failure of legislation to level the playing field on the frost footing depth required for home builders was resolved outside of the Legislature by negotiation in an advisory group appointed by the Department of Labor and Industry. The group found an alternate standard that permits a less restrictive frost footing requirement … “making new homes more affordable and Moorhead more competitive with cities across the river,” she said.
