QuickTakes

States with the Highest Volunteer Rate

States with the Highest Volunteer Rate

Source: Corporation for National and Community Service, 2010

Utah 44.2%Iowa 37.8%    Minnesota 37.5%Nebraska 37.4%Alaska 37.3%

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COUNTIES n WASHINGTON, D.C. VOL. 42, NO. 14 n July 19, 2010

INSIDE >>

See MANDATE page 4

See VALERIE page 3

NACo celebrates 75 years of great service to county governments » Pages 7–15

Winners of NACo Five Star grants announced » Page 2

County uses popular geocaching to hunt down weeds » Page 6

Special Hot Topics insert explores new health law implementation

County officials from across the country have begun meeting at NACo’s 75th Annual Confer-ence and Exposition in Washoe County, Nev. to set national policies affecting counties, elect new leaders and share ideas on leading in tough times.

Nearly 2,000 elected and appointed county officials, ex-hibitors, presenters and guests were expected to attend the conference and help celebrate NACo’s 75th Anniversary as the only national organization that represents county governments in the United States.

According to NACo President Valerie Brown, the economic realities of today — and how counties must do more with less — will play a prominent role in the 2010 NACo Annual Conference.

“NACo’s Annual Conference is the most important gathering

of county officials of the year and offers the best opportunity for county officials to work together and find pragmatic solutions to problems facing county governments,” said Brown, supervisor, Sonoma County, Calif. “We know that many counties are facing their most difficult budget and revenue challenges in decades.

“The NACo Annual Conference is our opportunity to come together as leaders in county government to determine how best to address our common challenges through na-tional policies and share ideas with each other on innovative governance strategies back home.”

Also playing a prominent role is the three-way race for NACo second vice president. Vying for the job are Burrell Ellis, chief executive officer, DeKalb County, Ga.; Joe Giles, council member, Erie County, Pa.; and Chris Rodgers, commissioner, Douglas County, Neb.

At conference general sessions,

participants heard from Robert Reich former labor secretary under President Bill Clinton and now economist and author; Joe Dittmar, 9/11 World Trade Cen-ter, Tower II, survivor; and John Fairbank, a nationally recognized polling expert.

Two special forums were also on tap: “The Future of Taxes is Now” and “Preserving Civil-ity, Decorum and the Right to Leadership.”

Conference participants could attend a variety of sessions to gain deeper understanding of issues affecting county government. A wide range of workshops explored such topics as criminal justice efficiency efforts; technol-ogy to enhance court operations; county consolidation, job restruc-turing; regional partnerships; new EPA air quality standards; traffic safety and congestion; and wildfire threats.

75th Annual focuses on tough times, economic recovery

Each year, County News asks the outgoing NACo president to reflect on the highlights of her or his term. Following are the thoughts of outgo-ing NACo President Valerie Brown, Sonoma County, Calif. supervisor.

Q: How would you describe your year as NACo president?

Exhilarating, challenging, thought-provoking and rewarding.

Percentage of volunteer residents

Photo courtesy of Reno Bureau of Conventions and Visitors

Spectators take in the spectacular site of hot air balloons over the Nevada landscape. Over a hundred balloons take to the skies annually in Reno’s Great Balloon Race.

Valerie Brown reflects on her NACo presidency

Valerie BrownSonoma County, Calif.

Collective bargaining mandate passes HouseBy Jeff Arnold

DEPUTY LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR

Earlier this month, the House passed the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act (H.R. 413). The bill was attached to the Iraq-Afghanistan War Supplemental Appropriations legislation, (H.R. 4899), and may soon be considered in the Senate.

The bill mandates that state and local governments enter into collec-tive bargaining agreements with their public safety employees and provides

FeaturesCountyNews

Model Programs

News From the Nation’s Counties

Profiles in Service

NACo on the Move

Research News

The H.R. Doctor Is in

What’s in a Seal?

This Month In the County News

Financial Services News

Job Market / Classifieds

2 July 19, 2010 CountyNews •

DeKalb County, Ga. – $25,260DeKalb County, Ga. will remove all trash and

debris at the headwaters of Shoal Creek in DeKalb County, and work with project partners to restore 1,200 feet of channel and banks to improve water quality and habitat in the stream degraded by trash and overgrown with invasive plants including Chinese privet and kudzu. The restoration site will be the focus of field trips for seven local schools participating in environmental education activities.

Green Works Kansas City, Mo. – $25,000

Green Works will implement the Brush Creek Park Oxbow Enhancement Project, restoring and improving prairie, floodplain forest and stream bank habitats. Project partners will install nest-ing and roosting structures for birds and bats as well as remove sediment and trash. In addition to restoring wildlife habitat and improving water quality in Brush Creek, project partners will provide opportunities to demonstrate green solutions and create an outdoor classroom and involve local service organizations.

Institute for Applied Ecology Corvallis, Ore. – $25,260

The Institute for Applied Ecology will engage local teens and adults in a community-based restoration demonstration project emphasizing habitat enhancement of 70 acres of critical wet-land and riverbank salmon habitat at two urban restoration sites, student-led creation of restoration demonstration areas highlighting the culturally significant plant species, student-led reintroduction of populations of three threatened and endangered plant species and release of student-reared spring salmon from the threatened Upper Willamette River Chinook species.

Sun River Watershed Group Great Falls, Mont. – $23,700

The Sun River Watershed Group will partner to restore 2.5 miles of stream corridor to improve the water quality in Elk Creek and the Sun River. The project will reduce 20,000 tons of sediment into Elk Creek. Project partners will also con-duct education programs including a hands-on workshop with landowners and a demonstration targeted to school teachers and students on how they can help improve vegetation to improve the health of Elk Creek.

Waste Management Fairport, N.Y. – $20,000

Waste Management of New York, LLC (WMNY), in partnership with the High Acres Nature Area Wildlife Team Volunteers, will restore and enhance 35 acres of existing wetlands by ef-fectively managing several species of invasive plants threatening the ecosystem. Project partners will also create a series of interpretive trails. Workshops, walks and educational opportunities will include a component educating the public on problems caused by invasive species and negative effects upon wildlife and wetlands.

Keep Rome Floyd Beautiful Rome, Ga. – $18,567

The Keep Rome Floyd Beautiful, City of Rome, Ga. and project partners will install best manage-ment practices on 2.5 acres of a demonstration area to allow natural filtration of stormwater while improving habitat for wildlife species. The partners will remove invasive plant species covering the site, perform birdwatches with school children and provide a safe location for conducting Adopt-A-Stream monitoring workshops.

NACo-Managed Five Star Grant Projects

Photo courtesy of Dekalb County, Ga.

DeKalb County, Ga. Greenspace Environment Manager David Butler teaches natural resource management to local high school students.

By CArrie ClingAn

SENIOR ASSOCIATE

NACo recently announced the recipients of the 2010 Five Star Restoration Program grants. NACo and its partners will award a total of nearly $1 million dollars to high-quality, community-based projects that support habitat and wetlands restoration in counties across the nation.

The program is a partnership among NACo, the National Fish and Wildlife Federation, the En-vironmental Protection Agency, the Wildlife Habitat Council, and corporate sponsors Southern Company, FedEx and Pacific Gas & Electric.

This year, as a member of the Five Star Partnership, NACo will award $128,067 in grants to support six projects, located in seven counties across the country to help implement locally driven wetland and watershed restoration projects. The Five Star funds act as seed money to leverage additional funds and services. On average, for each dollar of Five Star-sponsored funds, four additional dollars

Five Star Restoration projects receive more than $128,000in matching contributions will be provided by local restoration partners in the form of funding, labor, materials, equipment or in-kind services.

The Five Star Restoration Program funds projects involving a high degree of cooperation with lo-cal governmental agencies, elected officials, community groups, busi-nesses, schools and environmental organizations. These groups work together to improve local water quality, reduce flood damage and restore important fish and wildlife habitats in communities.

