Whatcom Council of Governments
Mission Statement and Declaration of Policy
Recognizing that decisions made by any one jurisdiction may affect the welfare of others, we hold that it is in the best interests of all Whatcom County governments that representatives of the jurisdictions come together regularly for the purposes of defining, discussing, and planning the future of the region and of our regional international relationship with the Greater Vancouver and Fraser Valley area of British Columbia.
It shall be the mission of the Whatcom Council of Governments to provide general and special governments with an organized means of providing a more unified response to significant issues of this regional Whatcom County community, and to that end, the Council of Governments shall serve these functions:
- Provide a forum for the exchange of interests, ideas, and plans among jurisdictions and private members.
- Survey, investigate, analyze, research, and report upon issues of concern to the members.
- Serve as the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization and the Regional Transportation Planning Organization.
- Conduct programs of interest to members concerning interjurisdictional issues and to suggest or recommend alternatives for dealing with issues in order to promote compatibility and assist members to understand issues from other jurisdictional perspective.
- Provide members with an informational resource, planning, grant-writing, technical expertise, and program execution administration within budget limitations and agreed work scope.
- Cooperate with other commissions, State, Federal, and as appropriate Canadian, public and private agencies in the planning, development, and execution of programs of interest to members.
- Represent, upon direction of the members, for the jurisdiction's united interest, with other regional councils as appropriate, before State, Federal, or Canadian authorities.
- Collect and exchange information of regional interest.