As featured in the December 2009/January 2010 BBJ magazine 

Ritter Forum showcases best in collaboration

In 2003, prior to my tenure at the Chamber of Commerce, President Bill Hynes of St. Norbert College approached me about resurrecting and moderating the Ritter Forum. The Forum’s purpose was to examine local government issues and generate a dialogue among students, staff and practitioners about cooperation and best practices, but it had been dormant for several years and needed a new direction.

I gladly assumed the responsibility on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce and proceeded to coordinate two annual conferences at the college which focused on local government finances. They were reasonably successful in that they brought most of the area’s municipal officials to the table but nobody left with a specific action plan which was particularly troubling to the forum’s benefactor, Dan Ritter.

Mr. Ritter wanted to see us tackle something that would bring about lasting positive change in the Green Bay area, and he wanted the dialog that the Forum facilitated to be the catalyst. Fortunately, local units of government had recently considered the possibility of police consolidation and, while most of the suburbs decried the notion, there did appear, at least to me, to be a foundation for further dialog. Unfortunately, after interviewing each of the community leaders about their appetite to revisit the issue I learned that I was wrong. Police consolidation was a back-burner issue at best.

However, during these conversations with municipal leaders it became clear that virtually everyone was willing to tackle some other aspect of government services and the leading candidate for a Ritter focus quickly became fire department collaboration.

In 2006, with Nan Nelson from my staff and Amy Sorenson from St. Norbert College very ably providing the organizational framework, we convened the first Ritter Forum on Fire Services with fire chiefs, mayors, village presidents and city/village managers in attendance. Over the course of the next year we also received help from the City of Green Bay Purchasing Department, the County Planning Department and a handful of energetic undergraduates at St. Norbert.

It was, however, the chiefs who, early in the process, took ownership of the effort and dedicated themselves to sustainable outcomes, which is exactly what Mr. Ritter was demanding. It didn’t hurt that we were catching these dedicated administrators at a time when the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) needed to be agreed upon and implemented. All of the cooperation and trust that was necessary on that effort carried
over to our Ritter project.

After about a year of cooperation on purchasing through Linda DuPuis at the City of Green Bay, another six months of examination of training, inspection and maintenance issues and even a few months of seriously exploring functional consolidation the chiefs and De Pere city administrator Larry Delo came up with a master agreement and several addenda that De Pere’s City Attorney Judy Schmidt-Lehman fine tuned from a legal perspective.

These agreements provide the basis for collaboration and cooperation on “operational and non-recurring administrative and support functions” and, by Jan. 1, 2010 could be signed by nearly 30 different government entities in Brown County. Much more important, however, is the fact that participants in the Ritter Forum, elected officials and administrators alike, have unanimously agreed to continue meeting and pursuing additional collaborative opportunities. St. Norbert College, through its new President Thomas Kunkel, and the Chamber of Commerce have emphatically agreed to continue as conveners, and Mr. Ritter has graciously offered to continue as the forum’s benefactor.

Further cause for optimism can be found in the fact that labor has been
kept informed throughout this process and rather than undermining it,
its leadership has made overtures of assistance and even encouraged
bolder steps. The recent announcement that Firefighters' Local 141 has
all four Brown County fire unions under its auspices is an additional plus.

To be sure, there is clearly a long way to go but we’ve managed to
create a recipe for communication, cooperation and even consolidation
and, while elected officials and facilitators help season the dish, it has
become clear that department heads were/are the primary ingredient
for success. I am particularly grateful for the fine work of Jeff Roemer of
Green Bay, Ed Jahnke of Howard, Eric Dunning of Ashwaubenon and
Chris Hohol of Bellevue.