Last Monday night I chaired a joint meeting of Moorhead City Council, Clay County Commissioners and the Moorhead School Board. No one seemed to remember when that last happened. Each group has been wrestling with the challenges and opportunities that growth brings, and a joint discussion just made sense. The Schools are busting at the seams, our County jail is the oldest jail in Minnesota and does not meet code or the capacity of a growing metro, and the City is working to keep ahead of the building needs for the infrastructure.

During the School’s presentation, Lynne Kovash (our School superintendent) alluded to the 4 C’s in education – Creativity, Collaboration, Critical Thinking and Communication. I realized that was exactly what we were doing. I called the meeting because the 3 groups needed to hear and understand the challenges and opportunities that each organization was doing – Communication. We talked about how this should be managed with time frame, why, options; they asked great questions – Critical Thinking. We talked about thinking outside the box, what things could be combined, who could we partner with, what other needs could be met at the same time – Creativity. And last, but not least, Collaboration… after having met together, it was clear that we should do it again, and in the meantime a smaller group would meet regularly. The smaller group will be made up of staff, myself and chairs, and two appointees from each group. I appointed Brenda Elmer and Heidi Durand to join me. The 4 C’s… thanks Lynne. It’s an excellent guide for Moorhead in more ways than one.