As of this year, communities have committed more than $33 million in matching contributions to these projects since 1997. In the past 13 years, NACo has managed projects in counties across the country, providing a total of over $1.43 million for community-based environmental restoration and education.

(For more information about the Five Star Program and how to apply, please contact Carrie Clingan, NACo Community Services senior associate, at 202.942.4246 or cclingan@naco.org.)

County NewsThis Month in ...

County News celebrates NACo’s 75th Anniversary with a look back at the issues and events that affected counties over the past several

decades.

M July M1982

• President Ronald Reagan unveiled a $38.7 billion “swap” of programs administered by federal, state and local governments during the annual conference of the National Association of Counties in Baltimore, Md. The revised federalism package called for federal assumption on Medicaid in return for state takeover of the welfare program Aid to Families with Dependent Children.

1984• NACo President Sandra R. Smoley welcomed a record number

4,000 delegates, spouses and children to the 49th Annual NACo Conference July 7 in King County, Wash. The theme “Rich Tradition, Strong Future,” was a tribute to the founding of county government in Virginia in 1634 and its growth the last three and a half centuries.

• President Ronald Reagan signed legislation into law that increased the summer youth jobs program by 100,000 jobs nationwide. The funds were tied to an Urgent Supplement Ap-propriations Bill (H.J. Res. 492) which the Senate adopted by a vote of 88–1 June 25.

• The Senate approved a bill that enabled non-urban counties to qualify for the new rental housing rehabilitation program. A second provision to the bill made it easier for urban counties with few low–income neighborhoods to qualify projects under the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. Both provisions were initiated by NACo.

(This Month in County News is compiled by Charlie Ban, staff writer, and Christopher Johnson, editorial assistant.)

• CountyNews July 19, 2010 3

President | Valerie BrownPublisher | Larry Naake

Public Affairs Director | Tom GoodmanExecutive Editor | Beverly Anne Schlotterbeck

Senior Staff Writer | Charles TaylorStaff Writer | Charlie Ban

Graphic Artist | Jack HernandezEditorial Assistant | Christopher Johnson

ADVERTISING STAFFJob Market/Classifieds representative

Christopher JohnsonNational Accounts representative

Beverly Schlotterbeck(202) 393-6226 • FAX (202) 393-2630

Published biweekly except August by: National Association of Counties

Research Foundation, Inc. 25 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.,

Ste. 500, Washington, D.C. 20001

(202) 393-6226 | FAX (202) 393-2630

E-mail | cnews@naco.org

Online address | www.countynews.org

The appearance of paid advertisements in County News in no way implies support or endorsement by the Na-tional Association of Counties for any of the products, services or messages advertised. Periodicals postage paid at Washington D.C. and other offices.

Mail subscriptions are $100 per year for non-members. $60 per year for non-members purchasing multiple cop-ies. Educational institution rate, $50 per year. Member county supplemental subscriptions are $20 each. Send payment with order and address changes to NACo, 25 Massachusetts Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001.

POSTMASTER: send address changes to County News, 25 Massachusetts Ave. N.W.,

Ste. 500, Washington, D.C. 20001

(USPS 704-620) n (ISSN: 0744-9798)

© National Association of Counties Research Foundation, Inc.

You’re Invited to the launch of

Local Officials for Clean

Waterat NACo’s Annual Conference

4:30 p.m. • Monday, July 19Atlantis Resort, Treasures D

Reno, Nev.

Local Officials for Clean Water believes America deserves the full protections of the Clean

Water Act of 1972.

Directions: Take the Sky Bridge from the 2nd Floor of the Convention Center; Treasures D is the first room on your right as you enter the Atlantis Resort.

communities and states have been limited in their ability to provide disaster assistance to residents, and a backlog of disaster response and recovery projects has existed across the country. In fact, on June 15, the nationwide backlog of DRF unfunded projects was more than $645 million.

Since 1989, the president’s budget

Funding for FEMA’s Disaster Relief Account still unfinishedBy dAlen A. HArris

ASSOCIATE LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR

The recent House-passed Supple-mental Appropriations Act of 2010 (H.R.4899) includes funding for ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, ongoing relief efforts in Haiti and the Gulf Coast Oil Spill, and $600 million for varied domestic needs in discretionary appropriations.

The House also passed an amend-ment that would provide $22.8 billion for additional domestic spending, in-cluding $15 billion in educational aid. Significantly, the legislation proposes $5.1 billion to replenish the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Disaster Relief Fund (DRF).

Since March, the White House, the Department of Homeland Se-curity and FEMA have stressed to Congress the urgency of funding this critical account. NACo, county elected and appointed officials, and an abundance of other stakeholders have also stressed the importance of funding the DRF for ongoing disaster response and recovery operations in states and communities.

Due in part to arbitration cases related to Hurricane Katrina and other major disasters in 2009, FEMA’s DRF was nearly depleted in 2010. So,

request for the DRF has averaged about $1.7 billion dollars. The lowest request was in FY92 for $286 million, and the record high was $3.6 billion dollars in FY01.

While Congress has fluctuated on agreeing to the president’s budget request for the DRF from 1989 to 2009; it has generally provided ad-ditional and emergency supplemental

The opportunity to be in a leader-ship position of such an outstand-ing organization has broadened my understanding of our diverse country, the counties, parishes and boroughs responsibilities and the place of local government in the global economy. It has strengthened my resolve that the best form of government is county government and those that have chosen public service have made great sacrifices to place their constituencies first.

Q: What was the most chal-lenging part of your role as

president? TIME. Knowing my role as

president was only for 365 days, I was committed to filling each day with new experiences, traveling to State Association conferences, frequent trips to our U.S. capital, and returning to my own district with a demanding schedule, plus being chair of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. The most frequently asked question was, “how do you do it all?”… I experienced a chronic case of fatigue, and felt blessed and rewarded every day because of the people I met and the places I visited.

Q: What did you find most interesting or exciting?

Finding that although we wear the same hat (counties-parishes-boroughs) we are very different in meeting the demands of those we serve. I loved the exhilaration of talking to elected officials all over

funds for this account to ensure that assistance for disaster relief and recovery operations is available to aid individuals, states and communities stricken by emergencies and major disasters.

Since May 2010, efforts to enact the emergency supplemental legislation had stalled. While the House initially approved the legislation in March — and the Senate in May — House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Ore.) insisted on adding additional funding for educational aid. Furthermore, several lawmakers in the House had concerns about approving any additional funding for operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Haiti, and sought to further amend the emergency supplemental legislation. During the

first week of July, House leadership was finally able to reconcile these concerns and the bill cleared the House floor.

The legislation now heads back to the Senate, which may or may not agree with the House-amended version of the bill. Final passage of the legislation would assist FEMA, states and local governments in clearing the current backlog of disaster response and recovery projects across the country.

Additionally, final passage of the legislation will ensure that FEMA has the funding necessary to reimburse communities throughout the 2010 hurricane season. All NACo members are strongly encouraged to contact their members of Congress, and urge them to break the legislative impasse and fund the DRF immediately.

Valerie Brown: ‘Just do it.’VALERIE from page 1

NACo Green Infrastructure Training ScholarshipsNACo is offering scholarships to the Conservation Fund’s intro-

ductory “Conservation Planning Using Green Infrastructure” course Sept. 13–17 in Shepherdstown, W.Va. The NACo Scholarship will cover the $950 course fee for a limited number of elected officials and staff from NACo-member counties.

Applications are due by Monday, July 26. For more information, please contact Cindy Wasser at cwasser@naco.org.

In Case You Missed It ...News to Use from Past County News

the world, being shown parts of the country I had only dreamed of visit-ing and learning new innovations, and best practices in dealing with fundamental problems of leader-ship during tough economic times.

Q: What advice would you give your successor?

Make the most of every day; the time flies by! The federal agenda frequently omits the role we play in government. Bringing congressio-nal members and the White House into an understanding is tedious, time consuming and at times frus-trating — but essential if we are to receive the funds and policy develop-ment that works for the programs we provide and the people we serve.

