[Winona Online Democracy]
A memorandum dated January 15th, 1997, was sent to the City of Winona/Winona County Joint Planning Committee.
We became the Winona Area Joint Coordination Committee.
The beginning of our Mission Statement: " It is the mission of the Winona Area Joint Coordination Committee to foster
intergovernmental cooperation in planning for the physical, economic and social systems of the greater Winona area through collaboration, coordination and conversation amoung all units of government." We had five primary goals.
Among our many quiet successes, there was the Winona Area Housing and Economic/Industrial Market Analysis.
We continued until 2001, when we each received this note: "county and city officials will be meeting to discuss the
future of the WAJCC and you will be notified when the next meeting will be held." Amen.
We had little or no publicity, we just did. Perhaps it is time to re-activate this, or a similar group.
Signed...Arlene Prosen, Winona City Planning Commission
----- Original Message ----- From: "Dwayne Voegeli" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, January 07, 2005 7:05 AM
Subject: RE: [Winona] Consolidation of Government
[Winona Online Democracy]
Kudos to Roy Nasstrom and Phil Carlson.
Their posts are great examples of systems thinking and out-of-the-box thinking.
I couldn't agree more.
Sometimes you need to look at new solutions to old problems.
Two years ago a large group of local elected bodies, non-profit agencies, private businesses, and other community leaders came together for a "Local Government Summit." Many follow up meetings took place to try to turn lofty ideas into concrete improvements.
Ultimately, despite the time and energy of many people from diverse groups,
the efforts sputtered because no City staff or City Council member came to
the events.
Over 11 weeks ago, the City Council was presented with a proposal to join
the planning process for a "Local Land Planning Summit." The idea being to
try to do just the kinds of things that seemed to have happened in St.
Cloud, or something close to it.
The City Council still has that ball in their court. I hope they decide to become actively and sincerely involved.
There are ways to go about improving the way local elected bodies work together and to even possibly change the shape of local elected bodies.
I did some research over a year and a half ago and there is a provision in state law for what is called a "Charter County."
I would love to see some discussions and brain storming about taking the charter school approach and applying it to local elected bodies and see what we could possibly come up with.
Then again, that assumes everyone is willing to work with others in an equal and open way.
What if the deck is currently stacked to the benefit of one player and that
player doesn't appear to want to "play well with others?"
Petty past personal disagreements and turf battles are major road blocks to
change.
How can we get past them?
Dwayne Voegeli
Jan. 7, 2005
------
[Winona Online Democracy]
Roy Nasstrom wondered about consolidation of governments in Minnesota. There
are actually numerous examples around the state of such consolidation -
mostly it's city/county partnerships - and there are more contemplated all
the time. I know Ramsey County has done a lot, as well as some of the
counties in the Brainerd Lakes area. There are also the numerous school
districts that have consolidated over the years, making one large district
from two or more smaller districts.
There is also the merger of cities, or the merger of a city and adjacent
township or townships. It's called "merger" when it's friendly,
"annexation" when it's not. The merger of St. Cloud and St. Cloud Township
is one of the larger recent examples (1997?). And more is on the way in the
St. Cloud area as it grows.
When our planning firm was assisting the City of St. Cloud with its
comprehensive plan in 1992 we held community planning meetings and invited
lots of folks from business, area institutions, etc., including the adjacent
townships. We had an all-day Saturday gathering to discuss a common vision
for St. Cloud region. Several people said it was the first time that city
council members and town board members had sat in the same room together in
their memory. The plan recommended St. Cloud grow in an orderly, compact
way into the adjacent township. There was considerable anger, suspicion,
and acrimony at that suggestion. Five years later they merged amicably,
forming the boundaries of St. Cloud today.
Phil Carlson, Mpls
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------------
Dwayne Voegeli
Winona County Commissioner
(507) 453-9012
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
359 Pleasant Hill Dr. Winona, MN 55987
------------
_______________________________________________
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_______________________________________________
This message was posted to Winona Online Democracy
All messages must be signed by the senders actual name.
No commercial solicitations are allowed on this list.
To manage your subscription or view the message archives, please visit
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Any problems or suggestions can be directed to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] If you want help on how to contact elected officials, go to the Contact page at
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