As to be expected in a county as diverse as Cass, each city, village and township that comprises it has their own set of priorities and personalities, which can make getting them all on the same page a tremendous struggle.

Last year, though, the members of the Cass County Planning Commission were able to make that happen, working together with six municipalities to create a county master plan that charts land usage projections for the next decade.

In recognition accomplishing what no other county in Michigan could pull off, the Southwest Michigan Planning Commission awarded eight county boards and offices on Tuesday with the 2015 Graham Woodhouse Intergovernmental Cooperation Award. Accepting the award were:

• Mark Eidelson, AICP of LANDPLAN, Inc. accepted the award for serving as the consultant for the project.

• The Cass County’s plaques were accepted by Barbara Wood Cook, Debra Troche, Roseann Marchetti and Robert Ziliak.

• James Robinson, accepted for the Village of Edwardsburg.

• Pokagon Township was represented by Linda Preston, supervisor.

• Gwenn Johnson, supervisor, represented Volinia Township.

• Accepting the award for the Wayne Township was Dr. Frank Butts, Supervisor and Judy Fusko, Treasurer.

• The Silver Creek Township and the Village of Vandalia were included in the award, but representatives were unable to attend.

SWMPC, a regional planning and development organization that serves Cass, Berrien and Van Buren counties, established the Graham Woodhouse Award in 1987 in honor of the former Dowagiac mayor. It is presented to governmental organizations that demonstrate an extraordinary amount of cooperation with projects designed to solve a common dilemma.

“These projects utilize limited resources efficiently, combine goal-setting, and visualize the world as nodes of regional resources,” said SWMPC Executive Director John Egelhaaf, in a statement released by the organization. “The players in this process are frequently not recognized so to those who search for collaborative change, SWMPC appreciates your work!”

The county’s nomination for the Woodhouse award was submitted by planning commission members Cook and Marchetti, who played an integral part in getting the ball rolling on the efforts to create master plan over four years ago.

“We were delighted [about the award],” said Cook, the chair of the county planning commission. “There was a lot of hard work that went into this.”

One of the main reasons the SWMPC selected the county as the recipient of this year’s award was due to monetary savings that each of the local governments saw by participating, Cook said. With the creation of master land plans usually costing upwards of $20,000, the resource sharing involved with the countywide project only cost the participating multiplicities around $3,000 each, with the county contributing $18,000 total.

“The county got a deal, and the multiplicities really got a deal,” Cook said.

Given the countless hours of work and planning that went into the creation of the master plan, Cook said she was glad to see its architects recognized for their accomplishments, especially given Cass’ smaller size compared to other cunties in the region.

“I’m very, very pleased,” Cook said. “Hopefully other counties will adopt this model and carry it forward.”