Help Wanted
I have learned over the months that the readership of this blog is very diverse. Elected officials and various levels of citizen activists check in to see what topics are being covered.
One faithful reader is David Barber the Director of the Cordillera Institute in Agincourt, Ontario. The Cordillera Institute is an independent research and public policy organization dedicated to excellence in local government. Its activities include research, publications, training and information management in areas affecting local government.
Over the past few months Mr. Barber and myself have exchanged numerous emails about the differences in local government of Ontario and Wisconsin.
One of my recent emails from Mr. Barber he stated the following...
Here at the Institute, our objective is to advance the cause of excellence in local government. But, since our local governments are the 'creatures' of our respective states or provinces, achieving excellence in local government is very much influenced by the rules which have been set by those senior governments.
In our discussions about local government in Wisconsin, I was pleased to discover the relative autonomy enjoyed by your municipalities. The area which took most of our attention was land-use planning (and zoning). But, we also touched on the subject of municipal structure -- the creation of municipalities and municipal mergers. For municipal officials who live under much more senior-government control, Wisconsin is another example of what could be done. Having such examples inspires one to take action -- with the knowledge that someone else has done it already.
I expect that your state's handling of 1 or both of those topics -- land-use planning or municipal structure -- would be of great interest to our readers.
Mr. Barber is attempting to find someone who is willing to prepare a report for his readers on Wisconsin land use planning and/or municipal structure.
Quite frankly, I am a politician, not a policy wonk. Writing such a report just isn't in my make-up.
If any of my readers would be interested in helping Mr. Barber by researching and writing such reports, please contact me HERE.
I will then put you in touch with Mr. Barber.
Al Arnold
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