As others see it: Governmental change is part of our future

Talk about it

Local governments across Minnesota are facing a challenging future of limited resources and an increasing demand for services.

Citizens are seeing this challenge from local townships to small towns to bigger cities to county and state government.

Government officials have to look at different ways of doing business that build upon efficiencies and change. At the same time, businesses and citizens calling for reduced taxes must be willing to accept the change and efficiencies needed to lower the tax burdens across the board.

Jim Mulder, former director of the Association of Minnesota Counties, spoke at a Willmar Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce meeting this week calling for support of government redesign.

He said businesses and citizens must support government redesign of “breaking down borders of geography and invisible department walls.”

This can be done.

The city of Willmar and Kandiyohi County have long cooperated in housing and coordination of law enforcement. Kandiyohi County has been coordinating dispatch for Big Stone County in west central Minnesota.

However, such government cooperation does not always go smoothly. There have been several projects over the years where Willmar and Kandiyohi County have tried to work through cooperative projects, but have not for one reason or another.

As Mulder said, the current structure of government across Minnesota is not sustainable and county and city officials must learn to work cooperatively across county and city borders.

It is imperative that both government officials and citizens seriously review how and why government is set up and how to improve efficiencies. It is important to remember that such changes is not easy and does create criticism.

No one ever said that democracy is easy.

Tags: opinion, editorials, minnesota, politics