Make way for cooperation

When state officials talk about reforming local government, they usually mean cutting financial support while shoving more responsibilities onto cities and counties. As state budgets have gotten smaller, the complaint line at City Hall has gotten longer. That's not reform; it's abdication.

In assembling his government-reform commission, Gov. Bob McDonnell wisely created a panel to look at the relationship between state and local governments and find ways to help them work together more effectively. Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim was chosen to lead this important group.

Many of the recommendations will focus on internal administrative tasks such as eliminating duplicate functions and improving customer service. Those goals are low-hanging fruit that can be accomplished in the short time McDonnell has provided in order to hold a special session this fall.

But the governor has also promised to pursue longer-range reforms that demand more careful thought. He should make sure the panel on regional issues has more time and support to flesh out meaningful improvements.

The group was dubbed the "intergovernmental relations committee," not the regionalism committee. "Regionalism" has long been a bad word in Virginia. But regionalism is the key to the state's future. Norfolk is no longer competing in a vacuum against individual cities around the country for jobs, federal grants or the most talented science teachers. Fewer and fewer people live and work in the same municipality, especially in the largest urban areas.

Hampton Roads competes with other urban areas, with other regions elsewhere in the nation and the world. But regions in Virginia were designed to fail. The commonwealth's system of independent cities creates disincentives for partnership.

The state's rigid adherence to the Dillon Rule - which requires local governments to get permission from the legislature to do virtually anything, including such mundane matters as increasing dog and cat fees or pedestrian ordinances - prevents mayors and supervisors from finding ways to provide public services and end expensive duplication.

The government reform commission is unlikely to recommend a wholesale rejection of those hoary doctrines. Indeed, McDonnell reiterated his support for the Dillon Rule at the group's first meeting this summer.

But the commission could move Virginia closer to the 21st century by chipping away at a fossilized structure that leaves Hampton Roads lumbering behind more fleet-footed and collaborative communities like Charlotte, Portland and Seattle.

Virginia has experimented with reform with varying degrees of success. A commission established by former Gov. Mills Godwin created today's system of regional planning districts. Former House Speaker Tom Moss formed a panel that urged modernization of the state's tax system. A subsequent tax confab spent two years pondering its options but failed to reach consensus.

The leader of that endeavor was a delegate named Bob McDonnell. Now it's his challenge to avoid another episode of Death by Minutia. McDonnell needs to give local governments tools that will allow them to share revenues, pool purchasing power, jointly develop industrial sites and mental health facilities, and cooperate on land use and strategic planning.

Imagine what Virginia communities could accomplish if they were judged by their collective performance, and not by their individual compliance with a dusty volume of bureaucratic rules.

It will take a leader with vision and courage to explain to the public why this issue is important and to shepherd it past those who insist that the state maintain a death grip on the status quo. If McDonnell truly wants to reshape and revitalize government in Virginia, this is the second chance most leaders never get. He should make it count.