A group of 18 municipalities from the local areas came together to discuss an initiative to reduce program costs through basic principles: bulk purchasing, the sharing of best practices, and the sharing of workloads.  Any community could choose to opt out of a proposed project, maintaining the ability for communities to choose to do things their way while simultaneously allowing interested parties to cooperate and save on costs.  Best practices are exchanged, old formulas abolished in favor of newer and more cost-effective strategies.

The program has managed to save about $500,000 between the communities and is expected to succesfully continue to save them money.  This has also enabled the communities to take on projects to invest in the futures of their communities.

This case study was a winner of ICMA's Annual Awards Program.