Q: What’s next for Valerie Brown?

I am passionate about healthy communities and as a board mem-ber of ICLEI USA will continue to advocate for energy efficiency and climate protection locally and glob-ally. Making sure that health care reform is implemented with little cost to local government is another key focus of mine. I look forward to the presidency of Glen Whitley and furthering the positions that our members of NACo have developed through their work on steering and standing committees.

Q: Any final thoughts? Don’t spend a mo-

ment of time regretting what you could have done….Just do it…the rewards are so sweet….

4 July 19, 2010 CountyNews •

24 local leaders added to County Leadership Institute rosterBy rutH nyBro

EDUCATION AND TRAINING DIRECTOR

Twenty-two local elected of-ficials and two state association executive directors participated in NACo’s seventh annual County Leadership Institute in Washing-ton, D.C. They came from 22 states and represented counties as

minimum collective bargaining standards for state and local police, firefighters and emergency medical technicians personnel.

The legislation has serious fiscal and administrative implications for counties because no funding is provided for state or local imple-mentation.

Under H.R. 413, every state’s

laws must, at a minimum, provide the following bargaining rights to public safety employees:

• grant public safety officers the right to form and join a labor organization that is, or seeks to be, recognized as the exclusive bargain-ing representative of the employees

• require public safety employ-ers to recognize the employees’ labor organization and agree to bargain with the union

House bill mandates collective bargaining standardsMANDATE from page 1

• Rogers Anderson, county mayor, Williamson County, Tenn.

• Mark Boldt, commissioner, Clark County, Wash.

• Barbara Briggs, commis-sioner, Hood River County, Ore.

• Lawrence Emig, commission chair, Osceola County, Mich.

• Terence Farrell, commission chair, Chester County, Pa.

• Ginny Favede, commissioner, Belmont County, Ohio

• Tammara Hall, commis-sioner, Lee County, Fla.

• Sam Hart Sr., chair, Bibb County, Ga.

• Christopher L. Holley, execu-tive director, Florida Associa-tion of Counties

• David Hutchins, board chair, Carroll County, Va.

• Kenneth Jenkins, board chair, Westchester County, N.Y.

• Eric Johnson, executive di-rector, Washington State Association of Counties

• Randy Maluchnik, commis-sioner, Carver County, Minn.

• Brian McMahan, board chair, Jackson County, N.C.

• Sarah Merklein, treasurer, Catron County, N.M.

• Judy Morris, supervisor, Trin-ity County, Calif.

• Robert Pasley, commissioner, Wayne County, W.Va.

• Carl Pierson Sr., commis-sioner, Caddo Parish, La.

• Jim Schmidt, commissioner, Lincoln County, S.D.

• Lawrence Schoen, commis-sioner, Blaine County, Idaho

• David Snider, supervisor, chair, Pinal County, Ariz.

• Ingrid Turner, council mem-ber, Prince George’s County, Md.

• John Wilson, judge/execu-tive, Garrard County, Ky.

• David Zimmerman, board chair, Tazewell County, Ill.

NACo County Leadership Institute

diverse in size and geography as Lee County, Fla. and Hood River County, Ore.

In his welcoming remarks, faculty director Marty Linsky of Cambridge Leadership Associ-ates told the class, “You’re here because you haven’t solved all of the problems you want to solve. Here you’ll learn how to deploy yourself

differently so you can accomplish more.” The institute was June 1–5.

Meeting in IBM’s Executive Training Center in downtown Washington, the class addressed personal approaches to collabora-tion, communications and media relations in both large and small group discussions. The class used one morning to travel via D.C.’s

Metro to Arlington County, Va. for a site visit demonstrating economic development hosted by County Board Member J. Walter Tejada (CLI 2006). After the concluding session June 5, County Commis-sioner Ginny Favede, Belmont County, Ohio wrote, “I found (CLI) to be one of the more rewarding conferences I’ve had the good

fortune to attend.”The class of 2010 brings to 165

NACo’s CLI alumni leadership. CLI is funded by participant reg-istrations and the support of IBM, ESRI, NACo’s Financial Services Corporation, National Council of County Association Executives and Arizona Association of Counties, and is administered by NACo’s County Services Department.

Photo by David Hathcox

The 2010 County Leadership Institute class with NACo’s Ruth Nybro (far left) and NACo Executive Direct Larry Naake (far right).

• provide for bargaining over hours, wages, and terms and condi-tions of employment, and

• require enforcement through state courts of all rights, responsi-bilities and protections provided by state law.

All states may be affected including those that already have collective bargaining agreements, because the legislation provides no exemption for such states.

The Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) would review each state’s collective bargaining agreement to determine if it com-plies with the minimum bargaining standards. Those states that fail to meet the FLRA criteria would have to change their laws to come into compliance, or they would be subject to regulation of collec-tive bargaining agreements by the FLRA. The FLRA would have considerable authority to, among

County News invitesLetters to the Editor

Do you have a compliment, complaint or different point of view? LET US KNOW.

Please include a phone number with your letter. Mail, fax or e-mail to: County News, NACo, 25 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.,

Washington, DC 20001; 202.393.2630; cnews@naco.org.

other things, determine the appro-priateness of the bargaining units, conduct hearings to resolve disputes involving unfair labor practices, and supervise and conduct elections.

NACo has joined with the National League of Cities, the National Sheriffs’ Association, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, International Public Management Association-Human Resources and other organizations to oppose this legislation.

Contact your senators and urge them to oppose adding the provisions of the Public Safety Employer-Employee Coopera-tion Act onto the Supplemental Appropriations Bill, or any other piece of legislation.

(For more information, contact De-seree Gardner, associate legislative director, dgardner@naco.org or 202.942.4204.)

• CountyNews July 19, 2010 5

By KAti guerrA

SENIOR ASSOCIATE

Counties continue to face tough budget decisions in the current economic environment. Funds are scarce at the same time that demand for services has increased. Home-less shelters are filled to capacity, while jails and juvenile detention facilities are seeing upswings in their populations.

One way counties can save money in the current economic environment is by taking a look at costly county systems to determine their return on investment.

For instance, counties spend vast amounts on corrections. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, county governments spent more than $20 bil-lion on corrections from 2006–2007.

The economic crisis presents an opportunity for counties to re-evaluate their investment strategies in order to make smart juvenile and criminal justice decisions that save money, increase public safety and represent a chance for improved outcomes for people involved in these systems.

Reforming youth detention saves counties money

The Juvenile Detention Alterna-tives Initiative (JDAI) of the Annie E. Casey Foundation is one reform strategy many localities employ to increase the efficiency and fairness of juvenile justice systems. They are able to save funds and avoid costs utilizing JDAI’s eight core strategies.

According to Two Decades of JDAI: A Progress Report (2009) from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, 27 JDAI sites have been able to close detention units and even entire facilities as a result of decreased de-tention populations. This produces taxpayer savings by eradicating the need for new construction or expansion of detention facilities.

Cook County, Ill. saved millions of taxpayer dollars by avoiding the construction of a new 200-bed de-tention facility. Bernalillo County, N.M. closed two wings of a deten-tion facility and was able to move staff to new detention alternative programs.

The success of reducing youth detention populations and saving money is not at the expense of public safety. In the three model sites of

Bernalillo, Multnomah (Ore.) and Santa Cruz (Calif.) counties, youth crime rates have dropped since the counties began implementing JDAI’s policy alternatives. This decline in youth violence exceeded the nation as a whole for the same time period.

With detention costs at more than $1 billion per year, alternatives to current youth detention policies and management practices are es-sential for counties.

NACo has enjoyed a long relationship with the Annie E. Casey Foundation and continues to partner to provide information to counties regarding these alterna-tives. Counties can benefit in these tough times from re-evaluating budgets and making investments in youth detention reform policies such as the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative that will save money for future reinvestment.

