Local government and Army leadership met at Hinesville City Hall to discuss public-public partnerships Feb. 21, 2020. The goal of this meeting was to establish mutually beneficial relationships that could provide economic benefits, strategic collaboration and improved resource management."I'm excited about it (PPP committee), because there are so many possibilities for us to collaborate with the installation, so the first task is for us to get together," said Kenneth Howard, city manager for the city of Hinesville. "There are some opportunities out there that we feel the community as a whole can benefit from, so that's what we want to explore here."To facilitate these partnerships, several tools were discussed, including intergovernmental support agreements. These agreements allow the federal government to enter into a sole source contract with state or local government to provide, receive or share installation-support services."This has opened the aperture for partnerships and really strengthened the relations with communities," said Benjamin Eady, a lead facilitator working with the U.S. Army Installation Management Command IGSA program. "The Army is in a resource constrained environment; we are asking to achieve the same level of service with less resources and the only way to do that is to work with the community."After the initial presentation of information to the group, smaller breakout sessions brought the group closer to action steps for the more immediate plans for partnership. One of those first priorities being to create and resource a shared emergency operations center. This would allow the military and local government to improve efficiencies in reacting to emergencies such as hurricanes and other crises.According to the Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield Garrison Commander Col. Bryan L. Logan, "It's pretty easy for us to have conversations, pretty easy for us to build upon already established foundations that we have. This is just the natural progression on how we make that bond stronger."At the end of the day, the conversations had at the Hinesville City hall have led to several action steps for multiple future partnerships between Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield and the local community.