We also encourage our city and county department heads to meet together on issues of mutual interest, which has strengthened their working relationships. Now, many state agencies tell us that they are excited to work with the Partnership on regional environmental and transportation issues. The Treasure Valley Institute instilled a degree of trust and candor among the region's elected representatives that will go a long way toward helping us achieve our goals. All of us finished the meeting with greater confidence and a deeper understanding of the resources available to meet our vision of a valley working together. We hope our experience can serve as a model for other public officials who want to improve their own communities while promoting regional success.
Any community can use the basic principles created by officials in Idaho's Treasure Valley.
We are part of one region. We must maintain and value our individual community identities within this region. Unless we work together as a region, we will lose our unique community identities. We can maximize the benefits of growth, while protecting our region and communities from costly sprawl. We already have some tools to address today's and future challenges, but we must also develop new tools.