East Central Council of Local Governments (ECCOG)

The East Central Council of Local Governments (ECCOG) was created in the early 1970’s as a voluntary association of county commissioners, mayors and town council members in Cheyenne, Elbert, Kit Carson and Lincoln counties, who joined hands to keep governmental decision-making at the local level. ECCOG is not another layer of government; there are no COG program or activities undertaken without first obtaining the advice from a variety of citizen advisory groups and from the local governments, nor without formal approval of the governing board. ECCOG has no taxing authority. Originally, ECCOG’s eight-member governing board consisted of county commissioners and municipal elected officials from the four counties. In 2009, however, the region was designated an Economic Development Commission, and the governing board was expanded to include economic development interests. The thirteen-member board now includes five private sector and stakeholder representative, as well as the local government representatives.