The task force considering reforms to the Metropolitan Council has a new member and she’s one of the planning agency’s loudest critics.

Mary Pattock is now among the 17 people on the task force created by the legislature to look at the makeup of the Met Council, which oversees public works projects across the seven-county metro area.

Pattock, a former chair of the Cedar-Isles-Dean Neighborhood Association, is among those who sounded early warnings about plans for the still-unfinished Southwest Light Rail project which is expected to cost more than $2.7 billion. 

The Legislative Coordinating Commission tapped Pattock to fill one of two seats on the task force reserved for members of the public after Lisa Goodman, a Minneapolis City Council member, recently quit the panel citing a scheduling conflict.

“I felt it was better to offer to step down than give less than 100%, my current work for the city needs to come first,” Goodman said in an email. “I am very disappointed it didn’t work out as I am committed to the work.”

Pattock was in attendance for the task force’s third meeting on Wednesday morning. It is considering, among a variety of possible changes, whether members of the Met Council should be elected rather than appointed by the Governor. 

“My special mission on this task force is to restore credibility to this governmental body,” Pattock said. “Southwest LRT has been a disaster… and I think it’s the flag that came up to the public that said there’s something wrong here. And the credibility took a nosedive, so how can we restore that?”

The task force is required to deliver its final recommendations to the legislature in February next year.