Douglas County politics used to be exciting – and counterproductive. There was a virtual lack of communication between the county and its cities, tensions ran high between the county and Castle Rock, and a “huge” rivalry existed between Castle Rock and Parker. “Nobody talked to nobody,” Parker Mayor David Casiano quips. “Each jurisdiction lived in its own little world.”
But today, things are different. Very different.
Today, the Partnership of Douglas County Governments involves Douglas County, four cities (Parker, Castle Rock, Lone Tree and Larkspur), and the county’s school and library districts. Like the Metro Mayors Caucus, the partnership is an approach that changes the way local governments solve common problems, share resources and work together to influence positive outcomes at the legislature.
The partnership was the brainchild of Douglas County Commissioner Melanie Worley, a self-described “regionalist at heart.” Back in 2001, she says, she looked at relationships within the county and thought, “There has to be a better way to do things.”
The partnership was her solution, and Parker’s Casiano says that it works. In its first five years, he points out, the partnership has produced a series of successes that ensure better decisions at lower cost to the taxpayers.
One success involves intergovernmental land use agreements between the county and the cities of Parker and Castle Rock (an agreement with Lone Tree is pending). Recently, under one of the agreements, the county and Parker established a “working group” to decide the future of two parcels of land slated for future development. Working together, the two local governments decided that one parcel would stay in the county while the other would be annexed by Parker. “It was great to see such a collegial relationship,” Worley says. “In the old days, [the fight over the land] would have been like World War III.”
Worley cites as another success the establishment of a multi- jurisdictional housing partnership that offers $12,000 low- interest down payment assistance to low-income, first- time homebuyers. The housing partnership has also initiated a program with Douglas County schools that gives school employees access to flexible mortgages, down payment assistance and other tools to help them purchase a home in the county. In addition, the housing partnership has recently purchased an affordable, 64-unit apartment complex for seniors in the Castle Rock area.
But the program that means the most to Mayor Casiano is a collaborative youth initiative. He says that when members of the partnership began looking at programs for young people in the county, they found more than 200 that “no one even knew were in existence.” The partnership has hired a youth services coordinator who is housed at the county and is bringing all of the youth programs under one umbrella.
Thanks to the Partnership of Douglas County Governments and the collegial relationships it has established, Lone Tree and Parker are sharing police dispatch services and costs, while Parker and Castle Rock have established a joint program that brings in sales taxes quick and efficiently. Students in Douglas County schools have been able to produce television programming on the Douglas County Television Network that will lead to the creation of a dedicated TV channel for the school district.
A regional emergency management plan has been developed, and an annual Partnership Caucus brings state legislators together with city and county officials to discuss legislation that affect local governments. In addition, discussions are beginning on the possible construction of a regional swimming pool for use by high school swim teams, and public information officers are working together in a Communications Council to maximize communications with citizens.
Bringing everyone to the table to pool resources, ideas and experience has been invaluable, Worley says. Casiano adds, “It’s amazing. We all actually found out that we like each other.”
