neil kraus associate professor of political science university of wisconsin, river falls...
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NEIL KRAUSASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN, RIVER FALLS NEIL.KRAUS@UWRF.EDU
Interlocal Cooperation among Smaller
Jurisdictions: The Western Wisconsin
Intergovernmental Collaborative
Context
Western Wisconsin: Pierce, Polk and St. Croix Counties
Edge of Minneapolis-St. Paul RegionRapid Growth: 1990s and 2000sMany MN residents relocating to more rural
western WIRegion is home to thousands of commuters to
M.-S.P. region
Context
Problems Associated with Rapid Growth: Traffic CongestionMore DevelopmentIncreasing Housing CostsLess rural/small town, more “suburban”
Background
UW – River Falls: Series of regional meetings in 2004 and 2005
Citizens, government officials, business leaders
Several Themes emerge, including the desire for “regional problem solving” as opposed to dozens of local governments addressing key issues in isolation
WWIC is Born
UWRF officially creates WWIC in 2006, registers organization as educational non-profit
By-Laws: WWIC will “engage in regional problem solving for such topics as, but not limited to, dealing with waste water, storm water management, transportation, economic development, creating sustainable communities…”
WWIC: Not Another Layer of Government
WWIC advisory in natureRegional meetings that led to WWIC made
clear that local leaders/citizens did NOT want another layer of government
Membership and participation, therefore, are totally voluntary
WWIC not able to Lobby Open to any officials from the 97
governments in the 3 county region
The WWIC Begins to Function
2006 and 2007: WWIC has quarterly meetings in different locations in 3 counties
Governments pay dues to belong and attend quarterly meetings (to offset costs for room rental, refreshments, etc.)
Each meeting focuses on a specific issue: Transportation, state politics affecting western WI, best practices with service delivery, etc.
Interlocal cooperation is a topic of meetings and purpose of informal contact at meetings
Limited Attendance and Membership
WWIC Meetings are publicized several ways: mail, email, informal contacts, some direct telephone participation, etc.
However: From the beginning, the WWIC has had a very difficult time attracting local officials to meetings
Typical meeting: 3 – 6 local governments represented
Low attendance is a frequent topic of Board meetings
Attempts to Increase Attendance
2007: Board decides to increase email communication, and use it in combination with traditional mailings re: upcoming meetings
Board also decides to waive all meeting fees and membership dues
Participation, then, becomes free for any local government officials
Little or No Impact on Attendance
2007 and 2009: Meeting attendance still small
Board continues discussion of increasing attendance
Despite poor attendance, quarterly meetings were very productive, and we received very positive feedback from the small number of attendees: beneficial information, good discussion with state legislators, etc.
Survey of Local Officials in WWIC
2010: Still little change in meeting attendance, thus Board authorizes a survey of all chief elected officials in the 3 counties (97 individuals)
Response Rate: 59% (telephone survey, followed up by mail)
Questions: Thoughts about WWIC, meeting attendance, collaboration with other jurisdictions
Survey Results
Nearly half not familiar with WWICFive percent regularly attend meetings Reasons for non-attendance:
Times not convenient (48%) Not enough time to attend (48%) Locations not convenient (22%) Not aware of meetings (22%)
Survey Results (cont.)
Forty-five percent say they’re interested in attending future meetings
Respondents read a statement describing WWIC purposes before answering:
Sixty-six percent say the purposes of WWIC are important
Local governments not opposed to interlocal cooperation?
Survey Results (cont.)
Collaborations with other governments: 29 of 57 respondents (51%) reported at least some collaborations
Of these: 25 respondents reported more than one collaboration with other governments
These numbers clearly indicate that local governments in region NOT opposed to collaboration
Nature of Interlocal Collaborations?
No survey question specifically asked what topics local governments collaborated on
Piecing this together through conversations, WWIC meetings, and the open-ended survey question: libraries, street cleaning, purchasing, etc., are issues that local jurisdictions are working together on
Most towns also need to collaborate for law enforcement
Conclusion
WWIC: Meeting attendance and participation has been discouraging
BUT: Survey results show that roughly half of local governments are collaborating with other local governments
This should be encouraging for others working with smaller jurisdictions: resistance to a regional organization does not necessarily mean resistance to collaboration
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