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MEMORANDUM <br />TO: Bob Thistle <br />Interim City Administrator <br />Annie Deckert <br />Director of Economic Development <br />FROM: Peter Beck <br />City Attorney <br />DATE: August 3, 2011 <br />RE: EDA Staff <br />This Memorandum is in response to your request for my opinion as to whether the <br />EDA. or the City Council has the authority to hire EDA staff. <br />The City of Elk River EDA was established on October 7, 1987 by adoption of <br />City Council Resolution No. 87-63, the EDA "Enabling Resolution". The Enabling <br />Resolution provides, consistent with Minnesota Statutes Sec. 469.097, Subd. 1, that the <br />EDA "may employ an executive director ... and other employees". The EDA is, <br />therefore, authorized to hire an executive director and staff. <br />However, in Elk River, as in many communities which have established an EDA, <br />the EDA is staffed by City employees. The City Council is the only entity with the <br />authority to hire City employees. <br />Therefore, if the City desires to follow its past practice and staff the EDA with <br />City employees, hiring decisions regarding those employees will have to be approved by <br />the City Council. <br />If there is a concern regarding the Enabling Resolution, the Minnesota Court of <br />Appeals recently confirmed that the City Council has extensive discretion to limit an <br />EDA's powers, and may modify an Enabling Resolution at any time. (See Eagan <br />Economic Development Authority v U-Haul Co. of Minnesota, 765 NW 2"d 403 (Minn. <br />App. 2009) (Reversed on other grounds, 787 NW 2°d 529 (Minn. 2010).) Therefore, the <br />Elk River Enabling Resolution, Resolution No. 87-63, could be modified by the City <br />Council at any time to clarify that EDA staff will be City employees and subject to the <br />same hiring procedures as all other City employees. <br />Please let me know if you have any other questions. <br />PKB:kIz <br />GP:3020940 vl <br />