Intergovernmental Cooperation
Despite state laws limiting cooperation among municipalities, communities around the state are finding new and unique ways of working together to deliver essential services, share costs and streamline their governments.
"Our communities have outgrown the boundaries that divide them", October 4, 2007
When 10,000 Friends Board Member Terry Kauffman addressed the House Urban Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Cities, Third Class, he said, "Crime serves as a good example of a problem that does not respect municipal boundaries. More and more suburban municipalities that once considered themselves havens of security now find themselves fighting crime problems that spill over from nearby cities and boroughs. Yet police departments are divided by arbitrary boundaries that keep them from working together effectively. Too often, a suspect wanted for armed robbery in one municipality will be pulled over for a traffic violation in a neighboring municipality and released because the two police departments are not communicating effectively." Click here for the full testimony, presented by Kauffman, manager of the Borough of Mount Joy.
New Cumberland Isn't Joining, But That Shouldn't Kill the Idea, October 9, 2007
"New Cumberland Borough Council tiptoed to the water's edge but couldn't dive into the future by joining a regional police department.
Though the issues that prompted those in the 4-3 council vote to oppose it are legitimate, we think it's unfortunate the borough won't be joining Lemoyne and Wormleysburg in West Shore Regional Police."
Please
click here for the complete Harrisburg Patriot-News editorial.
DEAR READER: Cooperation Makes for Better Government, October 1, 2007
" If economies of scale work in the private sector, why can’t they work in the public sector? Actually, they can — if they are properly managed."
Please
click here for the complete New Castle News editorial.
Municipal Cooperation Starts with Change in Law, October 2, 2007
"Luzerne County can't compete.
When it comes to enticing new businesses to the area, ensuring top-notch police protection, brainstorming comprehensive plans for flood control and handling other major issues, the county is too splintered into tiny municipalities to respond quickly and decisively.
Why should this matter to you?"
Please
click here for the complete Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader editorial.
Expanding the Meaning of Common Good, October 2, 2007
"David Rusk can’t boast the best hearing – he bears the trademark round plastic device on his skull for a cochlear implant – but his vision proves crisp and far-sighted.
The former mayor of Albuquerque and peripatetic proponent of regionalization presents a potent case, if you take off your provincial blinders and allow your own view to broaden a bit.
Municipal boundaries become meaningless in daily activities, Rusk argued. With so many small boroughs and townships in our area, people often sleep in one, work in another, shop in a third. “You live your lives crossing municipal lines every day.”
Please
click here for the complete Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader article.
Easing Fragmentation Would Aid Development, August 23, 2007
"Beyond Pennsylvania's business tax climate, the problem is in the national as well as international marketplace. Coprorate decision makers largely do not know about the Harrisburg region or central Pennsylvania. Part of the problem is our historica parochial nature while another part is the relative health of the local economy." For the complete op-ed column, please
click here. To read the August 12 article mentioned, please
click here.
Regional Insight: Too many towns spoil the economy, August 5, 2007
"If you like government, the Pittsburgh region is the place to be. We have more than 1,000 separate governmental entities in the 10-county region: 10 counties, 286 cities and boroughs, 262 townships, 126 school districts, and 389 "special districts," i.e., water and sewer authorities, airport authorities, etc." To read the complete Pittsburgh Post-Gazette column, please
click here.
Metro-York Offers Preview, Sees Support for Regional Plans, March 9, 2007
The civic group Metro-York is likely to propose some form of tax-base sharing, greater public-safety cooperation and a regional forum for land-use planning when it makes formal recommendations this summer, co-chair Eric Menzer said. To read the complete article from the Central Penn Business Journal,
click here.
Key Area Issues Ignore Municipal Boundaries, March 8, 2007
Crime, traffic and stormwater runoff. What do they have in common? All are issues in the metropolitan York area that ignore municipal boundaries. To read the complete op-ed from the York Dispatch, please
click here.
Outdated Laws Bar Cooperation, February 21, 2007
"The results of the survey by the Campaign to Renew Pennsylvania should provide a spur to area legislators to start now to update state laws to ease the way for local governments to reach common goals." Please
click here for the complete York Dispatch editorial.
Cranberry is the Newest Member of Council of Governments, January 2007
The idea began in the colonial times of this country. It is similar to the idea of neighbor helping neighbor, but in this case, it's whole communities helping other communities. To read the complete article from the North Hills Monthly Magazine,
click here.
