ACCEL

About ACCEL

The Association of Carver County Elected Leaders (ACCEL) builds and maintains a partnership of governing units in Carver County to support greater efficiencies and leadership in public service that benefit citizens and taxpayers and all governing agencies within Carver County through enhanced communication, collaboration of services and sharing of resources, experiences and knowledge.

2009 Meeting Schedule

ACCEL will not meet in December or January.

Meeting Minutes

ACCEL Documents

History

The Carver County Elected Leaders Program was originally started through a partnership between Carver County and Ridgeview Medical Center.  It was facilitated by the University of Minnesota's Extension Service with the focus being on Leadership Development.   In 2007, discussions occurred between Carver County and the program design team to review and revitalize the program.   The County saw the value in the Leadership Development component but also wanted to use this group as a vehicle for more collaboration.  The Association of Carver County Elected Leaders (ACCEL) was formed in 2008 with the vision of working together to make all Carver County communities better places to live, work and play.

Accomplishments

The major focus in 2008 was establishing ACCEL, determining the potential collaborations and working together on the fiber optic project.  The fiber project is designed to connect public facilities throughout the County by burying about 85 miles of fiber optic cable and creating a redundant ring. The current goals for the fiber optic project are:

• Connect County, city, school district and other governmental unit buildings to a high-speed fiber backbone;
• Increase efficiency of County/city/school staff;
• Contain current and future costs of connectivity;
• Leverage public/private partnership scenario - minimizing one-time and recurring costs;
• Act in the best interest of Carver County residents.

Potential Future Collaborations

Cooperative purchasing and joint procurement is the next item that the group has agreed to discuss.  Other future topics will be determined by the members. 

Membership

The Association consists of the following members: Carver County; the cities of Carver, Chanhassen, Chaska, Cologne, Hamburg, Mayer, New Germany, Norwood Young America, Victoria, Waconia, and Watertown; the townships of Benton, Camden, Dahlgren, Hancock, Hollywood, Laketown, San Francisco, Waconia, Watertown, and Young America; Soil and Water Conservation District; and the school districts of 108, 110, 111 and 112.  Members of the Carver County legislative delegation and Metropolitan Council are also invited to attend meetings. 

It is preferred that each unit of government designates two elected officials to formally represent them at the regular meetings of the Association.  Other elected officials and staff representatives from member entities are welcome to attend and participate in the meetings.

If you have any questions about ACCEL please call (952)361-1797.