Policy Consensus E-News — September 2007

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PCI Reflects And Looks Forward on 10th Anniversary

At the end of August, the PCI board met in Portland, Oregon for its annual meeting and to celebrate PCI’s 10th anniversary and its founding director, Chris Carlson, who stepped down from the position at the end of June.  Several panelists, including former and current legislators from across the country and academics and practitioners working in the field of consensus-building, reflected on the history of collaborative governance and how it can continue to develop.

Former Oregon governor John Kitzhaber welcomed the board to Portland and described his views on the current state of governance in the United States.  “We were given great social programs of the 20th century that benefited us more than we could possibly imagine.  And now it’s our turn, because those programs represent what I think are both our connection to the past and our contract with the future,” he said.  “If anything were possible, how would we re-design structures to meet the challenges of the 21st century? Our ability to solve these problems and meet these challenges will be our generation’s legacy.”  Governor Kitzhaber’s welcome set the tone for the rest of the day as panelists and board members discussed collaborative methods for meeting those challenges.

NPCC’s Community Programs director Steve Greenwood introduced two different local NPCC projects, Oregon Solutions’ Truckstop Electrification Project and the bi-state Lower Columbia Solutions Group, that utilize collaborative methods.  Both groups shared their perspectives on working within a neutral forum and with conveners to bring key stakeholders and resources to their projects. 

Scott Fosler, professor at the University of Maryland, presented an overview of the history of collaborative governance, as well as how PCI, under Chris Carlson’s leadership, has contributed to the growth of the field.  “PCI understood that this kind of collaborating has gone on in business, government, and non-profit groups for a long time, but what is different is that PCI has been able to take these ideas, refine them, and apply them in a very specific way,” Fosler said.  According to Fosler, two of PCI’s strengths have been in promoting the role of leaders as conveners and the “important innovation” in encouraging university centers and programs and developing a network among those centers.

Following Fosler, two different panels, one of leaders and one of practitioners and academics, spoke of their experiences with collaborative processes and provided their visions for how the field can continue to grow.  The first panel of former and current legislators was moderated by PCI board member Roger Moe and included  Betsy Johnson (Oregon Senator), Dan Kemmis (former Montana Representative), Merle Kearns (former Ohio legislator), and Sheila Kiscaden (former Minnesota Senator).

Both Kearns and Kiscaden emphasized the importance of reaching out to newly elected legislators and training them in consensus processes.

“Consensus building and negotiation are part of the legislative duties all the time, but you still have duties back home, and every legislator has the opportunity to resolve local problems and convene on an issue in their own community,” said Kiscaden.  Kearns encouraged PCI board members to continue to share the success stories of collaborative problem-solving in assisting legislators. 

Johnson told the board, “We’ve got to get to a point where collaborative problem solving becomes the methodology of choice, not the methodology of last resort, and I’m confident that we’ll be able to do it,” she said.

“As we look into the future,” said Kemmis, “The work PCI has been doing with educational institutions in helping us think through government institutions is particularly important. One of the greatest services would be to provide support to both theorists and pracitioners to think about how collaborative governance as a form of democracy might unfold.  What kind of institutions might be required to support it?”

John Parr, founding director of the Alliance for Regional Stewardship, described PCI as at the center of collaborative governance, “bridging leaders, practitioners, and academics.”  Parr joined the second group of panelists, moderated by PCI board member Bob Jones, to discuss how academics and practitioners are working to help make collaborative governance a reality.  Facilitators Mary Margaret Golten and Margaret Shaw and Craig McEwan, professor at Bowdoin College, were also part of the panel. 

“This event honoring Chris by reflecting on how public problem solving has evolved and looking to the future is an important moment in the history of collaborative governance,” said PCI director Greg Wolf.  “Our challenge now is to support leaders in making it a real part of our governing infrastructre.”

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University Profile: Indiana University Center Staffs Commission on Local Government Reform

When property taxes rose steeply in Indiana this year, the state found itself faced with the larger problem of too much local government.  The state’s local government system, which hasn’t changed since the mid-19th Century, has approximately 2,730 local units of government and an estimated 10,746 elected officials with the authority to tax property.  Only nine states have more local governments than Indiana.

Because of the many levels of local government in Indiana, citizens pay property taxes to just as many taxing units. During the past 20 years, property taxes have increased at more than twice the rate of inflation and tax base growth, which has led to increased property tax rates and a growing property tax burden for Hoosiers. 

Spurred by the state’s tax crisis, Governor Mitch Daniels created the Indiana Commission on Local Government Reform.  The seven-member commission, which is chaired by former Governor Joe Kernan and Chief Justice Randall Shepard, is charged with finding ways to make local services more efficient, effective, and cheaper.  By the end of this year, the Commission will complete a report, making its recommendations available for General Assembly discussion discuss during its next session beginning in January 2008.

The Governor requested that the Commission operate under the auspices of Indiana University’s Center for Urban Policy and the Environment, directed by John Krauss.  The Center organizes and staffs the Commission and conducts outreach to local government constituencies and the public.  The Center was chosen for the task because of its non-ideological, data-driven approach to research and its expertise in consensus building.