For more information on JDAI, please visit the JDAI helpdesk at www.jdai-helpdesk.org. For more information on NACo’s involvement with JDAI, please contact Kati Guerra at kguerra@naco.org or 202.942.4279.

Years in public service: 3Occupation: Washoe County commissioner Education: M.A., Psychology, Humboldt State University. B.A., Psychology, Humboldt State UniversityThe hardest thing I’ve ever done: put my 18-year old dog to sleepThree people (living or dead) I’d invite to dinner: Abraham Lincoln, Ice Cube, Dr. Andrew WeilA dream I have is to: be an ambassador to a foreign country.You’d be surprised to learn that I: have three hens in downtown Reno.The most adventurous thing I’ve ever done is: hike to the top of Mt. Tallac in Lake Tahoe.My favorite way to relax is: read or garden.I’m most proud of: the Washoe County ban on using tax dollars to buy bottled water for staff and events.Every morning I read: The Reno-Gazette Journal.My favorite meal is: my turkey tacos.My pet peeve is: dishonesty.My motto is: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.The last book I read was: A Short History of Women: A Novel.My favorite movie is: Grease.My favorite music is: any and all music.My favorite president is: Bill Clinton.

» Kitty JungCommissionerWashoe County, Nev.

Profiles in Service

6 July 19, 2010 CountyNews •

Model Programs FROM THE NATION’S COUNTIES

By CHArlie BAn

STAFF WRITER

Keeping residents interested in wastewater management policies can be like paddling upstream for a lot of counties.

To meet the challenge, Clack-amas County, Ore., is trying a new kind of paddle in its effort to push information out to residents and businesses in the area — a website to spread its public education effort for a short-term wastewater capacity management program.

The approximately $130 mil-lion program to upgrade one of the county’s wastewater service districts can be as cloudy to residents as the water the sanitary systems will process. So the county’s Department of Water Environmental Services (WES) created RiverHealth.org to explain what’s happening. The upgrades should serve the county’s growth needs for 10–15 years.

“The county public works

website is cumbersome to use on a district approach,” said WES Director Mike Kuenzi. “By tailor-ing the information to District 1, we can address the specific changes and processes in that district for people to understand.”

The website contains a number resources to educate the public about the state of WES’ capacity and role in the county. In addition finding basic information and documents, visitors can request guided tours of WES facilities and access a speakers bureau for WES representatives to address

Clackamas County, Ore. Public Works Keeps Public Informed Via Website

community groups.“Basically, if someone wants

to find out why their rates have gone up, the website provides a comprehensive look at what we’re doing and why we’re do-ing it,” Kuenzi said.

The various upgrades the agency has undertaken will create several different service outages and traffic closures to accommodate work, so the website (www.riverhealth.org) works as an information clear-inghouse, in concert with other county media sources.

“It’s one more communica-tions tool we can use,” he said. “For people who can’t make it to public hearings “

(Model Programs from the Nation’s Counties highlights Achievement Award-winning programs. For more information on this and other NACo Achievement Award winners, visit NACo’s Web site, www.naco.org Resource Library Model County Programs.)

By CHArlie BAn

STAFF WRITER

Combating invasive species isn’t usually a game, but Ada County, Idaho is trying to have some fun with it.

With various weeds infesting the county, the Weed, Pest and Mosquito Abatement Department needed a way of recruiting citizens to keep an eye out for them. When Director Brian Wilbur came across two mountain bikers in a remote area doing something called geo-caching, he thought it might be a good public awareness tool.

His public outreach coordina-tor Laura Wylde happened to be an avid geocacher and was able to create a program to combine the popular outdoor treasure hunt with the county’s priority for eliminating noxious weeds.

Geocachers download coor-dinates from a website into GPS devices to find containers, or caches, hidden in that location. In

In Ada County, Idaho, geocaching spreads like weedsfinding caches, geocachers often get acquainted with a new area, or see a familiar place from a new perspective.

The caches also contain different trinkets left by other geocachers — in this case, information about problematic weeds in the area, which educates people about dif-ferent infestations and their threats to public lands.

“It’s like a high-tech treasure hunt,” she said. “Geocaching takes you to places you ordinarily wouldn’t go. Plus, recreationalists engaged in geocaching want to be stewards of their environment, and this allows them to give back to the county.”

When geocachers identify the noxious weeds in the course of their exploration, they can register their coordinates, using their GPS devices, with the county weed con-trol office, the same way someone would phone in a complaint.

In effect, the county is recruiting volunteers to forage through remote parts of the county and be the eyes

Word Search

Counties/Boroughs with Lowest Unemployment Rate

Source: U.S. Dept. of Labor, June 2010 • Created By: Christopher Johnson

B W A U H T S O B R O N V T R I J H T MW E E D E E B U H V A W J W E M W Q O LF M A W A O H T B G R X P T N E Y Y Q DW A O V W M H W O L R Q F Y V H A W R HI V T M E G S L B U E O Z M I B X J I IX U A B Q R Y G H E O T W J L O C K M FH N H A T N I U O F X A T O L K D T F FM G T O K R F J S Q Q I T E E L K G A EO D B I L L I N G S L S B H U H A U L RS M A I L L I W K G I A O A K R N R L ER W A G P L V F X R K E R R F F A I O TH E W J W R E Y B O D E P I J J M C N UC R T K M D Y B Q T J Q E O L F R H Z IO J T S G O K H P I J L A R L Z E J P PF N M I E M G H T M D Q M X G S H I A LN I X Q S L O Y G V A N O X L F S E J NZ M Y M K L K E A K J C I A O O W J Y PE A G C B U C N C V Q Z K Y J U L W Y JD U P O I S T E E L E D R Z L X G U I QK B U R K E R H H C X S W C Y N P M D E

ADAMS (N.D.)BEAVER (Okla.)BILLINGS (N.D.)BOWMAN (N.D.)BRISTOL BAY (Alaska)BURKE (N.D.)

CAMPBELL (Wyo.)FALLON (Mont.)GARFIELD (Neb.)JERAULD (S.D.)LOGAN (Neb.)PIUTE (Utah)RENVILLE (N.D.)

RICH (Utah)SHERMAN (Neb.)SLOPE (N.D.)STEELE (N.D.)SUBLETTE (Wyo.)UINTAH (Utah)WILLIAMS (N.D.)

of the Weed, Pest and Mosquito Abatement Department, helping the staff inventory weeds, all the while having fun.

“You can’t get anymore accurate

Keep up with NACo online ...

www.naco.org

than that,” Wilbur said. “In the old days, we’d have a mountain biker call in and say ‘I found some thistle, you have to go up the drainage, then take the third creek…’ These GPS

devices show us exactly where the weeds are so we can take care of the problem.”

In the month since the program started, after Wylde hid six caches throughout the county, more than 12 people have found all of them.

“We have a lot of young people and we are trying to reach them, and we are getting involved in an activity that they enjoy,” Wilbur said. “It’s a way to get them actively participat-ing in something that’s productive.”

As the summer continues, Wylde hopes the news spreads about the county’s involvement in geocaching and more participants get involved. One of the caches is hidden in Barber Park, where river tubers enter the water. That cache contains information about aquatic noxious weeds people might see while on the river.

“It has been more successful than we ever anticipated,” Wilbur said. “You don’t get the opportunity to educate such a diverse group too often.”

Photo courtesy of Ada County, Idaho

A cache hid by the Ada County, Idaho Weed, Pest and Mosquito Abate-ment Department contains information about noxious weeds the county is asking geocaching enthusiasts to locate. A GPS unit, also pictured, downloads the location of the caches.

• CountyNews July 19, 2010 7

Tweet, Share or Post

Get involved ... Get on the NACo Network!

conference questions and remarks online ...

www.twitter.com/NACoTweetsUse tag #NACoANN in your tweets

www.facebook.com/NACoDC

www.linkedin.comSearch “National Association of Counties”

8 July 19, 2010 CountyNews •

to attract physicians could include providing housing in exchange for a commitment for doctors to practice in the county, according to MidHudsonNews.com.

