HomeMy WebLinkAboutUpdate Documents - BOCC (007)ga,
We,
mpg,.
National
IN t
men K11111111 horn(--
�t
the Mandate Madne S- S��,-
-
v11111
1
y AL
6181101aste
An
`• \)
/ �l
y�r�
�i 1
I "I
MAN'
tents
Foreword: Counties Rise
Counties Convene
1-0 A New Vision and a New Name
The Roaring'70s
26 The Course Correction
36 A New Era
1
0 me] 0 �nOlh
Countic
58 Countif
0 Lookin
72 NACO I
Forewords, Counties Rise
As the United States prepares to celebrate
250 years of independence, America's county
government leaders are marking 90 years
of coming together through the National
Association of Counties {NACo)--nearly a
century of powering the nation from the
ground up.
Counties in the United States began with eigh
shires in colonial Virginia in 1634 and nov
total 3,069. Our counties, including parishe.
in Louisiana and boroughs in Alaska, maintait
essential transportation and infrastructurE
safeguard public safety and justice, and pla)
an essential role in public administratior
including elections, that keep our democrac)
strong. In every corner of the country, we ar(
unique, yet we are all governments in action,
Before the Great Depression, we were largel)
fragmented. But as the federal governmen
expanded and the demands on local servicel
grew, county leaders knew we needed (,
unified voice. in 1935, a few pioneering count)
officials came together to form NACo—t(
ensure counties had a seat at the table in ou
evolving intergovernmental system.
Since then, we've spoken louder, acted smarter
that counties are not just implementers —
we are innovators. We've pushed back on
unfunded mandates, fought for our fair share
and led through every challenge.
We've risen to the moment —again and agair
We lent personnel and salvaged resource.,
like gasoline during World War 11. W(
strengthened civil defense during the Cubai
Missile Crisis. We delivered critical service.,
through recessions, disasters and terroris
attacks. And when the COVID-19 pandemi(
hit, our health departments, first responder.4
and local leaders were ready. In the recover�
we've been entrusted with the tools t(
rebuild —and we've delivered.
Through NACo, we've forged a stronger
national voice and a deeper connection to each
other. And at our own pivotal crossroads, we
reaffirmed that our collective voice matters —
and we're stronger together than apart.
We've proven that we not only have the charter
_L
to govern, but the will and vision to lead
effectively. By strengthening our counties, we
strengthen America. Because when counties
lead, America thrives.
01V
*AT-XR.,(
RUINS 0, JA4f1rzrvwN
Counties in the U.S.
began with eight
shires in colonial
Virginia in 1634 and
now tota13,069.
CD
M
40
CU
0
0
C
0
4�
Ca
0
0
<r
r
Inver
L7
ag
�ry � ' •��. .� Sri:.. -
.,. Utah Delegates
Utah delegates gather for lunch during
the 1949 National Association of County
Officers conference in Alameda County,
California,
.7
The Draft Agenda
Counties were under attack.
That's the attitude Milwaukee County,
Wisconsin Clerk George F. Breitbach took
when he invited county officials to a Cook
County, Illinois meeting to organize a national
group of county officials: the National County
Officers Association.
Although counties in several states had
already bound together to keep pace
with their legislatures and governors, with
Nebraska leading the way in 1894, no national
organization had served the same purpose for
a form of government that predated both state
and federal bodies.
Neiv Leaders of County Officials' Association
l3 oi ine rational Association of County Officers elected Wednesday Include, sea( -
left to right: Carl W. Chambers of Pendleton, Ore., vice president; Judge Jake L. Loy
of Sherman, Texas, president; Gecorge F. Simmons of Ogden, retiring president and
newl), elected executive director. and Pete Ilughes of Pueblo, Colo., vice president.
Standing, left to right, W. A. Smith of Whittier, Cal., and Clarence E. Roy of Fort Wayne,
Ind., Nice presidents; George F. Breitbach of Mil%vauker., Wis., reelected secretary A re'as'ur-
er, and E. H. Beckett of Tarpon Snrinrs. Fln zat,A pntrw, u ^r V, 1M.Af..A
The first convention, held Oct. 16-19,
1935, focused on the decentralization of
government. The meeting included a speech
by Iowa journalist W. F. Parrott, titled "Better
County Government," Salt Lake County,
Utah Attorney Harold E. Wallace, serving as
vice president, summed the mood up that
government should not be turned over to
state and national bureaus, owing to county
officials' closer relationship to the people.
Wallace noted that several state governments
had taken over all road supervision, leaving
county officials without a voice in their
regulation, construction or maintenance.
Those early years repeated the consistent
theme of preserving county authority.
In 1937, the association incorporated in
Wisconsin, and the annual meeting in
Milwaukee County drew 200 attendees.
Attendees adopted a resolution censuring
opponents of the county system of
government, defending it as most expressive
of the liberties of the people and their right to
self-government.
County road networks also featured
prominently, and attendees heard from Frank R.
National County Officers Association
founder and president George F Breitbach,
clerk of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin,
Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee County
Historical Society
CD
OD
cu
U-)
(D
E
D
0
U
'-4-
0
C
0
0
Attendees voted
for the best orator
of the conference,
honoring
Milwaukee Mayor
Daniel Webster
Hoan, Jr.
automobile fatalities every year. Attendees
voted for the best orator of the conference,
honoring Milwaukee Mayor Daniel Webster
Hoan, Jr.
Counties have always, in some regard, had to
fight for respect. Contemporary news reports
from NACo's early days were littered with items
about county officials attending conferences,
but those items referred to the officials' nearest
cities, rather than the counties they served.
Fueling for the Fight
A funding problem dogged the association
because at the time most counties were
forbidden from spending public money on
association membership or out-of-state
travel. A solution rolled off the printing press
in the form of The County officer, published
by Allen D. Alberts of Edgar County, Illinois.
While counties could not spend money on
memberships, they could buy newspaper and
magazine subscriptions.
The County officer became the association's
primary fundraising vehicle, yet subscription
revenue--3 per year —only covered
production costs. Production opened the
door to additional fundraising through state
. .1 1- A
Breitbach's home state of Wisconsin
contributed heavily to the 56-page first
edition in April 19371 with articles by Gov.
