HR Green ASD for Local Governments Handbook - Executive Summary - Manual (Page 9)

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CHAPTER 4: INTERLOCAL AGREEMENTS
Heidi Koenig
Definition: An interlocal agreement (ILA) is a contract between governmental entities that enables them to
work with each other in the interest of cooperatively sharing resources for their mutual benefit. An ILA can
take many forms, ranging from an informal handshake agreement to elaborate contracts structured according
to statutory requirements and filed with a state agency and local county or city recorder. ILAs exist between
cities, counties, a city and a county, between cities and school districts, between school districts and in many
other combinations.
Why consider interlocal agreements?
• ILAs often increase the effectiveness and efficiency of providing local government services.
• There is a need to provide a specific service to residents but the organization does not have the
knowledge or resources
• The organization faces constraints imposed by federal and/or state government
• The organization wants to build relationships strategically to enhance capacity to accomplish goals.
What we learned from a survey of recent research:
• Characteristics of the parties to the ILA, and individual actors, affect the final agreement.
• ILAs follow a vertical (federal, state, local) or a horizontal (local to local) path; while the structure
(top-down or across) is different, resulting ILAs do not show a great deal of difference.
• ILAs are begun from a wide variety of contacts (hand shake, legal, voluntary) and while those
different starting points can result in an ILA, levels of trust may be seen in ways in which the
relationship began.
• ILAs may be started out of networks or two-party relationships; they can grow to a network from the
partnership or may retreat from a network to a partnership. These changes are often fluid and the
significance of the changing number of actors may not be realized until after changes in the ILA
structure have taken place.
What we learned from the focus group discussions:
• Communities in northern Illinois behave in the ways that scholars and other practitioners expect:
o
The number of participants in an ILA varies from two to eight
o
The basis of the ILA contact is created through multiple means:
 Elected officials’ instigation
 Administrative efforts to improve service delivery, achieve efficiencies and enhance political
and economic return on investment, and
 State-created opportunities that lead to local changes.
• Organizational culture is important for creating and sustaining ILAs.
o
Organizations have to be ready to adapt to an ILA-rich environment,
o
It is unclear whether the culture of accepting ILAs as a management tool has to exist before they
are started, or if the use of ILAs leads to organizational culture that supports them.
Readiness checklist for interlocal agreements:
 Identify commonality of interest with another community. ILAs are not necessarily partnerships;
ILAs are functional relationships that allow for economic, political, and network returns on
investment.
 Carefully assess what benefits derive from ILAs and whether those benefits could be provided
through a different ASD or another management tool.
 Review the meaning of the ILA with affected departments and personnel. Look at the
organizational/department culture. Is there opposition to change? To sharing resources?