Wednesday, May 3, 2017

AREA PLANNERS, FINANCE DIRECTORS COMPLETE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COLLABORATION PROJECT
Capital Crossroads project creates efficiencies for local governments

GREATER DES MOINES, IOWA – Capital Crossroads officials announced the completion of the fourth round of the Local Government Collaboration (LGC) Project. The goal of the LGC Project is to foster more collaboration between area cities and counties to reduce costs, redundancies, complexity, and time commitments. This session’s work focused on finance and community development.

The finance team focused on transparency and joint services. The team developed a tool to analyze expenditures, constitutional debt limits, fund balances, and taxable valuations across cities and years. The team also created a common calendar and discussion tool to expedite the resource-sharing process.

“The ability to have the same tool available for the metro communities to use to create comparisons, charts, and graphs of financial information will allow for a consistent and transparent message to residents,” stated Teresa Rotschafer, City of Johnston Finance/Human Resources Director.

The community development team created a database of tools to pay for infrastructure enhancements and a directory of development practices in metro-area communities. The team also crafted a model solar ordinance and ordinance templates for tree preservation and steep slopes.

“Shared ordinance templates will help us address community needs consistently across the metro. Taking this proactive approach will allow us to meet our communities’ needs while streamlining the development process,” said Ben Champ, Pleasant Hill Assistant City Manager and President of the Iowa Chapter of the American Planning Association.

The LGC Project already has resulted in numerous advances in Central Iowa, including a model building code through the Central Iowa Code Consortium, common testing days for police recruits, and a shared training opportunity for area librarians.

“The LGC Project has demonstrated the impact of working regionally. The Project has further embedded collaboration as a key tenet of how we do business in Central Iowa, and we’re excited for the future of the Project,” said Gretchen Tegeler, Governance Capital tri-chair and President of the Taxpayers Association of Central Iowa.

About Capital Crossroads

Capital Crossroads is a bold but achievable vision pushing Central Iowans to dream big, not settle for good enough, think long term, and work together. Capital Crossroads brings together nearly 700 community volunteers to meet the challenges of the future while building on our past successes. It is in partnership with the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines, the Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, the Greater Des Moines Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Greater Des Moines Partnership, Prairie Meadows, and the United Way of Central Iowa.