Philip La Follette, who spent two years as
Dane County's district attorney, Secretary
of State Theodore Dammann, Dane County
Clerk Austin N. Johnson and J.H.H. Alexander,
superintendent of recreational publicity for the
state conservation department. One article
■
examined county employee pension ,plans.
Breitbach served as president for three years,
until 1938, after which he served as secretary -
treasurer and editor of The County officer and
later, a magazine called Governmental News.
The association's 1938 meeting in Rock Island
County, Illinois aimed to attract 500 attendees
but saw only 60 registrants. The 1938 meeting
included an address by Carl H. Chatters,
executive director of the Municipal Finance
officers' Association of the United States and
Canada, warning that encroachment by the
stItes was increasingly endangering local
revenue sources.
Meanwhile, the federal government was
alternating between preserving counties and
cities and planning new burdens on them
.L- +k^;r niithnritv qnri influence, State
which serve as counties' primary source of
revenue to this day.
"The elected officials of local communities
and elected officials of states cannot be
expected to stand up and cheer at the
thought of raising local tax rates or devising
new forms of state taxation for relief purposes
if that responsibility can be transferred to
Washington" Chatters said.
The Surge
The disappointment in 1938 raised the stakes
for 1939, setting up that year's meeting in
Weber County, Utah as a make -or -break
event in President George F. Simmons's
home county, where he served as chairman
of the county commission. Members sent out
25,000 invitations and aimed high, inviting
Vice President John Nance Garner and FBI
Director J. Edgar Hoover to speak,
though neither attended. Ate
"The challenge has been issued
to us as a state as to whether or
not we can successfully conduct
a convention and bring the
'national' back to an association. It will be up
to us to revive the National County Officers
Association," Simmons said.
Short -Wave Used to Cover County Conclavej
rM,% F7.ONI ItIOUNTAIN PEAK . . . Wayne Iverson, forest service radlomma. watches the dialboard
f a two-way radiophone set as W. F. Smiley. Standard -Examiner rewrite man taken down the story of
)day's session of the Natioi;al Association of County Officers being conducted 45 miles away at Monte
ri%to recreationaal psrli, high In the Wasatch mountains. Louis A. Skaggs, reporter covering the con-
vention for The Standard -Examiner, Is on the other end of the wireless setup. (Staff photo.)
The 1939 conference received media attention from the Ogden Standard -
Examiner, covering the proceedings 45 miles away via two-way radiophone.
but the renamed National Association of
County Officers attacked the new stage in
its development with gusto. NACo mobilized
that year to combat efforts
N�
rebounded, with more
than 500 registrants
and $2,500 in revenue.
to consolidate counties, a
movement afoot at the time in
Missouri.
"The nationwide movemen i
toward the consolidation of
counties and the further centralization of
government in large units is a distinct threat
The conference
even received media
attention from the
Ogden Standard -
Examiner, which
covered proceedings
45 miles away
via two-way
radiophone.
0
C)
0
C_
0
4-
cu
0
0
0
)
i
G, Claiborne Blanton, Joseph F Hammond, The conference even received media attention
Harry Bartell and Stanley Martin review the from the Ogden Standard -Examiner, which
program for the 1949 National Association
of County Officers Annual Conference, covered proceedings 45 miles away via two-
way radiophone.
A new plan hatched in 1939 counted on state
associations to sponsor issues of The County
Officer. The sponsoring state association
pledged to collect the magazine subscription
fees for each of the officers of every county in
the state and to solicit advertising.
counties in Kansas; Tarrant, Harris, Bexar and
El Paso counties in Texas; Maricopa County,
Arizona and Los Angeles County, California as
part of his part-time role, alternately dubbed
executive director or executive secretary.
Throughout its first two decades, NACo
continued to operate under the same basic
conditions, its members were individual
county officers who subscribed to The
County Officer. States took turns sponsoring
issues of the magazine and generating the
advertising revenues that underwrote NACo
activities. County officials paid their own
ways, often chartering trains or bus caravans
to conventions, which focused on networking,
problem solving, education and advocacy
with counties' federal delegations. NACo's
message to county leaders: Do more for our
constituents.
"No county officer can do his job by staying
home or just doing the thing that his
predecessor did" Simmons said in 1941, when
membership grew to 1,500 individuals. "We
and other county officers have in our hands
one of the greatest powers in our nation."
Strengthening the Western Flank
Arix/nr-.qr\/ nqinpd steam on an issue that has
Guy Cordon, a lawyer for the Association of
Oregon Counties, spoke to county officials at
the annual conference in Louisville about the
disparity between the value of tax-exempt
federally owned land and the remittances
given to the counties by the federal
government. The property tax revenue of all
of that land in 1941 should total $91 million,
while the government instead divided $2.5
million among counties.
The Interstate Association of Public Land
Counties formed in 1941 to advocate for
a fairer share and later merged with the
Western District of NACo to form the Western
Interstate Region in 1978. In the 2020s, the
Western Interstate Region added Minnesota
and Nebraska, recognizing the prevalence of
public lands in those states.
"Counties with large proportions of their
natural resources held in nontaxable status
therefore are at a decided disadvantage
so far as obtaining property taxes for their
support, compared with counties in older
sections of the country where virtually all
of the land is under private ownership," said
Edwin J. Regan, chairman of the Interstate
Association of Public Land Counties and
district attornp\/ fr)r Trin;txi (ni into (%n1;fnrn;n
was a direct touchpoint between county
and federal governments, though it would
be 35 years until the 1976 Payments in Lieu
of Taxes program codified how the federal
government would compensate counties for
lands administered by the Bureau of Land
Management, U.S. Forest Service, National
Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
and some military installations.
A Nation at War
The next year saw the United States shift to
fighting World War 11, and counties themselves,
besides lending their personnel to the war
effort, made tempo rary repairs to save critical
materials.
