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Director of Public Works & Parks Richard Wilson stated that he did not believe <br />that the agreement had been reviewed by the City Attorney. Ms. Carr <br />questioned whether the City had discussed the Blanket Agreement with MSD, <br />and if so, when? Mr. Wilson stated that past policy dictated that every time the <br />City initiated a new project that required storm water protection, the City had to <br />sign an agreement with MSD. He stated that this same type of agreement had <br />been utilized with the addition to Flynn Park and the golf course project, and <br />that in each of these instances, a separate agreement had been required which <br />assured MSD that the City would maintain the retention basin. Mr. Wilson <br />stated that under the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) guidelines UCity <br />has enough separate storm sewers to become an Municipal Separate Storm <br />Sewer Systems (MS4s) community. As a result, UCity, along with 59 other <br />communities have joined with MSD as co-permittees who work together to <br />provide stormwater protection within their communities. Mr. Wilson stated that <br />as a member, UCity is now eligible to participate in this Blanket Agreement, <br />which basically says that UCity will maintain the retention basin on any new <br />construction versus having to submit a separate agreement for each new <br />project. Ms. Carr then questioned the language in the agreement which stated <br />that the City will build and construct? Mr. Wilson advised Ms. Carr that the <br />language referred to projects such as the golf course where the generation of <br />additional stormwater resulted in the need for a retention basin and pond. So <br />anytime the City builds or constructs something that generates the need for a <br />retention basin, MSD requires that the City bear the responsibility of <br />maintaining it. <br /> <br />Ms. Carr stated that one of the reasons she had asked if the agreement had <br />been reviewed by the City Attorney is because of the fact that MSD has some <br />problems and she wanted to make sure that the City was covered. She then <br />asked whether the construction of stormwater management facilities would <br />come out of the City’s budget. Mr. Wilson stated that the City would be <br />responsible for developing some way to limit the amount of additional <br />stormwater created by any new construction or even the paving of a new <br />parking lot. Ms. Carr asked Mr. Wilson if Council had authorized the signing of <br />this Blanket Agreement which takes away Council’s ability to at least oversee <br />the handling of such projects. Mr. Wilson stated that the original agreement <br />commenced with the Millar Park project, and all this agreement indicates is that <br />the City will no longer have to sign an independent agreement each time it does <br />a new project. Ms. Carr stated that while she understands the rationale behind <br />the agreement she still believed that it should have been brought before <br />Council for authorization. <br /> <br />City Manager Walker stated that although this is an administrative matter it may <br />be something that merits further discussion at another time. He stated that as <br />the Director of Public Works has indicated from the City’s point of view the <br />benefit of such an agreement is that they do not have to come to Council all of <br />the time for these types of changes that for the most part, are administrative in <br />nature. Mr. Walker informed Ms. Carr that he was aware of the fact that she <br />had raised the issue of where the line is drawn between policy formulated by <br />Council and administrative responsibility in the past, so perhaps this is an item <br />5 <br /> <br /> <br />