Management of 18 northern Cook County and Lake County municipalities began meeting in September 2010 to discuss a new business model, drawn from familiar concepts we’ve known for years – the powers of bulk purchasing, and working together instead of working independently. Instead of separately seeking contractors for work they routinely do, the administrations would work together to purchase shared services and commodities, in a concept the 18 communities referred to as the Municipal Partnering Initiative (MPI). The MPI’s primary goal is to save partnering municipalities while preserving product quality and service level. The economies of scale achieved were expected to translate into savings that could be reallocated for other services.