Editorial: Collaboration commended
Published 9:16 am Monday, January 9, 2012
We would like to commend Mayor Vern Rasmussen and City Manager Chad Adams for attending a conference in Rochester about finding ways for governments to collaborate and streamline resources.
Called the “Local Government Innovation Forum,” it attracted more than 40 leaders from city, county and school governments across southeastern Minnesota.
Albert Lea and Freeborn County provided an example for one of the sessions — the shared city-county law enforcement center. This comes in addition to the information technology services the city and county share.
Throughout the sessions, themes emerged:
• Collaboration can be achieved through trust, and trust often takes time.
• Communication is key, and buy-in from all stakeholders is a way to encourage good communication.
• Rethinking how government works requires patience so it is done right in the long term.
The event was hosted by the Association of Minnesota Counties, League of Minnesota Cities and the Minnesota School Boards Association in partnership with Minnesota House Redesign Caucus and InCommons. Sessions were held in Rochester, Hibbing, Bemidji, Waite Park, Marshall and Eagan.