Audrain County Municipalities Program

About the Program

Category: Community and Economic Development (Best in Category)

Year: 2023

A Class 3 county typically has one or two large municipalities that can employ staff that assist city councils or boards with decision-making, navigating grants, economic development, or any other issue that may arise. Small communities typically have a city clerk and a council. As problems or needs arise, these smaller municipalities do not have the resources, built-in knowledge or network needed to tackle these issues. The county commission decided a major change needed to occur to help the smaller municipalities from feeling weighed down, and so the commissioners created the Audrain County Municipalities Program. In the spring of 2022, the commission held the inaugural meeting. The concept was simple: discuss matters important to the communities, communicate information from the county level to the municipalities, network, brainstorm, and share resources. The group decided at that meeting to convene every two months at a revolving location so each municipality could host. Since the initial meeting, council members from every municipality attend the meetings and most county officials have participated in some fashion.