The Hampton Roads Regional Structure Project
Improving the Competitiveness of Hampton Roads
 

An initiative of the Future of Hampton Roads, Inc.
 

Purpose
 

    The Regional Structure Project is engaging the leaders and citizens of Hampton Roads in a discussion of the structure of regional governance. By examining the current mechanisms of regional cooperation, the Project aims to identify practical reforms to the organizations and processes by which decisions are made and implemented on regional matters. Improved economic performance is the primary goal.
In considering practical reforms to Hampton Roads’ organizations and processes, the Regional Structure has three related goals:
    1)    to accelerate economic development,
    2)    to find further opportunities for municipalities to share operational functions as a way to reduce costs and improve service, and,
    3)    most importantly, to provide the region with a stronger political voice for advancing the region’s shared interests.
 

Regional Governance in Hampton Roads
 

    Through its regional organizations -- Planning District Commission, Metropolitan Planning Organization, Hampton Roads Partnership, and various regional authorities -- the maritime region of Southeastern Virginia deals with its agenda of shared regional issues and opportunities. Indeed, in the absence of a regional government, Hampton Roads does regional cooperation as well or better than many other metro regions in Virginia and the United States.
 

    Nevertheless, at a series of forums sponsored by the Future of Hampton Roads during the Fall of 2003 entitled “Improving the Competitiveness of Hampton Roads,” the structure of local government was singled out as one of the major impediments to improved economic performance of Virginia’s regions. In reaching this conclusion, the participants did not criticize persons in government. In fact, elected leaders and government administrators have often been in the forefront of regional cooperation in Hampton Roads. Instead, it was noted that people necessarily play the roles assigned to them by the structures in which they find themselves, and that our current structure of independent cities and counties was never designed to meet the region’s needs.
 

    Following these forums, the Board of the Future of Hampton Roads prepared a Case Statement in support of the proposal to hold a community debate on regional structure. It then set about recruiting some 35 other local organizations interested in regionalism to be members of a Steering Committee for overall direction of the Project.
 

    The Steering Committee adopted a traditional strategic planning approach:
 

    Phase I: Where are we now? i.e., How is the region currently structured?
    Phase II: Where do we want to go? i.e., What structural changes are needed?
    Phase III: How do we get there? i.e., How can the changes be implemented?
 

Phase I: Preparing the Description

    During 2005, the Steering Committee organized its members into five working subcommittees to do the research needed to prepare the description of the region as required by the first planning question. The committees produced materials that were incorporated in Report No.1: How the Region Works. The report provides a description of (1) the opportunities and challenges that constitute the regional agenda, (2) the institutions that deal with those issues, and (3) the Virginia laws that affect regionalism. The printed report was distributed to the boards of directors of the member organizations of the Steering Committee and to other interested parties.
 

Phase II: Proposing Recommendations
 

    In January, 2006, board members of the Steering Committee organizations were invited to three conferences hosted by Tidewater Community College, Virginia Wesleyan College, and Thomas Nelson Community College to consider the material in Report No. 1. Small breakout groups discussed (a) the features of an ideal regional organization for decision-making and representation, and (b) ideas for possible shared services. Proceedings were collated into a first draft of Report No.2: Transforming the Regional Structure, which was shared with the Mayors and Chairs Caucus, the Executive Committee of the Hampton Roads Partnership, and members of a dozen study groups assigned the task of polishing the conferees’ proposals into finished recommendations.
As of the end of 2006, the work of the study groups is nearing completion, and a revised version of Report No.2 is expected to be published in early 2007. Meanwhile, the completed study group reports will be posted as they become available.
 

Phase III: Implementation
 

    In several cases, the Project has discussed the preliminary proposals with leaders of the organizations that will have to decide to implement the finished recommendations. These contacts have helped refine the proposals. Also, as a result, some recommendations that do not require legislation or other elaborate process may actually be dealt with before the final Report No.2 is published and shared with the public. In any case, it is expected that the work of the Hampton Roads Regional Structure Project will be completed during 2007, the region’s  four hundredth anniversary year.