Agencies working together

GOVERNOR-ELECT Deval Patrick made a bold move last week creating two new cabinet secretaries, one for housing and economic development, and another for environment and energy. But the coordination of state agencies could go even further, and Massachusetts would reap the rewards.

Over the last few weeks the governor-elect has been getting a lot of advice about what to do with the current structure: the Office for Commonwealth Development, a kind of super-agency that coordinates housing, transportation, the environment and energy. Governor Mitt Romney created it in 2003, and installed environmentalist Douglas I. Foy as its first chief.

One theme that has emerged in the transition discussions is that attracting good people to lead those major agencies would be harder if anyone stands between them and the governor. Better to appoint a special assistant to the governor who can achieve some coordination out of the executive office, some advisers have said.

But it's important to remember why the Office for Commonwealth Development, where I briefly worked, was created in the first place. Instead of operating in isolation, agencies that spend billions in capital and operating funds for critical infrastructure need to join forces. Because the activities of their agencies overlap and can collide, the secretaries and commissioners should work with each other. In the past, agencies have competed -- or barely acknowledged each other's existence.

Today, the heads of the Department of Conservation and Recreation and MassHighway are cooperating on things like roadway maintenance. To further the state policy of putting housing near transit stations, the Department of Housing and Community Development now works with the MBTA. The Office for Commonweath Development helped bring these agencies together.

As a result, Massachusetts has been able to encourage dense residential development in town centers and downtowns through Chapter 40R and 40S; provide $30 million for transit-oriented development; set priorities by filtering $500 million in funds for local infrastructure projects through a scoring system known as Commonwealth Capital; and help cities and towns create their own sustainable development initiatives. Cabinet secretaries have continued to run their own agencies and undertake new initiatives. They simply do so in a more coordinated fashion.

The pressure from the political culture, though, is always to revert to old ways; municipal officials and lawmakers may prefer to advance pet projects that don't require conforming to a statewide smart growth agenda, for example. Meanwhile, new governors understandably want to make a fresh start. Sometimes this happens in the extreme, as in Maryland, where the last governor's office to manage growth was all but dismantled by the present administration.

Some coordination is certainly possible by establishing a special assistant to the governor. But a stand-alone super-agency would send a stronger signal to the bureaucracy. Broader coordination would connect the groupings that Patrick has created -- housing and economic development, the environment and energy -- to each other, and to the all-important area of transportation.

Other states striving to get a handle on development, create more affordable housing, protect open space, and use less energy have concluded that a coordinated government structure is critical.

In September, Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell established the Office for Responsible Growth, which coordinates housing, transportation, environment, and economic development. California established an agency coordinating business, housing, and transportation. Virginia officials and business leaders have researched the Massachusetts model, as Governor Tim Kaine follows through on campaign promises to better manage growth in that fast-developing state. New York Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer is considering his own version of the Office for Commonwealth Development.

We should be happy to share our experience with other states concerned about housing, transportation, energy, and the environment. But it would be ironic if the Massachusetts model was in place all around the country -- and not in Massachusetts.

Anthony Flint, who served as education director for the Office for Commonwealth Development, is now public affairs manager at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge.