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1. Call to Order
Chairperson LaBau called the meeting to order at 8:45 a.m. at Roseville City Hall in Roseville, Minnesota.
Members present: Counties: Margo LaBau (Anoka); Patrick O'Conner (Hennepin); Virginia Erdahl (Washington);
Metropolitan: Richard Johnson (Metropolitan Council); Cities: Dennis Welsch (City of Roseville); State: David Arbeit
(LMIC).
Members absent: School Districts: Clark Evans (Minnetonka Schools) [Clark resigned as a active member of the
Team because he is no longer able to attend the meetings.]
Support staff: Randall Johnson, Heidi Welsch
2. Acceptance of the agenda
The meeting agenda was accepted by consensus.
3. Acceptance of the Meeting Summaries
- June 13, 1996: Accepted by consensus, as submitted.
- August 15, 1996: In response to an inquiry from Member Arbeit, staff reported that after the August 15th
meeting, Jim Hentges had worked with MetroGIS staff to increase the number of confirmed participants from one to six
persons from Scott County for the Data Content Advisory Team's Information Needs Forum on September 19, 1996. Heidi
Welsch also noted that four of the six persons actually participated.
Member Arbeit suggested the following
revision to the last line of the last paragraph under Item 2 on page 3: "Team members also clarified to the visiting
county and cities representatives that the
powers of the Policy Board are intended to guide development of MetroGIS rather than to govern it.
role of the initial Policy Board is to guide the decision making to move the MetroGIS from concept to
reality."
The August 15th meeting summary was unanimously accepted subject to the referenced correction.
4. New Business
4a. Status of MetroGIS Endorsement Process
Randall Johnson explained that Carver, Dakota, and Washington Counties and the Metro Association of Watershed
Districts have completed the process and that progress is being made toward endorsement from each of the other four
counties, the Association of Metropolitan Municipalities and TIES on behalf of school districts. He also noted he had
spoken with Vern Peterson, the Executive Director of the AMM, and explained the Policy Team's reasoning for suggesting
that a representative from Minneapolis should be selected in addition to a representative from a small city. This
reasoning being that it will be important for the Board to have input from cities who are most involved with the use of
GIS and addressing related policy issues. The Team concurred with a previous conclusion the City of Minneapolis, is a
"system enhancer" and that representation via the AMM is appropriate.
Member O'Connor reported that Hennepin County is making progress towards endorsement. He also mentioned that
when the data sharing agreement is discussed, the County Board will likely ask how their data sales structure will be
affected by the MetroGIS. LaBau reported that endorsement approval is scheduled for the October 22nd Board meeting and
that once the endorsement is achieved that discussions regarding a data sharing agreement can resume.
Randall Johnson reported that Jim Sydow (TIES) had communicated with the Metro II group and that Metro II
officials are comfortable with TIES representing their interests on the MetroGIS Policy Board. Mr. Johnson also noted
that Jim Sydow had raised a concerned his group still would not represent the interests of all school districts.
Chairperson LaBau stated that TIES is being asked to generally represent school district interests, not necessarily the
view of all districts, just as AMM is being asked to generally represent city interests. The team concurred that the
TIES organization is best suited to represent school district interests on the MetroGIS Policy Board due to its
extensive technology experience and broad membership.
Staff also briefly reviewed comments and concerns that have been raised by policy bodies as they have acted on
the MetroGIS endorsement request:
Dakota County
Concern for the creation of another metro area board but receptive to the MetroGIS Board because they
understand that it will determine its own destiny.
Washington County
- Need to craft a process to that avoids technology being hampered by politics and to remain focused on the
visionary technology,
- The wide disparity among the GIS programs in each of the seven counties could hamper decision making,
- Oppose the use of the MetroGIS to dictate policy to counties, in particular, concerning land use,
- Data privacy is a issue of significant magnitude, and
- The voting rule problems being experienced by the Radio Board will need to be addressed.
Metropolitan Council
Council staff have been directed to notify officials in each of the counties that adjoin the seven county
Metro Area to explain the MetroGIS initiative and to continue to keep them informed. The Council acknowledged the
MetroGIS initiative needs to remain focused on the seven county area but that communication channels should be
established. (The Team agreed this dialog should also be coordinated with the Governor's Council on Geographic
Information.)
4b. Strategy to Engage MetroGIS Policy Board Appointees and Legislative Liaisons
The team reviewed a draft letter of acknowledgment to be sent to each member as they are appointed to the
MetroGIS Policy Board. Member Arbeit agreed to work with staff to finalize the letter. The team also suggested that a
copy should also be sent to the respective County Board Chairpersons and County Administrators.
Richard Johnson, David Arbeit, Margo LaBau, and Patrick O'Connor volunteered to form a subcommittee to discuss
the agenda for the first meeting of the Policy Board. The subcommittee members agreed to meet on October 16th. The Team
agreed that Legislative Liaisons should not be invited to the first Policy Board meeting and that the involvement of
the liaisons, in particular District 10 of AMC, should be a item at the Board's first business meeting. It was agreed
that is important for the liaisons to be aware of related initiatives important to MetroGIS, including creation of the
State Geographic Clearinghouse and the Land Records Modernization initiatives before the 1997 Legislative session is
underway.
Arbeit suggested that MetroGIS officials should consider meeting with Dan Gunneau in the State Office of
Technology to brief him on the initiative and to explain our intent to coordinate and collaborate with work affiliated
with the State Geographic Clearinghouse Project.. Arbeit noted that Mr. Gunneau's presentation at the State Policy
GIS/LIS Conference included the first public acknowledgment of support for the State Clearinghouse Project. The team
agreed it would be beneficial for MetroGIS officials to meet with Mr. Gunneau. It was agreed that a representative from
the Policy and Access Teams should meet with David Arbeit and staff to formulate a list of meeting objectives and then
meet as a team with Mr. Gunneau.
The team also agreed that the first issue of the MetroGIS newsletter should not be mailed until it is reviewed
by the Policy Board.
5. Decision Making Guidelines
The team reviewed and commented a draft questionnaire and a mailing list that staff prepared in preparation
for a survey of several groups multi-jurisdictional GIS across the country. The members suggested that we obtain a copy
of each organization's by-laws that have a similar organizational structure. The team also noted that we should state
that results of the survey will be sent to all respondents.
It was agreed that we should not ask questions relating to GIS cost-benefit documentation when asking for
information about the decision making guidelines. These surveys should be carried out as two separate projects. Member
Arbeit suggested that staff contact PlanGraphics for cost-benefit information and for multi-participant GIS
organizations to include in the survey. It was also agreed that the Metropolitan 911 Board should be contacted about
their decision making rules, by-laws, and organizational structure.
6. Next meeting
The next Policy Team meeting will be held on December 5, 1996, at 8:30 AM at the City of Roseville.
7. The meeting was adjourned at 10:35 AM.
Prepared by Randall Johnson, GIS Liason
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