Consortium Role
The Role of the Consortium Member
Vision West ND will identify opportunities and challenges, solutions and resources to create sustainable communities for the future of western North Dakota. In addition, Vision West ND will seek consensus on shared issues to create a regional plan that identifies actions, resources and partners.
Per the grant application and consistent with HUD’s expectations, the region must form a Consortium at the onset of the project to assist, support and guide local and regional planning activities; prepare and implement the regional plan; and disseminate the information learned from this process to local, regional, state and federal parties. The role of the Consortium is largely focused upon policy and outcomes, rather than the day-to-day operations of the project, which falls to contracted staff.
From the Application...
Role of Consortium Members and Regional Visioning. The specific role of each Consortium member is six-fold:
- Regular attendance and participation at all Consortium meetings,
- County-lead in the locally-based process to establish an economic development strategic plan,
- Key leader (or delegator) to implement the Entrepreneurship Initiative in the county,
- Convener of key local professionals to ensure knowledgeable participation in the Infrastructure planning,
- Coordination with local planners to determine the needs for the Land Use Planning Policy and Codes Initiative, and
- Stewardship of the dollars assigned to the Consortium.
The Region will operate as a 19-county Consortium for administrative and regional livability planning purposes. This framework ensures region-wide collaboration and administrative compliance while offering the efficiency of two long-standing regional organizations that have the administrative capacity and regional relationships to advance meaningful planning on the local/county level.
Leadership/Member Responsibilities and Administrative Procedures
| # | Representing |
| 19 | Counties |
| 5 | Educational Institutions |
| 4 | Regional Councils |
| 1 | Three Affiliated Tribes |
| 1 | SW REAP |
| 1 | NDAOGPC |
| 1 | Strom Center |
| 32 | Total |
The Consortium will be comprised of 22 voting members as shown in the table.
The Consortium will develop, review, and adopt a set of organizational guidelines that will establish governing administrative protocols such as the scheduling of meetings, location of meetings, responsibilities of the chair/vice chair/secretary, requirements for a quorum, and measures to ensure optimum participation.
The Consortium will elect a chair, vice chair, and secretary. Administrative requirements including the development of meeting agendas, minutes, and notifications will be conducted by a contracted Administrative Team member. An executive committee will include the chair, vice chair, secretary, a representative from RIF, and the representatives from SW REAP, and the Association. Members of the Administrative Team may provide assistance or counsel as requested. The Executive Committee will carry out responsibilities between Consortium meetings.
Specific Roles of All Members
In addition to the roles and responsibilities outlined above, each of the Consortium members has distinct responsibilities. All representatives will be responsible to coordinate with other communities in their respective counties to determine the geographic basis for their Economic Diversity Strategic Plan (generally county-wide, but may be city-wide or multi-county in some cases). The Three Affiliated Tribes will participate in the local and regional planning effort. Colleges/universities will offer assistance in the creation and distribution of information and training relevant to the Region (inclusive of Dickinson State University's Strom Center which will lead the Entrepreneurship Initiative and the Western North Dakota Energy Project in conjunction with this livability planning effort). The four Regional Councils may offer insights and support. Finally, a Technical Subcommittee, comprised of state agencies supporting Vision West ND, will intermittently convene key state and federal partners to provide support in the process.