HAPPY 35TH ANNIVERSARY
BACOG!
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The Barrington
Area Council of Governments (BACOG) celebrated its 35th Anniversary at
its April 26th Executive Board meeting. Past BACOG Board members Ron
Hamelberg, Don Johnson, Warren Fuller, Bill Fitzpatrick, and Jim
Peterson; former BACOG Executive Director Don Klein; current and past
elected and appointed county, municipal and township officials; and
representatives from local organizations attended the commemoration
event. As part of the celebration, members of the BACOG GIS Committee
and BACOG Water Resources Committee were recognized for their efforts.
BACOG
was formally organized on April 25, 1970 with six villages uniting
together - Barrington, Barrington Hills, Deer Park, North Barrington,
South Barrington, and Tower Lakes. Current member Village of Lake
Barrington joined in June 1987. Today, BACOG is seven municipalities
and two townships strong, with the addition of new members Cuba and
Barrington Townships in August 2004. |
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| Former Executive Director Don Klein and Cuba Township Supervisor Dave Nelson |
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If not for a
group of concerned citizens and civic leaders with a mission to plan
for orderly growth, this area may have become a community of another
kind. Their concern was for orderly growth, avoiding urban sprawl, and
enhancing the rural countryside qualities that make this area unique.
Their recommendations led to the creation of an environmental
protection group -- Citizens for Conservation, and a council of
governments to protect the central town/countryside residential areas
land use pattern and promote intergovernmental cooperation -- BACOG.
Over
the years as the region's needs and wants changed, BACOG broadened its
land planning function to encompass community development and advocacy,
while still protecting the land use patterns that had been implemented
under the regional comprehensive plan. Throughout the decades, the goal
of the organization stayed the same: A balance between conservation,
preservation and development, which responds to the needs and desires
of BACOG area residents, and is supportive of the unique qualities of
the BACOG environment. The council's methods of implementing its goals
and objectives through mutual support and citizen participation also
have stayed consistent throughout the years. |
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| Barrington Hills Village President Robert G. Abboud, BACOG Executive Director Janet Agnoletti, aand South Barrington Village President Frank Munao |
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In the 21st
century, BACOG continues to bring regional officials and the community
together to address area-wide concerns. Recent projects include the
development of an innovative model regional impact fees program,
working through a committee of government officials and district
representatives; and the recently-formed Community Drug Prevention
Coalition, in which the police chiefs of the BACOG area joined forces
with local school districts, social service agencies, parents, law
enforcement and governments to discuss a pro-active, non-enforcement
approach to the problem of drug and alcohol abuse by youth. BACOG
continues its efforts to protect the area's natural resources through
groundwater research and creating a baseline of current groundwater
conditions. The group also has been active in addressing legislative
issues of regional concern through the re-establishment of the BACOG
Legislative Committee.
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| Past and current local officials, representatives from local organizations and members of the BACOG GIS Committee and BACOG Water Resources Committee attended the commemoration of BACOG's 35th Anniversary |
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At the time BACOG formed, it was one of the smallest councils of government in the country in area and population, but it has outlived the stories of other small COGs that were established at that time. Executive Director Janet Agnoletti attributes BACOG's longevity to the strength of its ideas, the commitment to collective cooperation, and the talent and innovative spirit of its citizens. As other regions struggle with the same battles BACOG fought in the past of encroaching urbanization and its impact on their natural resources and way of life, area residents can reflect with appreciation on 35 years of BACOG history and people: those who created the first planning policies and fought for their implementation in the past, those who protect the tenets of the plan and explore further enhancements today, and those who will carry the torch for the future. |
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