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<br />O()3J57 <br /> <br />. maintained linkage with the Colorado Congressional delegation in <br />Washington relevant to the coordination of legislative initiatives <br />and Colorado drought-related needs; <br /> <br />. developed 1 inkages between regional drought managers, and between <br />regional drought managers and State agnecy personnel; <br /> <br />. prepar'ed and distributed a weekly newsletter to appropriate State <br />legislators and State and regional administrators, containing <br />comprehensive information relevant to Statewide climate conditions, <br />mitigation activities and federal assistance programs; and <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />prepared .::nd distributed <br />administrators and drought <br />regional drought mitigation <br />program logistics, i.e., <br />announcements. <br /> <br />week ly updates to regi ona 1 agency <br />coordinators containing summaries of <br />activities and inforamtion regarding <br />reporting deadlines and activity <br /> <br />A significant amount of space in the regions' monthly reports to the OSDC <br />was devoted to the character of federal assistance and response within each <br />region (i .e., the number of applications in process, the nature of the aid <br />requested, and the amount of federal funds obligated). Also, within the <br />"federa 1 ass i stance" framework, reg iona 1 drought coordi nators were asked to <br />include assessments of federal agency activity in the region. The most conmon <br />complaint regarding federal agency activity was that drought assistance <br />applications caused increased workloads for federal agency staff, resulting in a <br />slowdown in application processing. In assessing federal agency performance, <br />regional drought coordinators were able to identify various isolated instances <br />of particularly slow handling of drought assistance applicants by federal <br />personnel. In cases where problems with federal assistance arose, the OSDC was <br />able to provide additional clout to any regional effort- aimed at resolving a <br />problem and, in some instances, was successful in working with federal program <br />administrators in Denver in the redistribution of local agency personnel to <br />better serve applicant needs. Based upon its physical proximity to federal <br />agency drought program administrators in Denver and the additional clout and <br />credibility gained by its placement in the Governor's Office, the OSDC was able <br />to serve in a networking capacity which coalesced local needs and federal <br />response capacity, and in many instances, provided quantifiable results. <br /> <br />The OSDC liaison capacity stretched beyond its communication with federal <br />program implementors to an interface with federal policy-makers. The bulk of <br />communication flowed between the OSDC and the staffs of Colorado Congressional <br />Delegation. On the basis of information from the region~l status reports and <br />I other sources, the OSDC was able to provide input to the delegation relevant to <br />their legislative involvement in maximizing federal drought assistance to <br />Colorado. Knowledge of drought severity at local levels was crucial to the <br />determination of need inherent in the legislative process aimed at channeling <br />federal dollars into the State. Due to the fact that drought conditions <br />throughout the West began to ease while existent federal drought assistance <br /> <br />· 47 <br />