Intermunicipal cooperation takes a variety of forms throughout PA, and the recent 2008 Road to Excellence Conference honed in on an area in which it is most important: land use planning.

Development patterns of the last 20 years have resulted in the spreading of residential, commercial, and office development over a wide auto-dependant area.  A significant consequence of this trend is to largely separate where people live and where people work.  In an era of rising fuel costs, this produces a dilemma for both employers and employees. 

Local governments have a key role in responding to this situation.  By moving from existing systems of intergovernmental cooperation to vital systems of intergovernmental coordination, local governments can help citizens save money, improve the quality of life and shore up their municipal budgets.
 
Sponsored by Comcast and in partnership with Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board, the 2008 Road to Excellence Conference focused on access to employment, multi-municipal planning, developments of regional impact and tools currently available that expand intermunicipal coordination.

• Allen Kukovich, Director, Governor's Southwest PA Office
• Ronald Painter,  Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board
• Court Gould,  Sustainable Pittsburgh
• The Honorable William A. Currin, Mayor, Hudson, Ohio
• Alex Graziani, Smart Growth Partnership of Westmoreland County
• Phil Klotz, PA Local Government Commission
• Blaine Lucas, Babst Calland Clements Zomnir
• Denny Puko, Pennsylvania Governors Center for Local Government Services
• John E. Theilacker, Brandywine Conservancy
  
  click here for speaker bios
  

• Examining the Mismatch of the Work/Workers
• Costs to Employers and Employees
• Community Sustainability
• Multi-Municipal Planning-Reviewing 8 Years of Progress
• Developments of Regional Impact-tools to Manage
• Enhancements to the LGA Multi-Municipal Planning Grant Program
  

Take a Look / Take a Listen - Click here for photos of the Road to Excellence Conference.   Podcasts of the Conference will be available soon, watch here and in Academy Notes for the announcement of their release.  Past Road to Excellence Conferences such as  Adapting Governance for Clean Water and Form Follows Function are available.