Counties must regularly establish and maintain a variety of relationships with other local, regional, state and federal agencies. Many counties see collaboration as a potential tool to reduce costs and maintain services.  Sometimes the parameters of the relationship are dictated by law, but more often the relationship is crafted and maintained by the participants.  This class examines best practices for establishing and maintaining collaborations with other governments. Techniques include identification of collaborative opportunities, who to involve and steps for success, how to authorize a collaboration, roles of elected officials and staff, collaborating through political waters, keeping a collaborative effort alive, and what to do when the collaboration stops being collaborative. Public engagement is a key to collaboration, effective decision-making and public acceptance of decisions. Practical tips are explored to maximize effectiveness of public forums, hearings, town halls and other forms of community engagement. Participants examine techniques to help the public take into account hard choices and trade-offs in decisions, and how to demonstrate that public ideas are taken seriously.

Instructors: Martin Gonzalez, Director of the Institute for Local Government and practitioners in public engagement and intergovernmental collaboration.