Formation of a Council of Governments (COG) in Montgomery County to promote regional collaboration begins with selection of a steering committee charged with deciding how the organization will operate.

“We’re going to need a lot of input,” Montgomery County Administrator Joe Tuss said. “We’re going to have to take this out to every jurisdiction.”

Montgomery County’s 28 jurisdictions will be invited to join, according to the framework suggested by the county commission. Other county organizations such as library systems, park districts, and the Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority also may be offered membership. Inclusion would be voluntary.

Deb Feldman, CEO of the Children’s Medical Center of Dayton, former Montgomery County administrator and a member of the county commission’s advisory team, said it’s important people know why the council is needed and the roll it will fill.

“It’s a legal entity. That’s always a scary thing to people,” Feldman said.

The County Commission proposed formation of the COG last week at a meeting of about 50 community advisors. They plan to present the proposal to the public at the fifth and final MCOFuture Forum at 5 p.m. on Feb. 20 at Sinclair Community College, 444 W 3rd St. in Dayton, Building 12.

The COG would be a central place for communities to discuss ways to share services to cut costs, work on common concerns, and help plan/manage agreements between members jurisdictions, not force solutions by votes. Shared issues would be faced with shared resources, voluntarily. The council would remain neutral in jurisdictional disputes.

Centerville City Manger Greg Horn said the idea has merit, as long as it is not controlled by the county, any one city or agency. Many communities backed away from becoming part of the regional dispatch center for that reason, Horn said.

“If the county is going to have a venture like that in the future, we have to have a COG, a truly cooperative effort,” Horn said. “I see it as an umbrella organization. The key is to let people decide what they want to collaborate on.”

Montgomery County’s next step will be selection of a steering committee to develop a structure, charter and governing model for the council, Tuss said. The committee will include elected officials, business and education leaders.

“We need to work on the big picture issues first,” Tuss said.

Councils of Governments are not a new concept. There are more than 500 throughout the country, according to the National Association of Regional Councils, including The First Suburbs Consortium of Dayton.

Established as a Council of Governments under Ohio law in 2005, the consortium includes members from 14 Montgomery County jurisdictions. These communities have a total population of over 300,000 and represent almost 60 percent of the population of Montgomery County.

The consortium deals with issues facings mature communities, such as how to pay for maintenance of aging infrastructure. Jack Jensen, executive director of the consortium, acknowledges a county-wide council of government would be broader in scope. He wants to learn more.

“Anything that can be done to benefit the region is worthwhile,” Jensen said.

The County Commission spent a year conducting community forums and gathering research to learn why other counties of similar size were experiencing more economic success. Researchers from Wright State University and the University of Dayton, as part of the process, studied nine counties making strides to improve the quality of life for their residents and businesses.

They found a council of governments was a success factor in at least three of the counties.

When Lehigh County, Pa. (Allentown) formed its Congress of Governments in 2007, even the selection of the name was deliberate to ensure members understood they were working together, not run by the county, Cindy Feinberg, director of community & economic development for Lehigh County said.

In Lane County, Ore. (Eugene) the COG has been a one-stop destination for services to local governments and agencies in the region since 1945. LCOG works on projects such as urban and regional planning, business loan programs, grant writing, and web development.

And, the Top of Alabama Regional Council of Governments (TARCOG) in Madison County, (Huntsville) was established in 1968 to address regional issues across five counties. The council allows for the sharing of information and solutions about problems that are not confined by political boundaries, Bob Culver, executive director of TARCOG said.

“Each of us has to step back from the competitiveness and realize we can do a better job together. Each of us here has to check a little bit of ego at the door,” Culver said.

The TARCOG has a 30-member board of directors with representatives from local government, private enterprise and higher education. Member communities pay dues of 35 cent per person, based on their population. The council provides grant writing services, conducts training, coordinates economic development and provides services to senior citizens.

“I can’t enforce anything on any one member jurisdiction,” Culver said. “If we can’t work through an issue one way, we think of some others.”

Phil Parker, president and CEO of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, said he’d like to believe people will give the COG a chance, if they know everyone has an equal voice at the table.

Bill Burges, president of Burges & Burges Strategists, the company hired by Montgomery County to orchestrate a series of community forums, doesn’t believe it will be difficult to get jurisdictions here interested in the COG. Cuts in state funding and declining property taxes do to falling valuations gives jurisdictions a common purpose to come together, cost sharing.

“It’s a coalition of the willing,” Burges said.

Dayton City Manager Tim Riordan said he likes the concept, but he believes formation of a COG won’t be easy.

“We’ve got to keep pushing in this direction,” he said.