"No county officer
can do his job
by staying home
or just doing the
thing that his
predecessor did:'
George E Simmons,
a Weber County, Utah
commissioner and former
NACo president
Harry S, Truman is sworn in as presiding
judge of the county court of Jackson
County, Missouri, Left to right: Edward
Becker, county clerk; Eugene Purcell, judge
of Eastern District; Truman; W, 0, Beeman,
judge of Western District, Photo courtesy of
Petey Childers
"I saw firsthand the fine leadership
with which counties provided
during the dark days of the
Depression and the services they
rendered during the war," said Sen.
Lister Hill (D-Ala.)e
On the eve of World War 11, Grayson
County, Texas Judge and NACo
President Jake Loy in 1939 said,
"County officers are the first line of
defense. They must be men of courage and
action, sympathetic but firm," .
In 1944, NACo leaders decided it was time
to establish a Washington office, funded
F
Owl
AMML
16. �14
pip '�Jll ;7
YA
SAN FRANCISCO. Dec. T. Pros.
ide "I Roosevelt anneurmed his
morning that Japanese AR plan es had 1 allicked Manila sad Pearl o',
"ar,
;-.Auu BOMBED By
JA - PANESF PLANES
*Z : 7Made 1361 6, Rutmell), Af &Ei_GE?CCY 'ilOSPrTiL
1.11 1,. -':::tM=— So*
On Wand's Sumbed
Defense Areas .- k.--
0-d
TE_=
Mew
Honolulu Star -Bulletin
by subscriptions to The County
Officer, and that members would
make a major push to sign
up officials from all counties
nationwide as subscribers. NACo
hired a Washington law firm in
1944 to be its eyes, ears and
voice in the capital. With the war
following on the heels of the
depression, America's county
officials felt acutely their role as the
government unit closest and most connected
to the people.
America came out of the war with a new
president —Harry S. Truman, who Jackson
County, Missouri residents remembered as a
county court Judge (1923-1925), a role similar
to a county commissioner, and later presiding
judge (1927-1935), a role that was both
administrative and judicial.
In 1946, the association incorporated again,
and the first major article said:
"The objects'and purposes for which the
corporation is formed are to stimulate and
contribute to the continuing improvement of
county government throughout the United
States, including specifically increased
efficiency of county government and an even
higher standard of public service through the
.7
By 1956, NACo's western
constituencies were convinced
enough of the value of concerted
action to take the lead in forming
the Council of State Associations.
William MacDougall, general
manager of the County Supervisors
Association of California, was the
first chairman of the new group. He
and Washington State Association
of Counties executive Richard Watts
collaborated on a vigorous effort to
establish a full-time NACo presence
in Washington.
During the mid -year business
conference in 1954, personally
financed by St. Clair County,
Alabama Judge Ward Forman
and Calhoun County, Alabama
Commissioner Dan Gray, the board debated
the so-called California Plan, which set both
an immediate goal for NACo to procure full-
time professional staff support and a financial
strategy to support that goal. The association
had maintained part-time executive directors,
often past presidents like George F. Simmons,
who continued working in their home counties
in places like Utah and Illinois, far from
Congress and thin haqrtkant of thin forlorni
Top Officers,, 1949-1950
M. Ward Forman, 4th V.-P., Dean Z. Haddick,
1st V.-P., Sid Caillavet, 3rd V.-P., Stanley
Martin., President, and Marcus Christ, 2nd VvP.
The National Association of County
Officers' 1949-1950 executive committee:
W. Ward Forman, fourth vice president;
Dean Z, Haddick, first vice president; Sid
Caillavet, third vice president; Stanley
Martin, president and Marcus Christ,
second vice president,
Left: Attendees board buses outside of
the Leamington Hotel in Alameda County,
California during the National Association
of County Officers''1949 conference,
M
U)
Q)
0
0
0
0
0
co
e
I
yY
h
1
:.
• JAW
As NACo's first executive director, Bernie
Hillenbrand took county government from
rakitk/p nhozri irity tn a political mainstay in
pouring a New Foundation
In the winter of 1956 through 1957, Bernie
Hillenbrand was working. in Washington,
D.C. as an assistant director of the American
Municipal Association, a precursor to the
National League of Cities. He was the only
full-time lobbyist in the nation's capital for
cities, counties and state governments and
was busy covering a variety of issues ranging
from highway funding to water pollution. After
initially being rebuffed, William MacDougall
again offered Hillenbrand the role as full-time
executive director in 1957, which Hillenbrand
accepted after noticing the emerging national
influence of counties. He became NACo's first
full-time staffer.
With finances still tenuous, Hillenbranc
worked out of an unused Mayflower Hote
laundry room and took any meetings acros.,
the street in the hotel's opulent lobby. Tha
was enough to begin professionalizing th(
organization, securing funding from federa
and philanthropic sources and giving NAC(
a firm foundation.
which he outlasted the leaders of virtually
every other public interest group:
"His lobbying method was to research an
issue of concern to counties, decide upon a
strategy, give county officials a crash course
and send them over to Capitol Hill to corner
legislators they knew. It worked."
rnie Hillenbrand I s
;upied the Mayflower
iow rests in NACo's
"NACo was a place
where county
leaders can get
together, talk about
the problems they
are facing and find
solutions."
In 1957, NACo spent its mid -year meeting _ Bernie Hillenbrand,
Hillenbrand's desk that once occupied that compiling all of its previous policy resolutions NACO's executive director
laundry room now rests in NACo's current into a single guiding document: The "American
off ice, County Platform."
