Written by: Bernie Greenberg
www.kgattys.com
Castle Rock is one successful town. It’s one of the best places to live, work and raise a family in the world! How did all this happen? It’s the unique form of collaborative government and leadership adopted years ago. Let’s look.
What Makes Castle Rock Successful?
Castle Rock is unique in its small-town charm, parks, and recreation opportunities, downtown district, community-wide events is family oriented and in a friendly setting. Nestled in a geographically fascinating area, equidistant between Denver and Colorado Springs and sliced in half by an interstate highway, Castle Rock is a unique town that started as part of the old west. What turned this old west town into one of the top-ranked places in the U.S.? Collaboration.
Castle Rock is led by its citizens. Castle Rock residents fill every position of leadership, government, business, charitable and religious. This becomes very intriguing when you look closer.
First Castle Rock government. Castle Rock’s government is led by a seven district Town Council that appoints one member as the honorary mayor.
The town employs a Town Manager and award-winning staff that run the day to day town operations. Town staff and its departments are the best in the country winning many national awards and recognition.
Added to that award-winning mix is that the town has ceded control to citizens in another also award-winning way. The town has numerous boards and commissions that study issues in their areas of interest and expertise and make policy recommendations to town staff that is then presented, considered and decided upon by town council.
More About Leadership Douglas County
If this wasn’t enough Castle Rock citizens are also involved in town leadership outside of the town’s government structure. Decades ago, visionaries from the Castle Rock Chamber of Commerce created a leadership model that involved leaders from all walks of life in Castle Rock. This led to the creation of a countywide leadership training program that has trained hundreds of community leaders over the last 20 years.
Starting with the government, the boards and commissions, business leaders, legal leaders, economic development leaders, charitable organizations, religious leaders, schools and school boards and others the idea was to bring leaders from different areas together to collaborate.
Having leaders from all walks of life meeting, discussing, talking, studying, collaborating and vetting community concerns and issues allows the town to move forward and to do so as a whole community avoiding the political infighting that plagues other places.
What has all this created in Castle Rock? One of the best places to live, work and raise a family in America! Castle Rock’s success flows from collaboration!
Photo Credit: Leadership Douglas County
