Office of the Revisor of Statutes
Minnesota Session Laws - 2002, Regular Session
Key: (1) language to be deleted (2) new language
CHAPTER 278-S.F.No. 3117
An act relating to the metropolitan council; providing
for the transfer or disposal of interceptor
facilities; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota
Statutes, chapter 473.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:
Section 1. [473.5111] [TRANSFER OR DISPOSAL OF
NONMETROPOLITAN INTERCEPTORS.]
Subdivision 1. [DEFINITIONS.] In this section, the
definitions in this subdivision apply, except as otherwise
expressly provided or indicated by the context.
(a) The term "in good operating condition" with reference
to an interceptor means that the facility is currently
operational and that the pipes or sewer mains portion only of
the facility is expected to have structural integrity, as
appropriate for the proposed use of the pipe, for a period of
ten or more years after the date of a determination or
certification of good operating condition under this section.
(b) The term "interceptor" has the meaning given it in
section 473.121, subdivision 23, and includes a designated
portion of an interceptor.
(c) The term "local government unit," with respect to an
interceptor that is a storm sewer, means a local governmental
unit as defined in section 473.121, subdivision 6. The term
local government unit, with respect to an interceptor that is
not a storm sewer, means a local government unit as defined in
section 473.501, subdivision 3.
(d) The term "storm sewer" means a facility that currently
carries exclusively water runoff, surface water, or other
drainage, rather than sewage.
(e) The term "use as a local facility" includes use as
either a sanitary sewer or a storm sewer.
Subd. 2. [NONMETROPOLITAN STATUS DETERMINATION.] The
council may determine that an interceptor is no longer needed to
implement the council's comprehensive plan for the collection,
treatment, and disposal of sewage in the metropolitan area. If
the council makes the determination, it may use the procedures
in this section to sell, transfer, abandon, or otherwise dispose
of the interceptor.
Subd. 3. [LOCAL BENEFIT DETERMINATION; TRANSFER TO
BENEFITED COMMUNITY.] (a) If the council uses the procedures in
this section, it must, with regard to each interceptor for which
the determination is made in subdivision 2, determine whether or
not the interceptor continues to be of benefit for use as a
local facility for one or more local government units. If the
council determines that the interceptor does not continue to be
of benefit as a local facility, it must notify each local
government unit in which the interceptor is located, of this
determination.
(b) Such a government unit may notify the council in
writing within 90 days from receipt of notice that it believes
the interceptor provides a local benefit to the government unit
and that it desires to take possession of the interceptor. The
council may extend the time for a government unit to provide
this notice. If a government unit delivers a written notice to
the council in accordance with this paragraph, the council must
transfer the interceptor at no cost to the government unit by
preparing and transmitting a bill of sale for the facility, and
quit claim deeds for any property rights associated with the
facility that are no longer needed for the council's purposes.
Upon receipt of the bill of sale, the government unit is the
owner of the interceptor and thereafter responsible for its
operation and maintenance.
(c) If the council does not receive notice from a
government unit under paragraph (b), the council may sell,
transfer, abandon, or otherwise dispose of the interceptor in
such manner as it may deem fit.
Subd. 4. [PRELIMINARY COUNCIL DETERMINATIONS; NOTICE TO
LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS.] If the council determines that an
interceptor continues to be of benefit for use as a local
facility for one or more local government units, it must
designate those units that are so benefited and the portions of
the interceptor that should properly be transferred to the
benefited units. It must also determine whether the interceptor
is in good operating condition and, if not, the necessary
repairs, and their cost, needed to put the interceptor in good
operating condition. The council must provide written notice to
each designated unit of the council's determinations in this
subdivision.
Subd. 5. [CONTESTED CASE; ADMINISTRATIVE AND JUDICIAL
REVIEW.] (a) The council's preliminary determinations under
subdivision 4 may be contested by a local government unit which
has been designated by the council under that subdivision. The
unit has 90 days from receiving notice of the council's
determinations under subdivision 4 within which to make a
written request to the council for a hearing on the council's
determinations. The unit in its request for hearing must
specify the determinations with which it disagrees and its
position with regard to those determinations. If within 90 days
no designated unit has requested a hearing in writing, the
council's preliminary determinations become its final decision
with respect to the determinations under subdivision 4 and the
final decision is binding on all designated units. If a
designated unit requests a hearing, the request for hearing must
be granted and the hearing must be conducted by the office of
administrative hearings in the manner provided by chapter 14 for
contested cases. The subject of the hearing must extend only to
those council determinations under subdivision 4 for which a
hearing has been requested. The council and all local
government units designated by the council under subdivision 4
are parties to the contested case proceeding.