■
In 1957, NACo
spent its mid -year
meeting compiling
all of its previous
policy resolutions
into a single
guiding document:
The "American
County Platform:'
C. T
;j ;Atli
O'k
The Mayflower Hotel
on intergovernmental Relations, known
colloquially as the Kestnbaum Commission:
"Leave to private initiative all the functions
that citizens can perform privately; Use the
level of government closest to the community
for all the public functions it can handle; Use
comparative intergovernmental arrangements
where appropriate to obtain economical
performance and popular approval; Reserve
national action for residual participation
where state and local governments are
not fully adequate and for the continuing
resp onsibilities that only national government
can undertakes"
NACo also fought for representation on the
Advisory commission on intergovernmental
Relations (ACIR), a successor to the
Kestnbaum Commission, after the body was
announced to include just state and city
leaders. Sen. Karl Mundt (R-S.D.) responded
with a successful amendment which providec
that three county officials nominated by NACc
be added to the four city officials nominatec
by NACo Is sibling associations, the Nationa
League of Cities and the U.S. Conference
Mayors. I
-,flumas County, California supervisor Clair
Donnenwirth. The three played leading roles in
the work of the commission and were critical
to the appointment of William G. Colman as
ACIR's first executive director. At the first ACIR
organizational meeting, the seven county and
city representatives caucused and decided
that Colman, who had staffed the Kestnbaum
Commission, was the best candidate for the
position, but the Eisenhower administration
felt otherwise and publicly had the votes to
elect their candidate.
"Mr. Chairman, in my little county of Plumas,
we have fallen in love with the secret ballots"
Following a secret ballot election, Colman
was confirmed as the first ACIR executiv,;
it
director. The commission would last unt.
Hillenbrand and NACols growing staff moved
out of the laundry room and into other office
space in the same building, though they still
entertained in the Mayflower Hotel's lobby.
Maturity
IL 1 A A"% - r,%.. - -
than individuals, to become NACo members.
Fulton County, Georgia Commissioner Jim
Aldredge noted that counties could legally
purchase services that included printing,
painting and plumbing. Why not market NACo
as an information service? That solution was
the County Information Service, which offered
publications, information, analysis and other
material with fees based on population. The
service also required that counties be in good
stead with their state associations.
The plan made NACo fiscally viable in 1959
but also met a longstanding
desire of a generation of leaders:
for counties to have a single
home and to match the drive
for equitable apportionment
of representation in state
legislatures and Congress. The
new membership structure
allowed NACo to demonstrate
that its actions reflected the
needs of citizens.
"NACo was a place I
where county leaders
can get together, talk
about the problems
they are facing
and find solutionsif,
Hillenbrand said
In 1962, the association found its home in
a name, when the National Association
Of County Officers became the National
Association of Counties, reflecting the change
that the rniintinc rn+knr +knn ^4:f;r%nrc XAinrn
get together, talk about the problems they are
facing and find solutions" Hillenbrand said
in June 2018. "There was a comradeship you
can't get anywhere else, and bonding, seeing
the same people every year at our meetings.
People would look forward to 'next year....
As the role of the federal governmen
expanded during the Great Depression an
World War 11, the federal government neede
an effective way to partner with countie
to administer the growing number of socia
service and economic development program
NACo tried several methods fo
reaching out. A series of state
by -state syndicated article.
examined federal aid programE
then a newsletter tailored t(
the needs of state association�
and affiliates. A grant from th
Ford Foundation in 1958 funde
a full-time position to expan
information services offered i
The County Officer. I
The Monday Letter followed in the wake of
NACo's increased influence in Washington,
D.C. Every Friday, the entire NACo staff
summarized the week's developments in
A grant from the
Ford Foundation in
1958 funded a full-
time position to
expand information
services offered in
The County Officer.
&A/
C)
M
CU
U)
(D
0
0
C_
0
4--J
(ID
C)
0
U)
U)
E
(D
0-)
4�
CLO
C/)
0
U
L4-
0
(Z
0
0
C/)
NIEW & VXBWB
MC0
LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE
PUSHES REVENUE SHARING
The MondayLetter
followed in the
wake of NACos
increased influence
in Washington.
It was replaced
by NACo News
and Views, which
offered broader
content for a wider
circulation,
NACo News and Views, which offered broader
content for a wider circulation. It would
later be supplanted by County News, which
continues to this day, regardless of challenges
to its deadline.
Quick Work
Hillenbrand applied in 1958 for a five-year
matching grant of $160,000 from the Ford
Foundation, which Paul Ylvisaker approved.
When Ylvisaker called Hillenbrand to tell him
the grant would be approved, he set off a
minor panic. Ylvisaker asked for NACo's tax
exemption number under Section 501(c)(3) but
NACo was a civic organization organized under
501(c)(4). Without a tax exemption number,
NACo would not be awarded the grant.
Hillenbrand immediately retained a
Wilmington, Delaware law firm to draft new
bylaws and incorporation papers for "The
Local Government Education And Research,
later changed to The NACo Research
Foundation.
The papers were delivered to the NACo off ic
and a party of staffers carried the complete
package by hand to the IRS regional office
Baltimore. The new documents got the groui
That was a Friday afternoon, and Hillenbrand sent
the documents via special delivery to Ylvisaker's
home in Cranberry Lake, N.J., and NACo's staff
celebrated. Prematurely, it turned out.
The following Sunday brought a blizzard that
paralyzed the New York area, and Ylvisaker
spent the next day trying to navigate to the
Ford Foundation offices, arriving with only five
minutes before the Board was set to adjourn.
That grant fueled expansion that would have
otherwise taken five years to finance. NACo
was able to move to a more traditional office
space at 1001 Connecticut Ave., NW, an
ironic address because in 1960 the state of
Connecticut abolished county governments.
The funding helped establish a central
clearinghouse on administrativK;
reorganization, charters, state enabling
legislation, modern budgeting and finance
and other aspects of streamlining county
government. Staff analyzed administrative
problems and published results. Training
programs and educational sessions were
2dded to regular NACo meetings.
Urban Expansion
F
In response, NACo conducted its first Urban
County Congress that March. The three-day
meeting drew more than 900 attendees and
represented a quick pivot away from the
reputation of county governments that one
attendee noted was "a unit of government
that was outmoded, archaic, a product of
horse and buggy days and probably doomed
to extinction!)
NACo's President C. Beverly Briley, Davidson
County, Tennessee judge, served as keynote
speaker and told the attendees: "The way
to focus the babble of voices (on urban
problems) into a single strong voice is to make
county government again the dominant local
government. I say this is the only way."
The meeting drew two national luminaries —
Vice President Richard Nixon and Sen. John F.
Kennedy (D-Mass.)--who would compete for
the presidency the next year.
