commissions to become a unified regional authority. The Met Council also gained the authority to approve or disapprove of municipal development plans and to manage the region's affordable housing programs. Current efforts are ongoing to transfer responsibility of a light‑rail project connecting Minneapolis to some of the region's suburbs from the Met Council to Minnesota's Department of Transportation. The council has controversially overseen the almost $3 billion project while it has been delayed an additional four years and as costs rose $450 million to $550 million. Chairs Controversy The Met Council has long raised the ire of suburban residents in the region. For instance, one source of controversy has been the council's power to invalidate the land use plans of municipalities which conflict with its own. In 2004, the city of Lake Elmo refused to allow higher‑density development despite the Met Council's comprehensive development guide. The city challenged the Council's statutory authority to compel the city to modify its comprehensive plan in order to reach minimum density levels. However, the Minnesota Supreme Court found the city's argument unpersuasive "when viewed against the plain and unambiguous language of the statutes at issue." Shortly after the Minnesota elections, 2010, Minnesota Legislative Auditor James Nobles recommended on 21 January 2011 that "the Legislature should restructure the governance of the Metropolitan Council" (page 41). The Legislative Auditor continued stating that "Maintaining an appointed Met Council would continue the Council's accountability problems ... Because Council members are appointed by the governor, however, they are not directly accountable to the public for (their) decisions." This lack of credibility and accountability was reported on by newspapers such as the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the Star Tribune, and online editorials like Politics In Minnesota. Marty Seifert, a Republican candidate for governor in the 2014 election, also called for the abolition of the Council, citing it as an unelected authority with taxation powers without representation. However, most of the responsibilities of the Metropolitan Council would still need to be maintained, including a Metropolitan Planning Organization that allows the region to receive federal transportation funding. Criticisms of the council reached a high point in 2018 when the Met Council survived two attempted reforms at both the state and the federal level. References External links Metropolitan Council Livable Communities Act Minneapolis–Saint Paul Metropolitan planning organizations Local government in Minnesota Councils of governments