The competition was launched last year as a way to spur cities and towns to be more efficient through cooperation and collaboration. Fund President Brad Whitehead says the nine finalists were selected.
"What we aimed to do was to grab those that had the highest probability of success and impact, and then trying to ensure that we had a good mix of rural and urban, suburban, spread around the region, a mix of opportunities and ideas from schools to storm systems to health departments and the like, and ways that we can make our government work better."
As many as three winners will share 300 thousand dollars in award money to put their proposals into action.
Winners will be chosen by public citizens, who can check out the projects on line and then vote on which is most worthwhile.
