• Iowa State Public Policy and Administration Program featured at state-wide workshop

• Alternatives for local Iowa governments in sharing governmental services is the focus of a workshop scheduled for Friday, March 18, in the downtown Des Moines Marriott.
  
  The workshop will feature sessions presented by three Iowa State University faculty members in the Public Policy and Administration Program within the Department of Political Science.
  
  Kurt Thurmaier, professor of political science and director of the Public Policy and Administration Program, will present preliminary findings from two Iowa State research projects. He will be joined by assistant professors Yu-Che Chen and Rick Morse.
  
  The workshop, which is co-sponsored by Iowa State University Extension, the Iowa league of Cities and the Iowa State Association of Counties, will review and discuss a statewide inventory of 28E agreements and the "Olive Tree" project in Boone and Poweshiek counties.
  
  Thurmaier and Chen will discuss preliminary survey results examining the effectiveness of the 28E agreements in the first of two morning sessions. They will present activities that local Iowa governments are already doing in the way of services sharing.
  
  These agreements allow local Iowa governments to share services. The research is funded by a one-year, $114,000 contract from the State of Iowa and the IOWAccess Council.
  
  The second session will look at early findings of "The Olive Tree Project: Helping Citizens (Re)define Their Communities, "a one-year $63,850 grant awarded to Boone and Poweshiek counties in Iowa. The two counties are working with Morse and Thurmaier to facilitate discussions to identify core community values and services essential to preserving community identity.
  
  In conjunction with ISU Extension, a series of community forums have been held to help communities within Boone and Poweskiek counties foster intercommunity collaboration. Thurmaier and Morse will be joined at the presentation by a panel of Boone and Poweshiek county officials.
  
  The afternoon session will allow participants the opportunity to meet in smaller, facilitated sessions to discuss the implications of the research.
  
  Further information and registration forms are available on the Iowa League of Counties web site (www.iowaleague.org).

Rick Morse

Kurt Thurmaier

Yu-Che Chen