Trends in Pennsylvania by Fred Reddig

Marshall Bond (second from right), Manager of the Municipality of Monroeville, was the moderator of a panel on the successes, obstacles, and trends of intergovernmental cooperation in the region. Bond gave a short background on the panelists before they spoke. Fred Reddig, Deputy Director for the Governor's Center for Local Government Services, administers the Center"s range of information, training, technical and financial services, and programs for local governments. Reddig spoke first on the diversity and fragmentation of Pennsylvania as both strengths and weaknesses from environmental, social, and economic perspectives. He explained that local governments are not only in competition with each other, but with other cities and states across the country. Reddig noted that trends of out-migration and decline in Pennsylvania make the state and its local governments less competitive, and that change is necessary to slow and reverse these trends. One change that helps strengthen the stability of metropolitan areas is structural change in municipal mergers, multi-municipal planning, and intergovernmental cooperation. Reddig mentions some success stories in Pennsylvania along the continuum of intergovernmental cooperation from shared services, to Councils of Governments, to boundary change. He highlighted the success of the 911 emergency response services consolidation in Allegheny County.

Local governments have three roles in economic development according to Reddig: establishing an environment for economic development through effective and efficient service delivery, comprehensive planning, and implementation; establishing partnerships with all stakeholders in the economic development arena; and developing a toolbox of resources for implementing economic development in cooperation with the state. Reddig recognized some tools that the state makes available for economic development and intergovernmental cooperation. He explained how the "three C’s of intergovernmental cooperation” are necessary for successful ventures, which include creativity, communication, and commitment.