Collaboration, communications serves
community well
community well
Successful, innovative communities have
positive working relationships among their local governments
and taxing districts that place the welfare of citizens above
individual jurisdictions and missions.
Unlike many communities where government
officials don't coordinate productively across taxing
body boundaries or municipal borders, the Village has, time and
time again, collaborated with other governmental entities and
institutions to find creative solutions to complex problems --
solutions that benefit taxpayers.
Examples of intergovernmental cooperation
in Oak Park abound. Among the ways the outstanding working
relationships and communications among Oak Park's
governmental bodies have served the best interests of the
citizens are the following:
• Downtown
Tax Increment Finance District (TIF) agreement between the
Village and school districts to carve out completed
developments to provide immediate funding, while preserving an
effective economic development tool.
• Joint
management of the Parks and Recreation Master Planning process
that will help determine the community's recreational
priorities far into the future.
• Shared
challenge to Oak Park Hospital's property tax appeal that
held the organization to commitments it made to gain support
for an expansion project.
• Creation
of the High School District 200 community parking plan that
took cars off neighborhood streets and added a much-needed
parking resource to the area that is shared by teachers and
staff, attendees at special events, Ridgeland Common users and
Farmers Market patrons.
•
Commitment to provide direct financial support to Elementary
School District 97 to help this vital community asset
maintain important programs.
Crossing geographic boundaries
Cooperation and collaboration crosses the
Village's geographic boundaries as well. Oak Park and
River Forest operate a state-of-the-art joint emergency
dispatch center. Elmwood Park will soon join the West Suburban
Consolidated Dispatch Center in this cooperative endeavor that
provides superior service to the citizens of each community at
a reduced cost through shared expenses.
Oak Park and River Forest also share a
major fire fighting apparatus that has given both communities a
cost-effective way to improve public safety functions.
In addition, the Village recently completed
a joint effort with the City of Berwyn to complete a
comprehensive study of how to improve the look and economic
vitality of Roosevelt Road.
Crossing interdepartmental boundaries
This collaborative spirit also is evident
within the Village's own government organization, helping
to improve service delivery to the community.
The Community Relations Department is
increasingly called upon when conflict or quality of life
situations arise. Department staff works closely with the
Police, Public Health and Building & Property Standards
departments, as well as with Youth Intervention and the Older
Adult Coalition to coordinate a comprehensive response and
provide mediation to help resolve neighborhood concerns. Staff
also now routinely handle court-ordered mediations, case
management oversight, tenant landlord disputes, and counseling
and referral, as well as attend neighborhood outreach meetings
and manage special events such as A Day in our Village and the
annual Independence Day Parade.
At a more personal level, Village
management staff periodically holds drop-in community meetings
at all eight neighborhood elementary schools. Citizens who
attend have an opportunity to discuss services in their
neighborhoods with senior executives, who also benefit with
insights from residents' observations.
Clearly, in Oak Park today, citizens
benefit from unprecedented cooperative working relationships,
collaborations and communications among the range of
governments and institutions in the Village, in neighboring
communities and departments within the municipal government
organization itself.
For more information on Village efforts to
build and foster these relationships, call 358.5770 or email village@oak-park.us.
Next month: Municipal Administration (watch for the video versions
on VOP-TV6)