Nixon: "You are faced with a thousand
challenges. Further, your responsibilities for
the welfare of your fellow citizens will be
greatly increased, as an estimated one million
acres become urban and suburban each year.
Men, it seems, have always been faced with
a form of thp nrnhlame xinii miiet nnXA/ Qnk/93
Kennedy: "it is clear that our city
governments cannot always assume
the sole responsibility for the
solution of these pressing urban
problems. I repeat they cannot —
our state governments will not —the
federal government should not —and
therefore you on the county level
must. It is up to counties and similar
area governments to play a more
important role in the solution of urban
problems."
Richard M. Nixon and John F Kennedy,
In 1962, NACo shifted its attention from
primarily rural issues to a balanced prograry
that assisted every county, regardless o
population. A county urban advisor joined th(
staff and represented a contact point betweer
urban counties and key federal agencie.,
that provided technical and financial aid of
problems such as urban renewal, civil defensE
mass transit and sewage treatment.
Hillenbrand staked out NACo's poson that
=10
"We recognize the need for federal and
state government, but we strongly believe
that federal and state participation should
"We recognize
the need for
federal and state
government, but
we strongly believe
that federal and
state participation
should supplement
and not replace
local decision
making."
CO
0
0
14-
0
0
0
U)
U)
l
"It was clear to
us that if the -
Communists did
not back down,
there would be
war,
— Bernie Hillenbrand,
NACo's executive director
County governments' responsibility for civil defense was pronounced
during the Cold War, particularly during the Cuban Missile Crisis,
Maricopa County, Arizona's civil defense shelter, pictured here, was
located beneath a small butte on the outskirts of Phoenix,
Counties' place in this intergovernmental
partnership became evident that October,
when NACo was among the organizations
summoned tothe Pentagon for an emergency
L41 [-Tb-cff rcrff #4 Y-11 CQ_n -1--a 1_C_1UU-V_C1 I F IV rya_�5
Crisis. Counties would need accurat
and timely information to keep
their citizens as safe as possible,
and NACo staff would be placed on
alert to pass on new information as
quickly as possible to local officials
That meant constantly staying in
touch with Pentagon leaders for th
next two weeks.
The Spotlight Shines on NACo
The presidential campaign of 1964 provided
NACo with several opportunities to build its
rapport with national leaders.
NACo was meeting in Washington during
the week the Democrats held their national
convention in Atlantic City, and Sen. Hubert
Humphrey was to be NACo's banquet speaker.
Humphrey was widely regarded as the
likely vice-presidential nominee on Lyndon
Johnson's ticket, and that raised expectations
for press coverage. Staff went to the Sheraton
Park Hotel to make arrangements with those
responsible for the banquet.
"Do you want a spotlight?"
"Sure.'
It _r k 1__. +1; k+ In charge (�10()"
Z, spotlight HK:;VF �j I
"Those are the union rates."
Well, okay. It's an important
)ccasion. It
"Is there any chance that Sen.
imphrey will speak longer than 25
ninutes?"
question prompted a laugh.
"In that case you will have two spotlight
people because they only work for 25
minutes at a time."
"This is highway robbery," the NACo staffer
countered, "but I guess we'll have to, have
two.'
"But union rules are that if you have two
spotlight operators, there must also be a
supervisor present,','
"They get $150.'
-L
Eventually the expensive personnel agreemenE
was handed out and the great night came.
There were 82 NACo officers and directors aL
the head table. Senator Humphrey walked the
entire length in a blazing spotlight, shaking
every outstretched hand, There were lights
from dozens of TV cameras. Then he came to
the lectern, still in the spotlight. He held his
arm up to shield his eyes and said, "I'm not an
entertainer, I'm a politician and I'm working
tonight. Please turn off the lights!"
Humphrey got the second spot on LBYS
ticket. and thin Pamiki;r%nn P!nr+ii nnminn+nrl
York Rep. William Miller. A
year in advance of its 1964
conference, NACo invited
Sen. Goldwater to speak
and he readily accepted.
But in the late summer
of 1964, things were
different. Goldwater was
the Republican nominee
for president, and he had
announced that he would
be spending the next
few weeks planning his
campaign and not speaking
in public.
Sen, Barry Goldwater kept his word that he would address NACo members
despite canceling speaking engagements upon winning the 1964
Republican presidential nomination.
"Senator," a New York leader told the Arizonan
on the telephone, "we congratulate you on
3
winning the presidential nomination, buri
we I re disappointed that you were not going to
address the NACo meeting."
"Who says? Goldwater replied. "I told you a
year ago that I would attend, and I don't go
back on my word."
Goldwater's appearance before the Annual
Conference turned out to be the opening
speech of his campaign.
Vice President Hubert Humphrey
Past NACo presidents
gather with Executive
Director Bernie
Hillenbrand (bottom) in
1970, Photo courtesy of
the East Baton Rouge
Parish, Louisiana Library
county Programming
In 1970, NACo drew its best and brightest
ideas through its new Achievement
Awards program, which not only allowed
the association to recognize innovative
programming by county leaders but helped
develop a repository of counties' solutions
for problems that many shared. The inaugural
cohort included 16 county honorees.
in 2025, NACo awarded more than 1,500
Achievement Awards to almost 200 county
members, recognizing 18 best- i n-category
winners.
The hallways of the New Hanover County,
North Carolina administration building are
lined with years' worth of Achievement
Award certificates. If NACo appears in a local
newspaper, it's most likely in commemoration
of a county's recognition, which often includes
details of a winning program' uperlative
qualities. Count News features award-
Y
winning programs in every issue.
M proudest of the fact that our county
recently received a 2022 National Association
Of Counties Achievement and because
We've put in place some of the best county
practices helping veterans in the nation,"
Cathrenp r\iir%knio C% 1-%; A ;r% f)nnn :e% +[-%,-%
Almost 50 years after the program began, NACo President Clesson Chikasuye (left)
Leon County, Florida Commissioner Bryan presents a NACo Achievement Award to a
NACo member in the 1970s, Chikasuye was
Desloge made those programs a centerpiece a Honolulu County, Hawaii councilmember.
