City Council Meeting Date: January 18, 2022
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Ben Martig, City Administrator
Title
Consider Resolution to Join the Membership in the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities (CGMC).
Body
Action Requested:
The Northfield City Council is asked to consider the attached Resolution to join the membership in the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities.
Summary Report:
The Northfield City Council received a presentation from the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities (CGMC) at their January 11, 2022 worksession detailing the membership benefits. Attachment 1 is the resolution to join the CGMC.
Attached to this report are a number of documents containing information related to joining the CGMC. These include: Attachment 2 - a letter sent to the City earlier this summer regarding CGMC membership; Attachment 3 - a dues invoice detailing what Northfield’s dues would be to join for 2022; Attachment 4 - a FAQ sheet about the CGMC; Attachment 5 - a document titled “40 years of advocacy” discussing the issue areas CGMC focuses on; and Attachment 6 - a timeline of CGMC’s recent advocacy work on Local Government Aid. Attachment 7 is a link to the CGMC website that contains additional information.
Upcoming events the CGMC sponsors are as follows:
• Legislative Action Day: March 2, 2022
• CGMC Summer Conference: July 27-29
• CGMC Fall Conference: to be determined
The membership fee structure is listed below in the financial impacts section of this report.
Alternative Options:
City Council may decide not join the CGMC at this time and therefore not adopt the resolution. To become members requires approval of a resolution.
Financial Impacts:
New member cities or returning member cities of the CGMC that have not been members within the past five years are able to join the organization on a phasing-in dues schedule that allows you to join at 25% of your total calculated dues, phasing up to 100% in year four of membership.
For Northfield, these figures would look as follows:
|
Northfield CGMC Dues: |
% of Full Amount |
Dues |
|
First Year |
25% |
$10,417 |
|
Second Year |
50% |
$20,834 |
|
Third Year |
75% |
$31,251 |
|
Fourth Year (and thereafter subject to fee changes) |
100% |
$41,668 |
*The membership may be cancelled at any year so it membership does not obligate to every year. Once the “phase-in” fees are established the City would not be eligible again for a phase-in amount.
The following lists some other membership organizations. The Association of Metropolitan Cities is likely the most comparable organization both in terms of member benefits and dues based fee structure.
• Association of Metropolitan Municipalities:
o Northfield Full Membership if Northfield were eligible (which we are not) $_____________ (waiting for response will include as supplemental information)
o Northfield Cities Non-Voting Associate Membership $100.00 (Northfield not currently in associate membership)
• 2021 League of Minnesota Cities membership $18,750.00
• 2021 National League of Cities membership fee $1,953.00.
Tentative Timelines:
N/A