A bill born out of the work of the Municipal Boundary Adjustment Advisory Task Force received House approval March 31.
Sponsored by Rep. Paul Marquart (DFL-Dilworth), HF3357, in part, states that joint resolutions for orderly annexation, consolidations and mergers of towns and municipalities should be encouraged.
Approved 130-0 in the House, it now goes to the Senate, where Sen. Rick Olseen (DFL-Harris) is the sponsor.
“This bill sets a great foundation for future issues that are going to be discussed by this task force,” Marquart said. “The work of this task force is going to be ongoing and they look forward to discussing some of the bigger issues that will be coming up.” He said townships and cities support this plan.
Rep. Torrey Westrom (R-Elbow Lake) said annexation issues are unfairly tilted to favor cities over townships, leaving township residents frustrated at a process that always seems to bow to the desires of cities in the end.
“Why go through this dog-and-pony show when the outcome is already guaranteed for the city that wants to annex?” Westrom asked.
Agreeing that the task force still has issues to work out between cities and townships, Marquart said the bill contains the low-hanging fruit that both sides could agree on.
The task force was established in 2006 and amended in 2007 to extend the life of the task force into 2008.
An amendment to the bill would extend the timeline for when the task force would have its final work completed from June 30, 2008, to Jan. 15, 2009.