Metro briefs: Edina leaders mull plastic bag fee

The Edina City Council took a step toward implementing a 5 cent fee for single-use bags last week, with the council directing staff to draft a city ordinance that could take effect in 2024.

The ordinance would align with the single-use bag fees charged in Minneapolis, with exemptions including produce and baked goods bags and bags for dry cleaning. Edina would also not charge a bag fee for people buying groceries with public benefits such as SNAP or food stamps, and food pantries would be exempt.

The 5 cent fee would apply to any type of bag merchants give to customers — plastic, paper, compostable or reusable. Merchants would keep the fee, and they could use the money for anything.

Council Member James Pierce said he remembered being irritated the first few times he encountered a bag fee in Minneapolis. "And then I kind of got over it," he said. "That's going to be the experience."

"This is a way to make people think about what they're doing," said Council Member Julie Risser.cqml

The council will have to vote on the ordinance that city staff come up with before it can take effect. The city's sustainability commission has proposed the bag fee take effect in June 2024.

Josie Albertson-Grove

Crystal City Council Member Nancy LaRoche is resigning her position, leaving a vacancy on the six-member body.

LaRoche, who represents Wards 1 and 2 in the southern part of Crystal, accepted a new job and will be moving out of the north metro city, which requires her to step down, she said in an announcement posted on her website.

The council accepted LaRoche's resignation and declared a vacancy at its Tuesday meeting, and she will give up her seat at the end of the month.

"It has been my honor and pleasure to serve for the past six years," LaRoche wrote in her resignation letter. "Crystal has been my and my husband's home for 27 years. While I will miss working with city staff and neighbors, I look forward to coming back and visiting often. I will always be grateful for the opportunity to serve."

The Crystal City Charter does not specify a timeline for filling LaRoche's council seat. Her term expires on Dec. 31, 2024.

Tim Harlow

The Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC), which operates Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, added $60,000 to its budget last month to repair three underground tanks that store stormwater affected by glycol, a key ingredient in aircraft de-icing fluid.

The MAC's capital improvement program for repairing joints and cracks and sealing in glycol tanks and sealing their roofs is now $860,000. No glycol leaks have been found in recent annual inspections, said spokesman Jeff Lea. The annual budget for glycol stormwater management is $1.8 million.

MSP is one of the busiest airports in the country for de-icing operations. Leftover de-icing fluid is transferred to a glycol management facility at the airport where it is treated or recycled for other consumer and commercial applications.

Janet Moore