Minnesota Local Government Roundtable
InCommons Collaboration Challenge
Minnesota Local Government Roundtable
The Minnesota Local Government Roundtable is an affliation of three of Minnesota's key local government entities, the Association of Minnesota Counties, the Minnesota Association of Soil & Water Conservation Districts and the Minnesota Association of Watershed Districts. Our shared vision is to manage land and water resources in such ways as to effectively balance the sometimes competing interests of habitat, water quality, water quantity and resource utilization. We are committed to collaborative efforts with the intent of increasing effectiveness.
About You
About You
First Name
LeAnn
Last Name
Buck
Country
United States, MN
About Your Organization
Organization
MN Association of Soil & Water Conservation Districts
Organization Website
Organization Phone
651-690-9028
Organization Address
790 Cleveland Ave. South, Suite 201
Organization Country
United States, MN, Ramsey County
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Your Story
Collaboration Title
Minnesota Local Government Roundtable
Country your work focuses on
United States, MN
Describe your locally-based collaboration and the problem it sought to address
The Minnesota Local Government Roundtable is an affliation of three of Minnesota's key local government entities, the Association of Minnesota Counties, the Minnesota Association of Soil & Water Conservation Districts and the Minnesota Association of Watershed Districts. Our shared vision is to manage land and water resources in such ways as to effectively balance the sometimes competing interests of habitat, water quality, water quantity and resource utilization. We are committed to collaborative efforts with the intent of increasing effectiveness.
Tell us about the community in which this collaboration took place
The community is the state of Minnesota.
Issue Selector
n/a
Partnership
Who was involved in co-creating or implementing your collaboration (other organizations, leaders, community members, etc.)?
The citizen board members from the Association of Minnesota Counties, the Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, and the Minnesota Association of Watershed Districts. The Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources and the University of Minnesota Extension also serve in an advisory capacity.
To what extent does your collaboration involve partnerships that are outside or cross traditional organizational or sector boundaries?
The collaboration brings together the citizen board members and staff of 87 counties, 90 Soil and Water Conservation Districts and 48 Watershed Districts.
Innovation
What makes your locally-based collaboration innovative and unique?
The collaboration brings together local citizen board members from the entire state to work across political boundaries to enhance public policies related to water and conservaiton management. The collaboration also provides educational opportunties for citizen board members to learn about diverse water quality issues that impact the entire state of Minensota.
Did you take risks in establishing this collaboration? Explain
Risks include that if we didn't work together, we could degrade water quality by not having local public infrastructure and specialized technical resource specialists available to address both the state and local water resource goals and water quality standards.
How did this collaboration differ from the normal way of doing your work?
The roundtable provides a new mechanism for counties, Soil and Water Conservation Districts and Watershed Districts to increase their communication with each other and focus on broader views of water resource management.
Impact
How do you know your collaboration has been effective?
The roundtable provided a joint educational water summit in July 2010 that included 375 local government citizen board members and staff to work across political boundaries to identify efficiencies in local water resource management. The educational forum provided speakers from the Humphrey Institute and the U of M Extension to facilitate dialogue with our collective members. Following the water summit, leaders of the Local Government identified priority areas and assigned work groups to explore policy recommendations.
What progress or impact has been made?
The roundtable has created a process for local resource professionals and their citizen board member to address existing public water programs and to develop recommendations to create efficiency with engaging the public on education and implementation of best management practices and capitol improvement projects to improve water quality.
Next Steps
How would you go about continuing, expanding, or replicating this collaboration?
As the local government roundtable continues to work together collobaratively we will need to document successful recomendations for water quality improvements and implementation. The local govenrment roundtable is also interested in engaing the League of Minnesota Cities.
Describe the current stage of implementation and desired next steps
The roundtable process will result in a policy framework for local and state policy makers to consider that will allow local goverments to be more effective and efficient in delivering quality water management in Minnesota. Policy issues will be grouped into areas that require legisltive actions and items that will be addressed by local partnerships with state and federal agencies, nonprofits and most importantly the citizens. The Roundtable will also provide increased communication opportunities on the important role that local government does to engage citizens on water resource issues.
| 134 weeks ago LeAnn Buck updated this Competition Entry. | |
| 134 weeks ago LeAnn Buck submitted this idea. |
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