PENNSYLVANIAALLEGHENY COUNTY

has stepped up efforts to prevent crib deaths. The county Health Department has long delivered an ABC — Alone, on Back, in Crib — message to women of childbearing age, warning of those dangers, but has found it’s not enough.

So, the department has taken its message to movie theaters and churches, especially in the black community, where experts say the problem is greatest. From 2001 to 2006, African-American infants comprised 62.5 percent of SIDS deaths, according to the health de-partment, but were only 20 percent of the total babies born in the county.

Jerome Gloster, the Health Department’s chief physician for maternal and child health, has begun outreach to black churches, hoping to reach women who may be giv-ing their female relatives outdated advice.

“We have a lot of grandmoth-ers and aunties who have a lot of influence over young mothers,” Rev. Brenda Gregg told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. “The message that we’ve tried to get through is to make sure that your child is in a safe sleep zone.”

VIRGINIAJAMES CITY COUNTY will

reduce the assessment of homes in the county with Chinese drywall problems to $100, The Virginia Gazette reported.

The adjustment will apply only to homes, not to land values, according to Finance Director John McDonald. More than 40 county homeowners will receive the reduced assessment retroactive to Jan. 1 and are being notified by the county.

“The problem is that there have been no sales of homes with Chinese drywall,” McDonald told the newspaper. “So we don’t really know what the value is. It’s essen-tially that the house is valueless.”

WASHINGTON• A Clallam County Supe-

rior Court judge dismissed a resi-dent’s suit against JEFFERSON COUNTY alleging that a county policy infringed upon his freedom of speech, The Port Townsend Leader reported.

News From the Nation’s CountiesCOLORADO

LARIMER COUNTY commis-sioners are considering a proposal to build a new facility near the de-tention center to house programs designed to keep people out of the jail while allowing them to pay their debt to society.

Officials are weighing two op-tions: a two-story, 38,000-square-foot building that would cost $9 million or a 46,000-square-foot, three-story building that would cost about $10 million. Both would add dozens of beds to programs that allow nonvio-lent offenders to work during the day but be incarcerated overnight, and meet court-ordered requirements for jail time, The Loveland Connection reported.

FLORIDA• HALL COUNTY is trying to

find a way to keep out-of-county trash out of its compactor sites. Solid Waste Manager Cary Lawler suggested creating a hanging tag that drivers could place on their rearview mirrors to let county officials know they have paid their assessment fees.

Currently, site attendants can check driver’s licenses, though it is not necessarily an effective way to

determine if people are paying Hall County residents, Lawler said.

Unincorporated Hall County residents pay a $50 fee each year that provides them with access to the county’s 13 compactor sites. Unau-thorized users create additional costs for the Solid Waste Department, which processes 2,200 to 2,400 tons of waste dumped in compactor sites each year, according to the Gainesville Times.

• MIAMI-DADE COUNTY changed its name from July 1–7 to Miami-Wade County as part of the Miami Heat’s public relations cam-paign to coax free agent shooting guard and 2006 NBA Finals MVP Dwayne Wade to re-sign with the Heat.

GEORGIAHOUSTON COUNTY will join

a Middle Georgia group that will help with economic development for the six-county area it represents.

The Central Georgia Joint Devel-opment Authority membership also will allow the group to assist with a residential encroachment issue around Robins Air Force Base that includes Bibb County, Commission Chairman Ned Sanders said. The

group also has membership from BIBB, CRAWFORD, JONES, MONROE and TWIGGS counties.

“It’s a complicated way of recoup-ing some tax money we would not be able to do,” County Attorney Mike Long said of the authority.

IOWAEmployees of WOODBURY

COUNTY can no longer use county property for their own gain, includ-ing uniforms, firearms, or squad cars on off duty jobs. These jobs include security work for events, school func-tions and private businesses.

“If they get hurt or they hurt someone, we’re either going to be paying workman’s comp on our own employee, or we’re going to be paying out a big liability claim if someone gets hurt,” supervisor Larry Clausen told KMEG, a local TV station.

Business owners and event co-ordinators can still request deputy services, contracted with the county instead of the individual deputy.

KANSASA radio repeater may fill in a gap

in radio communication between SALINE COUNTY dispatchers and emergency crews. Radio re-peaters retransmit weak signals to higher levels, so they can cover longer distances without degradation.

Joe Koch, Saline County Emer-gency Management director, said there have been times when he and other county workers have been un-able to make contact with dispatch-ers during emergencies.

“The real concern is for the fire guys,” Koch said. “If they need assistance, they need to be able to talk to dispatch.” Lt. Wayne Pruitt of the Salina Police Department, who serves as the 911 Committee communications supervisor, said the geography of the land in rural Saline County causes problems with radio communication, the Salina Journal reported.

MICHIGANOAKLAND COUNTY will

tap into a federal immigration fingerprint database to identify immigrants arrested for criminal activity in the county. U.S. Immi-gration and Customs Enforcement would then decide whether to initiate deportation proceedings against any legal or illegal immigrants flagged by the program. Oakland County is the 437th jurisdiction in 24 states to use the new system, ICE said.

WAYNE COUNTY became the first county in Michigan to use the system last year. ICE hopes to make it available in all jurisdictions by 2013, the Detroit Free-Press reported.

MISSISSIPPIThe beach in HANCOCK

COUNTY was the first in Missis-sippi to be closed because of “a large number of small tar balls and tar patties” from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig leak, making access difficult in some places.

“In talking to Hancock County officials, with the amount of material on the beach, it seemed to be the best course of action,” said Robbie Wilbur, spokesman for the state De-partment of Environmental Quality.

The state previously has issued advisories for portions of beach in Harrison and Jackson counties. Wil-bur said DEQ and the departments of Marine Resources and Health made the decision along with local officials because of the amount of tar that needed to be cleaned up, the Clarion-Ledger reported.

NEW MEXICOROOSEVELT COUNTY could

become the recipient of a collection of windmills a local man has been amassing for 30 years, PNTonline.com reported.

Bill Dalley of Portales took the idea to the County Commission recently, saying the windmills could become a tourist attraction. “I would like to keep them in the county, because most of them came from the county,” Dalley said.

Roosevelt County Commis-sioner Bill Cathey is intrigued by the idea. He said the county fairgrounds or the downtown square could be good sites for the display.

NEW YORK• NASSAU COUNTY Legisla-

tor Kevan Abrahams has introduced a local bill to toughen the county’s sex offender monitoring law. It would require all operators of hotels and motels to check the New York State Sex Offender Registry to deter-mine whether any current employee or any prospective employee is listed.

If so, the hotel or motel must limit the sex offender’s duties and contact with patrons, including prohibiting the offender from having access to keys and guest rooms, and from working events that entail direct contact with children.

• The ULSTER COUNTY Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee has endorsed a proposal designed to increase the number of physicians in the county, especially in underserved rural areas.

County Legislator Robert Parete proposed collaborating with health care organizations to attract more doctors to the county by promot-ing community service. Incentives

Lying in the northwest portion of Nevada, named for a small tribe of American Indians and containing a land area in excess of 6,000 square miles, Washoe County consists of two of the nine original counties today — Washoe and Lake (later renamed Roop) counties — into which the Territory of Nevada was divided by the first territorial legislature in 1861.

The county was claimed by the Spanish Empire until 1822 when it became a part of Mexican territory resulting from Mexico’s suc-cessful war of independence from Spain. Mexico ceded the area to the United States in 1848 following the Mexican War, and the ceded lands remained part of the “unorganized territory” of the United States until 1850.

Mexican War veterans of 1868 requested the railroad officials name the town Reno after Gen. Jesse Lee Reno, a Union soldier killed in action at South Mountain, Md., Sept. 14, 1862. 

The seal features a “W” for Washoe and “C” for County in gold letters on a green background. The border is blue with white letters and two stars.