“Indiana must make long term structural changes to the administration and financing of local government if it is ever to truly solve the state’s property tax problems,” Governor Daniels said.

The commission met for the first time August 21st and began the research phase of the process then, which includes reviewing studies and analyses of local government reform.  In October, the Commission will convene three public forums in Indiana, held at different university campuses across the state. 

The commission will consider:

• What local government offices might be eliminated to achieve efficiencies and cost savings for Hoosier taxpayers?  Specifically, should township/county property tax assessors be abolished in favor of a uniform process managed by the state?
• What local units of government (including schools and libraries) might be successfully consolidated to reduce overhead and administrative expenses?
• What services or functions of local government might be reduced, eliminated, or provided in new ways to achieve savings for Hoosier taxpayers?
• Is a Constitutional Convention necessary or desirable as a means to achieve significant reforms in the structure and organization of Indiana state government?

Krauss points to the Commission as an example of how university based public policy centers can partner with government.  “We’re also reaching out to other universities for their expertise in multiple fields to be part of the technical research team,” he said, citing the collaborative effort from multiple universities like Purdue and the University of Indiana Bloomington. 

“There’s been a lot of discussion about local government reform, a lot of research and recommendations,” says Kraus.  “What’s lacking is the political will to pass them.  Now that we’ve had the perfect storm of property tax revolt, the public is anxious for reform.  The governor’s role in this has been instrumental.  There has to be leadership to initiate this kind of step.”

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NPCC Issues New Report on Integrating Public Deliberation with Stakeholder Processes

NPCC has just issued “Integrating Collaborative Activities: Public Deliberation with Stakeholder Processes,” a report on how leaders can create even better solutions by combining collaborative governance activities – engaging the public in deliberation and implementing their ideas through a representative group of stakeholders.

The new report is based on a survey conducted by NPCC of organizations with experience in public deliberation and stakeholder processes.  The survey examined when these two activities have been integrated, and several cases the report describes were gathered through the study and other research.  Among the included examples are the Oregon Solutions North Portland Diesel Emissions Reduction project, Arkansas’s Low Income Energy Forum, and Cobscook Bay, Maine’s Community Plan.  The report also describes types of public engagement processes, such as the 21st Century Town Meetings AmericaSpeaks utilizes, Study Circles, and National Issues Forums, among others.

Those examples the report highlights illustrate what can be gained by using public deliberation and stakeholder processes, and when and how those collaborative governance activities should be integrated.  The report recommends that these two activities should be combined when:

• A broader public interest is involved
• Representatives of all interests cannot be gathered in a small group
• Creative solutions have not emerged from stakeholders; or
• Implementation will depend on the wider public

Read the entire report, including deliberative tools that illustrate available methods to facilitate public deliberation.

For more information about integrating collaborative governance activities, contact NPCC.

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PCI Hosts Training on Public Solutions Model

Representatives from three different states attended a training in Portland, Oregon on the Oregon Solutions program this past month.  NPCC and PCI are currently assisting several states in implementing a Public Solutions system based on the Oregon Solutions model. 

Oregon Solutions, a project of the National Policy Consensus Center, brings public and private institutions and the civic sector together to develop agreements that solve problems with innovation and accountability. Each Oregon Solutions project benefits a broad range of citizens throughout the state by helping communities connect with government to leverage resources.In the last two years, Oregon Solutions has conducted 33 urban and rural projects throughout the state and has gained significant attention from leaders. Leaders view Oregon Solutions as a model for community governance. 

Over the course of the two day training, representatives from California’s Community Focus, Colorado’s Department of Local Affairs, and New Mexico’s Environment Department and Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, came together to hear from NPCC Director of Community Programs Steve Greenwood as well as experienced project managers, conveners, and other Oregon Solutions staff.

Community Solutions, a California non-profit, has partnered with NPCC to form California Solutions, a collaborative problem-solving process based on Oregon Solutions. The California Solutions process focuses on city-level community engagement on a single issue for a relatively brief (6-8 month) period.  California Solutions’ pilot project focused on finding a more permanent location for the local day worker center in Los Altos.

“It is clear that the Solutions model has tremendous promise not only based on its success in Oregon, but in its applicability to the challenges we face here in California and in other states around the country,” said Community Focus project manager Odin Zackman. “It is rare that we have examples of what works when we bring community organizations, public agencies and businesses together, and the Solutions process is just that--a positive way to reach solutions on specific challenges. I look forward to developing this process for California communities and regions.”

PCI director Greg Wolf visited Colorado this past summer to provide a presentation on how the Oregon Solutions process works to Colorado’s Department of Local Affairs. DOLA provides financial and technical assistance, emergency management services, property tax administration and programs addressing affordable housing and homelessness to local communities in Colorado.

"Anyone who subscribes to Wallace Stegner's philosophy that cooperation, not rugged individualism, is the way to preserve the West, should take a good look at Oregon Solutions," said DOLA’s Eric Bergman after the training.

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