C)
Prince George's County, Maryland
Councilmember Gladys Spellman, Vice
President Spiro Agnew, King County,
Washington Councilmember Ed Munro
and NACo Executive Director Bernie
Hillenbrand, Spellman and Munro both
served as NACo president,
9
practices. We're not competing against each
other most of the time, so if somebody else
has figured out a better way to
build a mousetrap, we ought to
1plagiarize' it" he said. "Any
I was criticized for traveling on
NAC o's behalf, I would come right
back with examples of what I'd
learned from other counties that
we put to work in Leon County.
"We see a lot of winning programs
from large urban counties, but
that information can benefit the
The 1970s also saw
NACo move into a new
office at 1735 New York
Ave., NW, along with
the purchase of the
"Hill House" at 115 C St.,
SE, which NACo would
use for lobbying and
The 1970s also saw NACo move into a new
office at 1735 New York Ave., NW, along with
the purchase of the "Hill House" at 115 C St.,
SE, which NACo would use for lobbying and
entertaining members of Congress.
General Revenue Sharing
Richard Nixon had campaigned for president
partly on a platform of empowering local
governments to do more for themselves. A key
element in this platform was General Revenue
Sharing, a concept that combined, the
federal government's prowess in collecting
tax revenues with the local discretion in
how those funds would be spent. General
Revenue Sharing was not new. It had been
proposed in Congress in 1958 by Rep. Melvin
Laird (R-Wis.). But this time, a
motivated administration and an
organized collection of county
officials made the difference,
General Revenue Sharing meant
that the federal government, from
its tax revenues, would reallocate a
large amount of money to state and
local governments in the form of
unrestricted grants. The localities
could spend this money however
§1
Nixon himself mentioned General Revenue
Sharing in both 1969 and 1970, but in neither
year did the idea leave the congressional
starting gate, It had formidable opposition
from House leaders such as Rep. Wilbur
Mills (D-Ark.), chairman of the Ways and
Means Committee, who refused to even hold
hearings on revenue sharing.
now propose that we give our state and our
cities, our towns and our counties the tools so
that they can get on with the job" Nixon told
members of Congress in 1971.
NACo continued to press the idea at any
available forum, even when the outcome
seemed foreordained. A House Ways and
Means Committee hearing in 1970 featured a
altercation between Mills and NACo
Past President Woodrow Wilson Dumas, mayor-
P resident of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana.
Chairman" Dumas said, "we know
his game is crooked, but it's the only game
F:_
Jown!ll
,_funned silence reigned in the huge hearing
Orn as Dumas gazed up at the chairman.
opposed to the revenue sharing and that the.
purpose of this hearing is to kill the idea!'
Mills, one of the Capitol's most. powerful
figures, retorted: "And where do you propose
to get the money to fund this program?
Left: NACo President Edwin Michaelian,
Westchester County, New York executive
and his wife, Joyce, meet with President
Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat,
Bottom: NACo President Woodrow Wilson
Dumas (second from left), East Baton
Rouge Parish, Lousiana Mayor, was a strong
voice for General Revenue Sharing, Also
pictured is former Vice President Hubert
Humphrey (third from right),
(D
0
U
4-
0
0
0
0
U)
CO
'I
"Involvement of
cities, counties
and municipalities
into the day-to-
daywork of the
Congress is of
an increasing
and continuing
importance..:'
— Gerhard A. Gesell
U.S. District judge
CU
U)
(a)
41
C)
L+_
0
0
U)
(n
"Well, Mr. Chairman, I have in my hand a
copy of last year's budget for the House of
Representatives;' Dumas replied, "We find
places that funds might be better used for
aid to hard pressed local governments.
For example, here's an item for a chauffeur
driven car for the speaker, and then there are
the free mailings for congressmen under the
franking privilege."
Dumas's exchange with Mills was just
one episode in a long struggle to build
enough grassroots support for General
Revenue Sharing to persuade the House
of Representatives. Nixon was pressing for
several features in General Revenue Sharing
that made it less palatable to the House. He
wanted, for example, a five-year authorization
for the new program, so this politically
sensitive issue would not need to be revisited
too frequently.
From NACo's perspective, a key challenge
was simply to gain a seat at the negotiating
table. The federal sponsors of General
Revenue Sharing thought its chief
beneficiaries would be state governments,
with some funds also being channeled to
cities. NACo needed to create a position for
counties as a conduit of revenue sharing
money to local communities. Allocation of
General Revenue Sharing funds would be
based on percentage of people living in
poverty in a given area, the population of the
area and the effectiveness of local tax efforts.
As the government unit closest to local
communities, counties were ideally positioned
to maximize local eligibility for funds.
Moreover, county governments could steer
a middle course between preponderantly
Republican state governors and the mayors
of key cities, who tended to be Democrats.
A key ally, and one of the figures most
Baltimore County, Maryland's executive and
later Maryland governor before becoming
Nixon's running mate.
Agnew pressed Nixon to increase the financial
commitment he was seeking for General
Revenue Sharing, arguing that a modest
level of funding individual congressional
districts might pass Congress more easily
but wouldn't have enough impact at the local
level to demonstrate the effectiveness of the
program. The vice president also committed
to working closely with NACo leaders to
press hard for General Revenue Sharing at
every opportunity.
The key to persuading the House was to
generate support at the level of individual
congressional districts, a task NACo,
by structure and membership, could do
more effectively than anyone else. Slowly,
momentum grew for General
and administration allies would fly a team
of speakers to several of these airports in a
single day to brief these officials on the status
of General Revenue Sharing and recruit their
active support in lobbying
Revenue Sharing. NACo organized one of the their own representatives.
proposal's most successful
NACo organized one of the
proposal's most successful
and visible supporting
efforts in mid-1971, when it
scheduled a full day of "jet -
ins" throuahn,it thin rani intro
and visible supporting
efforts inmid-1971, when it
scheduled a full day of "jet-
ins"throughout thetry.
Stops were scheduled in
Philadelphia, Atlanta, Kansas
City, Cleveland and San
Francisco. Agnew himself
flew with the NACo team to
NACo Executive Director Bernie Hillenbrand
(left) greets President Jimmy Carter at
NACo's 1979 Annual Conference,
CD
Cn
(D
0
0
1-4-
0
C
0
+-j
CU
Q
0
(n
U)
"It was an amazing
experience for a
young kid new to
the Washington
political scene,"
— Larry Naake, NACO's
executive director
C)
M
4�
0
U
1-4-
0
E
0
C13
0
C)
0
U)
The 1971 New Castle County, Delaware Council included (first on the left) future US, President Joe Biden,
1,500 turned out. NACo Is staff had to scramble
to set up closed circuit television links to
overflow rooms to enable all attendees to hear
the vice president.
NACo backed these occasional high -profile
eventswith a steady lobbying campaign period.
Slowly, the opposition was persuaded until
both houses passed the State
and Local Fiscal Assistance Act
of 1972 in the summer of that
year. Harmonizing the different
1 11 141% V ^ i r% &% e% ^-F +k^ Lnrl; C, I n+;^n
.?t Independence Hall in Philadelphia to sign
into law the bill he called "the new American
Revolution."
In 1972, Hillenbrand had assigned Larry
Naake, then 30, to represent NACo in lobbying
Congress and the Nixon administration on
General Revenue Sharing.
In 1972, the passage
of General Revenue
1Qh.qrinn1A1;1v, N A r. n'-q
"It was an amazing experience
for a young kid new to the
Washington political scene" he
.1
organizations, our most important
legislative success:'
NACo also saw its ability to do
government advocacy work fortified
in 1974. Attorney General William B.
Saxbe decided that the organizations
of the county, city and state officials
were not covered by the 1946
Regulation of Lobby Act, which
sp
ecifically exempted public officials
from the regulation. He sent a flood of
agents into the offices of the U.S. Conference
of Mayors and threatened the staff with
prosecution for violating the act.
Saxbe argued that while city, county and state
officials were exempt from the lobby law, their
associations were not - a key pillar of today's
intergovernmental framework. NACo, NLC
and USCM went to court. On Dec. 17,1974, U.S.
District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell issued his
declarative judgement in their favor:
the attention of Congress their proper official
concerns on matters of public policy."
"There can be no doubt that all officers and
employees of the plaintiff organizations are
engaged in lobbying solely for what may
purposely be stated to be the 'public will'
as conceived by those in government they
represent, who are themselves officials solely
responsible to the public and acting in their
official capaes."
Above: NACo legislative staffer Larry
Naake shakes President Richard Nixon's
hand during the signing ceremony for
the General Revenue Sharing bill at
Independence Square in Philadelphia on
Oct, 10, 1972,
Left: NACo Executive Director Bernie
Hillenbrand catches a light moment
between Vice President Nelson Rockefeller
and President Gerald Ford,
count,
F
"Involvement of cities, counties and ontract Authoz
.0
NACo REVENUE SHARING JET -INS U)
municipalities into the day-to-day work of the
n o
0 _
Congress is of an Fsports
increasing and continuing 77%
M. avor
"Z:= !n=jharing Revenue
Importance. The court must recognize that the
4�
voice Of cities, counties and municipalities in
U)
C/) foderal leqislation will not hpqripni iqtplx/ hpqrri
'The Course
Correction
NACo President John
Horsley, a Kitsap County,
Washington commissioner,
stands in front of NACo's
office building at
county Business
During the late 70s and early '80s, NACo
shifted in a more entrepreneurial direction,
establishing a deferred compensation
program to aid county employees in their
retirement and entering the real estate
market. The fate of the two would diverge.
While Dallas County, Texas negotiated a
deferred compensation program for its
employees, Commissioner Roy Orr, then
NACo's president, saw potential for smaller
counties to adopt a national retirement plan.
The executive committee decided on the
Public Employee Benefit Service Corporation
(PEBSCO) as a plan administrator, a business
that was already serving several states and
the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Within a year,
400 counties had signed, and
counties and state associations
would share in proceeds. In
1999, PEBSCO was acquired
by Nationwide Retirement
Solutions.
It also put NACo in business
with Oklahoma financier David
Davenport, PEBSCO's founder,
who took a shine to county
officials. He had pushed for
i
scholarship for a student graduating from a
high school in the NACo president's county,
along with mentorship for the student.
While Dallas County,
Texas negotiated a
deferred compensation
program for its employees,
Commissioner Roy Orr,
then NACo's president,
saw potential for smaller
counties to adopt a
national retirement plan.
"He saw what 401(k)s could
do for the private sector and
asked why public sector
employees didn't have that"
said Larry Naake, who was
back on NACo's staff again
in the early '80s. "He was the
leading force behind getting
that through Congress.
NACo President Doug Bovin, a Delta County,
Michigan commissioner; Presidential
Scholarship Award winner Roxanne Doyle
and scholarship sponsor David Davenport
pose for their official portrait in 1996, Photo
by David Hathcox
"He saw what
401(k)s could do
for the private
sector and asked
why public sector
employees didn't
have that."
Larry Naake, NACO's
executive director, about
Oklahoma financier David
Davenport, PEBSC09s
founder
MAV. I
Left: Vice President Walter Mondaie breaks ground for NACo's office building on Dec, 18,1980, flanked by NACo Past Presidents Roy Orr and Charlotte Williams,
Orr was a Dallas County, Texas commissioner and Williams was a Genesee County, Michigan commissioner, Right: Vice President George KW, Bush gave the
address at the building's Feb, 24,1982 dedication,
Meanwhile, an $11 million construction
project at 440 First St., NW in Washington,
D.C. would culminate in a 100,000 square
foot, eight -story building, two floors of which
NACo and its more than 150 staff members
would occupy, with a penthouse designed
for events and entertaining. Rent revenue
from subleasing the lower five floors, which
would be NACo's responsibility, would cover
overhead expensesi including $1.5 million
Vice President Walter Mondale attended
the Dec. 18, 1980 groundbreaking and Vice
President George H.W. Bush gave the address
at the Feb., 24, 1982 dedication, along with
speeches by Senate Majority Leader Howard
Baker (R-Tenn.) and House Majority Leader
Jim Wright (D-Texas).