(If you would like your county’s seal featured, please contact Christopher Johnson at 202.942.4256 or cjohnson@naco.org.)

»Washoe County, Nev. www.co.washoe.nv.us

What’s in a Seal?

See NEWS FROM page 9

• CountyNews July 19, 2010 9

Research News

crisis and recession for lessening civility significantly.

When the country’s economy improves, will civility also improve was another question. Only 26 percent say they expect things to get better, while 30 percent think it will get worse. People who spend a large amount of time online tend to be more pessimistic, and 47 percent of them think that civility will continue to nosedive.

People who identified them-selves as Republicans are the most pessimistic (44 percent) while young adults under age 35–36 percent are optimistic, and anticipate that it will improve.

Respondents were asked to rank the places or activities that demon-strate the least civility. The top five results were not surprising.

• Government and politics – 72 percent • Traffic on roads-highways – 69 percent• American public – 61 percent• Talk radio – 59 percent• High schools – 59 percent

Are We Still a Civil Nation?One area where both Demo-

crats and Republicans agree is that government and politics in America are uncivil. As expected, Democrats think Republicans are uncivil and Republicans think Democrats are uncivil. The Republicans are hardest on them-selves: 44 percent believe Republi-cans are uncivil, while 20 percent of Democrats see themselves as lacking in civility. Independents are much closer, seeing the major parties near the 50 percent mark for uncivil behavior.

In the social media world, the majority see social networks as very civil places and blogs as uncivil. The most active social media users clearly see blogs as uncivil. Most people believe their workplaces are civil, but their big bosses are not, and the majority are willing to punish big business for its lack of civility as well.

Nearly half of the respondents reported they have changed their

The results of the National Civility Survey were released June 22. This survey, conducted by KRC Research asked more than 1,000 adults all over the age of 18 ques-tions in mid-April. The survey was conducted via the Internet.

The results of the civility survey show that the majority of respon-dents (66 percent) believe that lack of civility is a major problem, and 75 percent believe that it has gotten worse over the last few years. Baby boomers are the most likely to think that this is a problem (74 percent) and that it has worsened (80 percent).

The survey asked the participants if they believed that the current lack of civility is a major problem in society today. With 65 percent say-ing it is a major problem and only 6 percent saying it is not, observations about the lack of civility are wide ranging. Seventy-two percent of the survey group believe that the tone and level of civility in the county right now is much worse than it was a few years ago, and the majority (71 percent) blame the current fiscal

Mike Belenski sued the Jefferson Board of County Commissioners in December 2009 over a rule adopted for the public comment portion of the commissioners’ meetings. The rule empowered the board chairman to prohibit speakers from making disparaging remarks or threatening comments about elected officials or county staff.

• KING COUNTY is asking residents and software developers what smartphone “apps” they’d like to see that are based on county data sets.

T h i r d - p a r t y d eve l o p e r s have already created apps like OneBusAway, which provides real-time information on when the next transit bus will arrive, and Estately.com, which allows users to search for homes near transit stops, KING5.com reported.

“We have limited resources in King County,” said Trever Esko, Open Data Project Manager for the county. “We’re not going to be able to develop groundbreaking

applications, but if we make public information available to innovators, they’re able to take information forward and do something innova-tive, and deliver real groundbreaking applications for citizens.”

WISCONSINBARRON COUNTY has

agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by its former highway commissioner for $175,000.

Brian Mattison sued the county and its former top official claiming he was wrongly linked to a scheme to falsify records to get higher reim-bursements from the state Depart-ment of Transportation. Its insurer will pay $130,000 in damages and $45,000 in attorneys’ fees, averting a trial that had been set for this month.

The county issued a statement saying it does not believe Mattison was “directly involved,” according to the Associated Press.

(News From the Nation’s Counties is compiled by Charles Taylor and Charlie Ban, staff writers. If you have an item for News From, please e-mail ctaylor@naco.org or cban@naco.org.

King County, Wash. invites ‘app’ developers to use its dataNEWS FROM from page 8

See RESEARCH page 12

10 July 19, 2010 CountyNews •

years, often in union contracts and civil service rules. In a spirit of mutual love, if not also campaign support over these years, pension benefits and pay entitlements such as cost-of-living-adjustments, were guaranteed. Sometimes, these COLAs bear little resemblance to the actual cost of living. There are also merit increases, which bear little resemblance to on-the-job performance excellence.

This has been sustained over the years by overly optimistic assump-tions of interest rate income growth and general economic security cre-ated by ever more revenue for local government. In the past several years in particular, and much earlier in places like seriously budget-impaired California since the passage of Proposition 13 tax limitations a generation ago, these assumptions have crashed and burned. Now there is growing recognition, in the face of pensions, tax revolts, foreclosures, increasing capital improvement needs, and all sorts of other costly demands that more service with less income is a road leading to trouble.

Orbiting over all of this, like Predator drone aircraft, has been perhaps the most serious cause of the current financial difficulties — short sightedness by some government of-ficials who view strategic long-term planning in terms of the next election or getting through the next budget, or union contract approval, not to mention protecting and enhancing their own entitlements.

In the “gathering,” the discus-sion quickly turned to the second common factor — every agency is involved in collective bargaining for the coming fiscal year. Even in jurisdictions having no unions representing employees, or one union representing one segment of the workforce, such as firefighters or sheriff ’s deputies, the concern was universal about how to balance the demands for “more” at the bargain-ing table with the “less” of financial constraints.

On this question, the commonly held sense of the group suddenly split into two distinct camps. About half of the attendees reported that the employees “get it” in the sense of protecting what they have, rather than demanding more, and cooperating with management for the longer-term financial viability of the agency. In turn, this means protecting their security.

This cooperation was manifesting in ways such as reaching labor agree-ments that freeze wage increases,

Recently the HR Doctor facili-tated a gathering of 14 local govern-ment HR representatives, with very special guest Neil Reichenberg, executive director of the International Public Management Association for Human Resources (IPMA-HR), to discuss common issues and share strategies while learning from one another.

Such gatherings are highly valu-able, far more effective than a paper or e-mail survey with 172 questions to fill out. As long as each participant focuses on the critical skill of listen-ing more than the temptation for

constant speaking and interrupting, the result can be a very enjoyable and valuable sharing of opinions and information.

One of the common threads in the discussion was how every jurisdiction was suffering serious economic dysfunction trying to balance its budget. The two primary “culprits,” not surprisingly, are a reduction in property tax revenue — the primary driver of an agency’s budgetary general fund — and increasing expenses.

The latter is a result of overzeal-ous commitments made over many

create lower-tier pension benefits for future employees and reduce some entitlements such as the amount of paid leave which may accrue over the many years of an employee’s career.

The second camp reflected a more pessimistic sense. That is, even with widespread publicity about the current tough times, they anticipated bargaining impasses, coming layoffs and other imposed mandatory actions, such as unpaid furloughs. These agencies reported that they expect loud, contentious public hearings at budget adoption time. They expect a lawyer festival with charges of unfair labor prac-tices, arbitrations and threats of litigation which only add to the problems.

In effect, they are reflecting what we are all seeing on the world news concerning the spreading virus which erupted recently within the Greek government’s trying to come

to terms at last with its huge and unsustainable national debt. One of the first and easiest targets of opportunity is for the government to “eat its young” in the sense of first acting to reduce public employee pay increases and benefits.

It is, of course, much more dif-ficult for any government to boss around large or multi-national corporations, BP notwithstanding, and small businesses in time of eco-nomic stress. The exception is gen-erally found in terms of planning and building code compliance, and other health and life-safety issues. Many governments, however, can order changes by executive decree or action of Parliament which can change regulations for government employee compensation.

Is there a common thread explaining the differences being

Click provides a one-stop location where you can learn what is new or changing in any of our programs. There is even an option to subscribe to the site and receive an e-mail notification anytime something new is added.

Information on Click is provided as both a document and a link so that it can be easily shared with others. State association staff can access articles in either format and republish them in their print, e-mail and online publications. Counties can post relevant stories on their intranets or in employee newsletters.

It’s also an easy way to forward updates to your colleagues who might be interested in something you find. We encourage you to check it out and let us know what you think.

And, if your county has a best practice that you would like us to highlight that offers savings to other counties, let us know and we will work with your staff to create an article for publication on Click.

For more information on Click or www.clicksavings.org, please contact Nancy Parrish at nparrish@naco.org or 202.661.8824.

(Financial Services News was written by Nancy Parrish, director, NACo Financial Services Corp.)

See H.R.DOC page 11

The H.R. Doctor Is In

» NACo Staff• Mike Belarmino has joined the legislative

department as an associate legislative director for finance and intergovernmental affairs. Belarmino will staff the Finance and Intergovernmental Af-fairs Steering Committee and assist in directing NACo’s finance, tax, elections, Native American and other intergovernmental issues agenda. 

• Jonathan Davitte has joined NACo’s Community Services Division as the health and human services associate. Davitte recently graduated from the University of Ala-bama at Birmingham with a Masters of Public Health in Epidemiology/International Health and Global Studies. Previously, he has worked in HIV/AIDS care and support for Family Health International and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

• Trudy Rice has joined NACo’s County Services Department as the Ralph L. Tabor Fellowship’s 21st Fellow. She is on loan to NACo from Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kan. and will be working closely with USDA-National Institute of Food and Agriculture and Association of Public Land Grant Universities. Rice has spent 25 years with Kansas State Research and Extension as an extension educator in the field of community leadership development at the county and state levels.

• Ed Rosado, legislative director, and Jeff Arnold, deputy legisla-tive director, met with the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia’s executive director and his policy development team, and conducted a one-day workshop on NACo organization and structure, the legislative policy process and procedures, and lobbying away from home. They also gave a legislative update and discussed Georgia legislative issues in Fulton County, Ga. June 28.

• Ed Rosado, legislative director, delivered a legislative briefing during the New Mexico Association of Counties Annual Conference General Session in San Juan County, N.M. June 17.

» Coming up• Andrew Goldschmidt, membership/marketing director, will

exhibit on behalf of membership retention and recruitment at the County Commissioners’ Association of West Virginia conference July 31–Aug. 3 in Lewis County, W. Va.

On the Move is compiled by Christopher Johnson.

NACo on the Move

Mike Belarmino

Jonathan Davitte

Trudy Rice

Financial Services News

NACo offers several programs designed to save money and bring value to counties, county employees and retirees. We frequently use this space to highlight success stories, program enhancements and new offerings. Maybe you’ve heard about our U.S. Communities Cooperative Purchasing Program, but do you know about the Government Em-ployees Marketplace?

Did you miss the article in County News about NACo’s partnership with the National Association of County & City Health Officials (NACCHO) to offer a “Healthy Communities” Web portal to track public health in your community?

Have you heard that Nationwide Retirement Solutions, NACo’s De-ferred Compensation provider, has extended its call center hours to better accommodate county employee inquiries?

All of these are stories we’ve shared with you in County News, but if you happened to miss one of these you might be missing out on information or savings opportuni-ties that are important to you, your county, and your employees. In an effort to provide this information to you anytime you need it, we regularly update the “Click” website at www.clicksavings.org.

Just a ‘Click’ Away

A Gathering of HR Eagles

• CountyNews July 19, 2010 11

reported by my colleagues at this gathering? In the HR Doctor’s opinion and experience, there are two answers to the question of why one group is behaving differently than the other group?

The first is the product of a sustained, open and honest campaign of information-sharing and awareness-building by top management. The employees who are the most knowledgeable about the realities facing the organization are those who work in places where elected and appointed officials team up to provide that ongoing education process.

Keeping people informed,

their own futures. Can they afford their mortgage payments if they are laid off ? Can they honor their commitments to their children to pay their college costs?

The “evil” managers have a deliberate strategy of hiding infor-mation so that others have to grovel before them to receive the bits of information they may care to throw at them. The manager may be disaf-fected and an internal saboteur, who responds to questions by assuring his subordinates that he personally doesn’t know what’s going on, or that he disagrees with the boss, and he is one with the struggling workers. This poor approach can be as destructive and long lasting as crisis itself.

One of the most central roles of any manager is to reduce uncer-tainty. One of the best ways to meet that obligation, especially in crisis management times, is to provide information which is truthful, timely and shared often. Yes, that is redundant. It was just mentioned in the prior paragraph. That is deliberate. This method of ethical communications is that important.

There is a second explanation as to why colleagues report dif-ferent situations in substantially the same types of organizations. It is the presence of more positive relations between employees and managers. This is built upon respect and managers who are willing to listen much more than they speak.

The hordes of actuaries reading this article would doubtless point out it is wrong to draw large-scale conclusions from a sample of only 14 jurisdictions. They may be sci-entifically correct, but they would be wrong in this case. The lessons learned from this gathering of HR eagles are applicable to every orga-nization. They are also applicable to the management of your own family where honest communica-tions, personal responsibility and respect are the keys to a life of joy and success.

For local governments strug-gling, the messages are clear. Managers get to make a choice. They can decide to be zombie supervisors lacking direction or they may choose to be effective, positive and respectful managers of uncertainty. Managers are not hired to be problem makers. They do a great disservice if they are allowed to spread toxic waste in tough times.

Phil RosenbergThe HR Doctor • www.hrdr.net

Managers are not hired to be

problem makers.

Job Market / ClassifiedsDIRECTOR OF FINANCE – CITY OF FALLS CHURCH, VA.

Salary: $110,000–$140,000; DOQ.

The City of Falls Church seeks highly qualified professional to lead the Department of Finance. Falls Church is a full-service city, 12,000 pop., $93 million Budget (all funds), $85 million Capital Plan (5 year), lo-cated 6 miles from Washington, D.C., with a City Council-City Manager form of government and approximately 240 full-time employees. The CFO reports to the City Manager, serves as the General Manager for Department of Administrative Services, oversees all aspects of city finances, including AP/AR, payroll, purchasing, audit, budget, utility billing, and RE assessment with staff of 24. City provides all typical mu-nicipal services, including education.

Require a top-level team player, leader and supervisor, effective com-municator with strong municipal finance record. Require hands-on tech-nical competence and high level policy and strategic thinking in a dynamic fast paced environment. Required: Bach-elor’s Degree (prefer Masters Degree) with major in Accounting, Business or Public Administration and/or CPA; Salary DOQ plus benefits: City Pension Plan, health, dental and life insurance, Section 125, 457 and 529 Plans.

Send letter of interest, resume, salary history, and three references to: City of Falls Church Human Resources Division, 300 Park Ave., Falls Church, VA 22046 or hr@fallschurchva.us. Letters received by Friday, August 13, will be considered first. For a complete job posting, visit www.fallschurchva.gov.

COUNTY MANAGER/FINANCE DIRECTOR – JASPER COUNTY, GA. BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

Salary: minimum $85,000/yearly; DOQ.

The Jasper County Board of Commissioners is seeking qualified applicants for their County Manager/Chief Finance Officer position. This prudent, moral leader will select, stra-tegically direct, evaluate and develop all county department heads under the authority of the Board of Commis-sioners. This patient professional will serve as the Board’s primary Liaison with Constitutional Officers and all Local, State & Federal governmental entities. The selected candidate will directly manage and supervise all Internal Controls over Finance and Accounting Functions including the preparation and monitoring of the Annual Operating and Capital budgets.

The selected candidate will prepare and present all standard financial reports to the commissioners and proactively advise commissioners and department budget managers of critical financial revenue and expen-diture trends. This able advisor will serve as the chief policy advisor to the Board of Commissioners and will be responsible for the timely flow and processing of all Administrative, Fi-

nancial, Operational and Strategic Busi-ness of the County. Salary minimum of $85,000 with actual salary set depending on qualifications.

Interested candidates may apply by sending an employment application, cover letter and current resume to the Jasper County Board of Commission-ers, Attention County Manager at 126 W. Greene Street, Suite 17, Monticello, GA 31064. Application materials must be received by 5 p.m. Friday, July 23. A full position description and county employment application can be found under Human Resources on the county’s website at www.jaspercountyga.org.

SUPERINTENDENT OF CORRECTIONS – ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, N.H.

Salary: $69,875 – $81,005; DOQ.Rockingham County Superinten-

dent of Corrections manages eight subordinate supervisors who supervise the activitis of 100 employees at the De-partment of Corrections. Responsible for the overall direction, coordination, and evaluation of this department in-clusive of the care, custody and control of pre-trial and post convicted prison-ers of the jail. Oversees resolution of inmate grievances and investigations. Maintains knowledge of correctional laws and standards. Performs Opera-tional and Facility Inspections, ensures public safety, personnel safety and training. Testifies at various hearings; on proposed legislation and at arbitra-tion cases.

Duties require knowledge of Cor-rections/Criminal Justice equivalent to completion of a 4-year college degree and 10 years of related experience with a minimum of 5 year’s supervisory experience, or equivalent combination of education and exp. Certification as a Correctional Officer required. Manda-tory post-offer physical, drug/alcohol testing and criminal records and sexual offender check for new employees. Excellent benefits package.

Please send resume and letter of intent to: Christopher Maxwell, Executive Asst. to the Board of Commissioners, ATTN. CORREC-TIONS SUPT. SEARCH, 119 North Road, Brentwood, NH 03833. Phone: 603.679.9350. EEO.

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER – COUNTY OF PEORIA, ILL.

Salary: DOQ.Peoria County, Ill. is seeking a Chief

Financial Officer to lead the Finance Department. The CFO is responsible for Peoria County’s financial affairs, to include central accounting and payroll, purchasing and procurement, debt management and administration, annual budgeting, multi-year financial planning, revenue forecasting, and fi-nancial reporting. The position reports to the County Administrator and has a staff of 7 FTEs. The position is part of the senior management team and allows for professional growth through continuing education opportunities, leadership mastery sessions, and on-going interaction with an established

group of peers. Opportunities for pro-fessional networking and community involvement are encouraged by the County Administrator.

Requirements for the CFO posi-tion include a Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited college or university in Finance, Accounting, Business Admin-istration, Public Administration, or a related field and 8 years of progressively responsible professional experience, five of which must have been in a se-nior management capacity. A Master’s Degree is preferred. CPA or CMA cer-tification is preferred. Candidate must have knowledge of local government budgetary and financial management practices and general administrative practices and procedures. Analytical skills combined with an ability to com-municate the economic state of the county and their department is critical. Candidate must also have a thorough working knowledge of word process-ing, spreadsheets, graphics, database, and other personal computer packages.

For a complete list of qualifica-tions, please visit Peoria County’s job applicant center at www.peoriacounty.org under careers.

MEDICAL DIRECTOR/HEALTH AUTHORITY – DALLAS COUNTY, TEXAS

Salary: DOQ.Dallas County is recruiting for a

Medical Director/Health Authority. The successful candidate will plan the direction of physician services with regards to policy and procedures; and works closely with the organizations, institutions, agencies, individuals and news medias with respect to appropri-ate release of health related informa-tion. Serves as an official of the state in relation to state laws and regulatory agencies. Serves as a physician for one or more public health programs. Supervises physicians and serves as a Public Health Authority. Controls the spread of communicable diseases in the community through use of quarantine, if necessary. Reviews and authorizes Medicaid/Medicare reimbursements. Performs other duties as assigned.

Requirements include MD/DO from an accredited college or university. Five (5) years of work related experience as a licensed physician. Must possess license to practice medicine in the State of Texas. Knowledge of standard software applications. Ability to effec-tively communicate, both verbally and in writing, and establish and maintain effective working relationships with employees, departments and the general public. Previous community health/communicable disease and/or infec-tious disease experience necessary. Must possess a valid Texas driver’s license, with good driving record. Standard office environment. Ability to travel to various work site locations. Exposure to blood and various illnesses, diseases and other health problems.

To apply visit www.dallascounty.org and complete the online application. Starting salary is based on education and experience. EOE.

Good managers make good management teamsH.R.DOC from page 10

sharing the dilemmas and asking for productive input is a positive step for anyone. Telling the truth, telling it right away and telling it often is the best management tool available in any crisis, from a huge Gulf oil spill to a local government budget problem.

The management team itself needs to be unified, on-board and itself knowledgeable as it presents information to the public and its employees. Creating and sustaining such a team is the most important prime directive for a top organiza-tion leader.

On the other hand, agencies fac-ing labor troubles often face them because of poor prior communica-tions practices, distrust of manage-ment by employees and vice versa. The distrust may be the result of frequent past cries of grave financial trouble, “danger ahead,” and threats of layoffs which mysteriously disap-pear at the last minute when new revenue is discovered. After years of instilling confusion, when the real wolf is circling the victim preparing to attack, there is a disbelief which leads to disaffection. Management, in these circumstances has not practiced sustained and compelling education, and communications about what is going on.

The Management Team, in fact, may be fractured in its internal confidence regarding the accuracy of its messages. Managers will be asked by employees to help them understand what is going on since these employees are asking out of worry, fears and pessimism affecting

12 July 19, 2010 CountyNews •

long-range planning for the county, accepted the award along with project consultant Holiday Collins Storck from PB Placemaking.

The Mountain Landscapes Initiative, a project managed by the Southwestern Commission and consulting firm The Lawrence Group, was also recognized for its detailed reference guide for local

Planning awards go to three Southern countiesBy Judy frAnCis

NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT

OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

The County Planning Division of the American Planning Associa-tion and the National Association of County Planners, a NACo affiliate, have announced the three winners of its first “Excellence in County Planning” awards.

Gwinnett County, Ga., located in the greater Atlanta area, was recognized for a very ambitious and detailed 2030 Unified Plan that in-corporates excellent data and imple-mentation steps to address a variety of issues that this high-growth area currently faces. The awards commit-tee was particularly impressed with the scope of the project, as well as the outreach efforts including the website.

Nancy Lovingood, manager of

governments, officials, citizens and developers to improve development practices in six rural counties located in western North Carolina.

The project was recognized for its extensive public engagement process and transferability to other rural areas.

Gaston County, N.C., located in the growing Charlotte metro

area, was recognized for a Unified Development Ordinance that was established through an inclusive process involving a wide variety of stakeholders. The awards committee was impressed with the county’s effort to move ahead, while retain-ing history and character through creative implementation of planning principles and public participation.

David Williams, the Gaston County planning director, accepted the award and said the expectations for the project were high. “We were charged to ‘raise the bar’ by enhancing development standards to promote quality development, livability, consistency with other existing policies while protecting our tax base,” he said.

interactions and purchasing practic-es, and frequently shared these views with others, upon encountering uncivil behavior in the marketplace. Those respondents who were the most affluent were even more likely to exhibit this behavior in response to uncivil business practices (60 percent versus 50 percent).

As a result of the lack of civility on display on a regular basis, people are tuning out of advertising (55 percent); government and politics (49 percent) and opinion pieces or editorials (46 percent). Many believe that it is the responsibility of the American public (87 percent) to improve civility in the country. Closely following the public, 83 percent believe that political leaders have a responsibility, and 81 percent believe that the news media should play a role in restoring civility. Finally, 85 percent who identify with both major political parties believe that people should not vote for politicians or candidates who demonstrate uncivil behavior.

For additional information about the National Civility Survey go to www.webershandwick.com Resources Civility Final Execu-tive Summary.

(Research News was written by Jac-queline Byers, director of research and outreach.)

Survey: civility on the declineRESEARCH from page 9