The Wright County Board last week voted unanimously to join Minnesota Rural Counties (MRC).

 

The organization started 20 years ago. Its goal is to act as an advocacy group for rural counties in Minnesota.

 

Last Tuesday, MRC Executive Director Dan Larson explained the benefits of being a member.

 

“We are 31 rural counties and the only organization that advocates specifically for rural county concerns,” he said.

 

Larson said legislators in St. Paul hear concerns from Metro counties all the time, but there isn’t as big a voice there for Greater Minnesota.

 

“There’s a lot of division at the state capital. Rural counties need an advocate to be in the room to have a coordinated leadership group in place with  lines of communication that can set up priorities and advocate for them,” he said, “and at the same time to be able to react to things that are negative.”

 

Larson talked about how the group formed and rallied around an issue that affected most rural counties.

 

“The state wanted to impose a one-size-fits-all wetland plan for the whole state regardless of whether you’ve already drained all your ag land or if you’ve got 80% of your wetlands remaining,” he said.

 

“Whenever a project was done, everybody would have to mitigate at the same ratio.”

 

He said at the time Gov. Arnie Carlson,  sportsman’s groups and environmental groups were all in favor of the legislation. Five rural counties came to Carlson with the problem.

 

“We put a resolution together to get a list of counties that wouldn’t abide by the new rule,” he said.

 

Within several months he had 23 counties that said they wouldn’t abide by the Wetland Conservation Act.

 

“We stopped the momentum and turned it back,” he said. “We got the other groups back to the table  and developed a three-tiered model that has become a model for the rest of the country.”

 

When the government shutdown occurred in 2011, new policies came out during negotiations. One was a funding formula change for the Vulnerable Children and Adults Act (VCAA) that was detrimental to many rural counties. Larson MRC was able to freeze the VCAA formula and was also able to put  in guarantees that the law couldn’t be changed without public input.

 

That formula freeze saved  many rural counties hundreds of thousands of dollars. Wright County, which wasn’t an MRC member, has saved $443,446 a year because of the freeze.

 

MRC was also instrumental in developing a state-of-the-art park and trail system in Greater Minnesota by fighting for federal money.

 

Commissioner Charlie Borrell said he was in favor of the county becoming an MRC member so they could participate in the formulation of policy. But because of MRC bylaws, the county wasn’t eligible because of the size of the population.

 

That policy was changed, allowing the county, with a current estimated population of 124,000, to join.

 

Commissioner Michael Potter said Wright County is unique in that it is half urban and half rural and will probably be that way for a long time. He said that’s why they need a voice.

 

“We need to protect our rural counties just like the Metro,” he said. “We need to figure out more ways to work together. The Metro has their issues and we have our issues. We’re not going to be able to stop the Metro from doing what they do, we just want to have it so they don’t have the power to impose their will on us. That’s the whole idea behind this.”

 

The board voted to join MRC on a one-year trial basis for 2018 at a cost of $2,900.