HomeMy WebLinkAboutICC Proposal Invigorating the ICCInvigorating the Intergovernmental Committee’s Recovery Planning Effort
A proposal by Kate Dean, Pam Petranek, Michelle Sandoval, Ariel Speser
August 20, 2020
The IGC/ ICC has great potential to align the four member governments in creating a shared strategy for
recovery from the COVID public health and economic crisis, as well as to re-think long-term resilience of
our rural, vulnerable economy. The members listed above from our legislative bodies propose
expanding the current scope of the IGC/ ICC to include an inspiring and educational public process to
shape future discussions, decisions and investments within our organizations, collaboratively, with
community partners and businesses and with our residents. If COVID is indeed providing us a time to
take a new and different look at how we do things, let’s proactively build a new shared language and
framework for the future of Jefferson County.
PART 1: Speaker Series
Monthly ICC meetings are currently open to the public and involve mostly administrative tasks. We
propose adding a speaker to each monthly meeting to invigorate conversation, expand the thinking of
members and the public alike, and glean ideas from experts and other communities. Speaker selection
would be inclusive and collaborative. Ideas for speakers include economist Michael Shuman, retired WA
Department of Commerce Managers Maury Forman, and founder Chuck Maron, Strong Towns.
Strong Towns Presentation: The Local Leader’s Toolkit: A Strong Towns Response to the Pandemic
presentation details the next steps local leaders must take to stabilize their communities and put
them on a path to recovery.
Topics covered in this presentation:
• Learn about the essential shifts in thinking needed to build a Strong Town.
• Specific actions local leaders should take to stabilize their community and set it up for
prosperity.
• Guidance on major decisions local leaders should anticipate making in the coming weeks and
months.
We are not heading for a restoration of an old and fragile way of life. What we are experiencing instead
is a transformation. The Local Leader’s Toolkit is a guide to help your community achieve the stability
and prosperity you deserve.
Estimated Cost for Part 1: $2000
PART 2: Deep Dive with Strong Towns
After Chuck Maron’s presentation, the ICC will select topics from the Strong Towns Tool Kit or Handbook
for Local Leaders and create a custom curriculum for the IGC to explore and discuss. Strong Towns staff
will facilitate discussions on priority topics to inform the Recovery and Resilience Plan.
About Strong Towns: “Background: Our cities and towns are supposed to be places of stability and
prosperity. They’re hubs of human activity—from food production to healthcare and commerce,
education, play, support, justice, and so much more. But the way our places have grown in recent
decades has made them economically fragile (and too often culturally fragile as well).
With the COVID-19 crisis, we’re experiencing what happens when that fragility is tested.
Local leaders are on the front lines, facing head-on the challenges of our time. They do it without the
support they need, on budgets stretched beyond the breaking point. They are forced to innovate with
systems naturally resistant to change. And to be successful, they must lead despite the anxiety and
distrust that permeates modern discourse.
It is local leaders—not those in distant capitol buildings—who will guide their places into the future. The
Strong Towns movement stands with them.
Strong Towns supports thousands of people across the United States and Canada who are advocating for
a radically new way of thinking about the way we build our world…Everyone deserves the opportunity to
live a good life in a prosperous place. Future generations deserve that same opportunity too.
Yet we’ve given little thought to whether future generations can afford to maintain the world we’re
passing on to them—or how many of the things we build are making our communities worse places to
live today. We’re wasting time and squandering resources that should be used to make our communities
more prosperous.
The good news: people like you are changing all that. Right now, thousands of people across the United
States and Canada are making their communities financially strong and resilient.”
From the Strong Towns website: https://www.strongtowns.org/
Estimated Cost for Part 2: $8000
We recommend allocating a small portion of CARES funding to support this important recovery planning
effort. Estimated cost for speakers and materials: up to $10,000 total