OWO Collaboration
The municipalities of Ooststellingwerf, Weststellingwerf, and Opsterland are independent municipalities, but they collaborate closely on a number of tasks. We refer to this as the OWO partnership.
By pooling our knowledge, capacity, and expertise, we aim to improve quality and service, reduce costs, and make our organizations less vulnerable.
We carry out a number of municipal tasks jointly in three OWO departments:
- Administration & Registration in Ooststellingwerf, including municipal taxes and the back office for social services;
- Operations management in Weststellingwerf, including IT, finance, human resources, and procurement;
- Permitting, Oversight, and Enforcement (VTH) in Opsterland, including for permitting and boa's.
The employees in these departments work for all three municipalities.
The OWO partnership extends beyond these three departments. The municipalities also collaborate on issues where such cooperation provides added value for the three independent municipalities. For example, by working together on the “ Omgevingswet ” or by developing joint policies. In doing so, the three municipalities remain independent and each makes its own administrative decisions.
The terms of the collaboration are set forth in the OWO 2024 Governance Agreement.