(b) Charges of the office of administrative hearings must
be divided equally among the council and those parties who
requested a hearing under paragraph (a). Otherwise, each party
is responsible for its own costs and expenses in the proceeding.
(c) After receipt of the report of the office of
administrative hearings, the council must make a final decision
with respect to the determinations in subdivision 4. Any party
to the contested case proceeding who is aggrieved by the final
decision of the council may make a judicial appeal in the manner
provided in chapter 14 for contested cases.
Subd. 6. [COUNCIL OPTIONS.] (a) If the council's final
decision after a proceeding under subdivision 5 is that the
interceptor does not continue to be of benefit for use as a
local facility, it may sell, transfer, abandon, or otherwise
dispose of the interceptor in such manner as it may deem fit.
(b) If the council's final decision is that the interceptor
continues to be of benefit for use as a local facility, but is
not in good operating condition, it may either:
(1) continue to operate the interceptor until sold,
transferred, abandoned, or otherwise disposed of in such manner
as it may deem fit; or
(2) repair the interceptor as necessary to put the
interceptor in good operating condition, certify that it is in
good operating condition, and proceed under subdivision 7.
(c) If the council's final decision is that the interceptor
continues to be of benefit for use as a local facility and is in
good operating condition, it must proceed under subdivision 7.
Subd. 7. [TRANSFER AGREEMENT; LOCAL BENEFIT CHARGE;
TRANSFER TO BENEFITED COMMUNITY.] (a) This subdivision applies
if an interceptor designated in subdivision 2 continues to be of
benefit as a local facility and is determined or, after repair
is certified, by the council to be in good operating condition.
(b) The council and each local government unit that has
been determined to have a benefit in accordance with the
procedures in this section must negotiate and enter into an
agreement governing transfer of an interceptor that has been
determined to have benefit for use as a local facility.
(c) The agreement may provide for the council to share in
the cost of emergency repairs to the transferred interceptor for
an agreed warranty period not exceeding ten years beyond the
later of:
(1) the date of the preliminary council determination of
good operating condition in subdivision 4; or
(2) the date of the certification in subdivision 6,
paragraph (b), clause (2).
(d) The agreement may also contain arrangements between one
or more local government units concerning shared use, ownership,
operation, or maintenance of the transferred interceptor.
(e) If the interceptor is not a storm sewer and is not
transferred in its entirety to local government units, the
council must charge a local benefit charge for the portions of
the interceptor not transferred.
(f) The charge must begin on the later of:
(1) two years from the date of the determination in
subdivision 2; or
(2) the day after the completion of any contested case
proceeding under subdivision 5, including any judicial appeals.
(g) The local benefit charge must be:
(1) based on the costs of overhead, operation, maintenance,
rehabilitation, and debt service of that portion of the
interceptor not transferred;
(2) charged to all local government units which have not
taken ownership of their allocated portion of the interceptor;
and
(3) allocated in accordance with the final decision of the
council under subdivision 5.
(h) The local benefit charge is considered a charge payable
by the local government unit to the council under section
473.521 and must continue to be paid by the local government
unit until the interceptor is transferred to it.
(i) If the facility is a storm sewer and is not transferred
in its entirety to the benefited local government unit or units
by the later of:
(1) two years from the date of the determination in
subdivision 2; or
(2) the day after the completion of any contested case
proceeding under subdivision 5, including any judicial appeals,
then the facility is transferred effective on the later of the
dates in clauses (1) and (2), by operation of law, to the unit
or units determined to have a benefit in accordance with the
procedures under this section.
(j) The transfer is not dependent on an agreement between
the council and the local government unit or units and is at no
cost to the receiving unit.
(k) The local government unit is thereafter the owner of
the interceptor and responsible for its operation and
maintenance.
(l) The council must prepare and transmit to the
appropriate government unit or units bills of sale for the
facility, and quit claim deeds for any property rights
associated with the facility which are no longer needed for the
council's purposes.
Subd. 8. [POWER TO OPERATE, MAINTAIN, AND REPAIR
FACILITY.] Until such time as an interceptor is sold,
transferred, abandoned, or otherwise disposed of under this
section, the council has all powers under this chapter to
operate, maintain, and repair the interceptor. After transfer
of an interceptor, the council has all powers under this chapter
to provide emergency repairs under any agreed warranty period
incorporated into a transfer agreement under subdivision 7.
Sec. 2. [APPLICATION.]
Section 1 applies in the counties of Anoka, Carver, Dakota,
Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, and Washington.
Sec. 3. [EFFECTIVE DATE.]
This act is effective on December 31, 2002.
Presented to the governor March 22, 2002
Signed by the governor March 25, 2002, 2:15 p.m.
Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes