Circle Pines wins state Supreme Court ruling over watershed board appointments

The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Circle Pines after the city filed a lawsuit claiming a 2019 appointment to the local watershed board violated state law.

Circle Pines and six other north metro cities took their case to the state's highest court in January, maintaining the Anoka County Board didn't fill the seat from a list of nominees the city had submitted. The Supreme Court agreed and last week reversed and remanded a lower court's decision that said the county complied with the law when it appointed Patricia Preiner to the Rice Creek Watershed District's Board of Managers.

"We fought hard last year for representation, and the County Board refused to listen," said Circle Pines City Manager Patrick Antonen. "We are hoping with rulings like this, the board will consider geographic representation in their appointment process to this watershed board."

Anoka County is allowed to appoint two of the five members who serve on the watershed district's board. The district falls into parts of Anoka, Ramsey, Washington and Hennepin counties. Three current managers live in Hugo, White Bear Township and Mounds View, and two live in Columbus.

The flap arose after Circle Pines submitted a list of three candidates to Anoka County when Preiner's term was set to expire at the end of 2019. The city of Columbus, where Preiner lives, sent a letter supporting her reappointment.

State law requires counties to appoint managers from an aggregate list of city-submitted nominees. Because Circle Pines was the only city that submitted a list of names, the city believed Anoka County was required to appoint one of the candidates on its list.

But the law also gives counties the discretion to appoint a manager from any city if it finds nominees cannot fairly represent the various hydrologic areas within the watershed district. A district court found that the county could appoint a manager either from Circle Pines' list of nominees or from eligible residents of any other city, and that the county validly appointed Preiner. An appeals court affirmed that decision.

But the Supreme Court found the state statute governing watershed district management appointments "ambiguous," and it said that adopting the county's reading of the statute "would greatly diminish the incentive for cities to participate in nominating managers because there would be no guarantee that the county would consider city nominations unless all cities in a district participated."

Additionally, the Supreme Court found that the district court was wrong in concluding that each city's list must include at least three nominees to be valid and that consequently Preiner was not validly nominated by Columbus. The district court also must assess if the county considered whether nominees complied with the fair representation requirement, the Supreme Court said.

"The ruling in this case is not surprising and shows the difficulty of applying this statute as written," Anoka County Attorney Tony Palumbo said in a statement. "Eleven judges have now considered this case and have had at least four different views on how the process is supposed to work. Ultimately, the four justices who signed on to the majority opinion agreed partly with Anoka County's interpretation and partly with Circle Pines."

Cities and counties will benefit from clearer guidance on the nomination and appointment process, he added.

Circle Pines cried foul again in December, saying a similar pattern unfolded when the County Board reappointed Steve Wagamon of Columbus to the board, even though Blaine, Centerville, Circle Pines, Lexington, Lino Lakes and Spring Lake Park jointly submitted a list of nominees with hopes of getting someone on the board.

Circle Pines Mayor Dave Bartholomay said the ruling could have a statewide impact.

"The city is obviously thrilled to win at the Supreme Court, that does not come easy," he said. "At the end of the day, you want cities and watershed districts to work well together. This is very good for cities across the state that might have had this kind of challenge."