Contrasting with the contemporary exterior,
the lobby evoked a 19th-century county
- .. ..A� L.% e% a a r% r% TIAI;+k +nrrn-7-7n finnrc anti q rinmp-d
But by the time the building was complete,
the market for office space in Washington,
D.C. was cold.
Budget Crash
A month into his NACo presidency in August
1982, Rensselaer County, New York Executive
Bill Murphy was entertaining Pennsylvania
county officials for lunch when the waiter
whispered that his NACo American Express
Card had been declined. Murphy offered him
his backup Visa card, but he was told he was
"two for two.11
I thought,'Uh oh, something is going on here
that I am not going to like"' he recalled.
This followed a clean audit report just weeks
earlier, but Murphy called accounting firm
Peat Marwick to scrutinize the association's
situation. After that assessment, the firm's
principal told Murphy to pour himself a stiff
drink.
NACo had a $2.26 million budget deficit. Few
knew it then, but it would take NACo 15 years
to emerge fully from what was happening and
A XXAI -11 -UA= I I
I thought, 'Uh oh,
something is going
on here that I am
not going to like."'
— Bill Murphy, the
Rensselear County, New
York executive and former
NACo president ,
Executive Director Bernie
Hillenbrand (second from left)
advises NACo officers John Horsley,
Bill Murphy and Ann Klinger, Horsle
CD
M
4�
M
4-�
0
0
C-
0
4-J
0
(1)
U)
President Ronald Reagan meets with Black 25 years to leave the building that caused so
county leaders in 1981, much heartache.
"It's worse than that because your building is
draining all of your resources,
and resources have been
diverted" the accountant told
Murphy. "This was operating
money that was being diverted
into other things. It's not
SLJStQi*,able."
Over Labor Day weekend,
NACo's executive committee
met to figure out the crisis and
how to shift the organization. At
'Let me tell you, it was
a very painful time
for me" Murphy said.
".,.I knew some of the
people that we were
having to personally
deliver pink slips to."
for a delay in publication, winning the chance
to tell NACo members about the crisis himself.
The leases for the lower floors of the building?
Only one had an actual commitment, the
American Management Association, and
beyond that, the auditors had taken the word
of NACo's financial staff rather than asking
to scrutinize lease documents that did not
actually exist. Those staffers were fired, and
Hillenbrand, the executive director who took
the organization from a hotel laundry room to
a mainstay in the halls of Congress, resigned
after 25 years leading the organization.
Getting approval for loans to keep NACo
operating required dramatic action. Of the 118
staff members in August, only 51
remained in September.
"Let me tell you, it was a ver�
painful time for me" Murphy said
I knew those people very well.
had been on the NACo board fo
five or six years before I becam(
president. I knew some of th(
people that we were having t(
personally deliver pink slips tc
It was very hurtful, very difficull
rP-1.2fi**.qWiin cW1moes witl
r
Davenport personally loaned NACo
$400,000 to satisfy operating
expenses, with PEBSCO offering
a similar amount. Davenport also
helped Murphy negotiate partial
repayment of outstanding bills. State
associations loaned NACo $10,000
apiece, and members advanced a
years 's worth of dues, on top of a dues
increase.
Bill Murphy
Murphy said that the siloed organization that
permeated NACo at the time made it harder
for the problems to be apparent.
In the meantime, PEBSCO loaned executives
James Marshall and Ron Cameron to manage
NACo until the executive committee
hired a successor to Hillenbrand.
"I asked Jay Wilkinson, who was the
president of PEBSCO, if he could loan
me Jim. I said I wouldn't need him
for more than a few weeks, but
that was a lie. He stayed for four
months" Murphy said. "Those two
guys were instrumental in helping
pull the monkey off my back of
having to deal with this stuff literally
executive director settled in after
a few months on the job. Matt
Coffey came to NACo steeped
in financial know-how, having
previously served as CFO of
Textron Inc., and he was familiar
with NACo after serving as a
special assistant to both President
Johnson and Carter. At 6 foot 8, he
was hard to miss. He brought a pragmatic
perspective to an organization in need of
steady leadership.
"It's going to take 24 to 30 months to work
our way out of the hole" Coffey said upon his
hiring in 1983.
Murphy said Coffey pulled
NACo out of a financial
tailspin and allowed it to
get its bearings, though
the necessary austerity
limited how wide NACo
could reach,
"He did a good job in
setting up the structure
that would cause us to
be able to move forward,"
"It's going to take
24 to 30 months to
work our way out of
the hole."
Matt Coffey, NACO's
executive director
"Bill Murphy did
all the hard work
keeping NACo
together. Then the
next year I got to
travel around the
country, kissing
and hugging
everyone and
thanking them for
helping us survive."
— Sandy Smoley, a
Sacramento County,
California supervisor and
former NACo president
Sandy Smoley, Murphy's successor as NACo
president, also helped with that. As the only
Republican on the Sacramento County,
California Board of Supervisors, she often
found herself on call for events with Gov.
Ronald Reagan. The two struck up a friendship
that she later drew on to help his presidential
reelection campaign staff find office space
downstairs from the NACo staff. That rental
revenue was crucial to NACo's solvency for
the next two years.
"Bill • • all the hard work keepin,,
NACo together. Then the next year I got t
travel around the country, kissing and huggin
0
1
everyone • thanking them for helping u214
survive" she recalled in 2024.
Counties in Virginia and Maryland lent thei
fiscal staff to help bridge the gap between thl
staff NACo could support and the work that
needed to be done.
Murphy also had to play hardball with some
vendors. NACo had leased, for $100,000, three
heavy-duty photocopier machines, "each
capable of serving the Library of Congress"
he said. "They were a tremendous oversell by
the company."
Negotiations with the company's sales
consultant were slow going.
I • him we needed to break the contrac
and he told me they didn't break • fo
•• Murphy said, advising the •
I
that it was time to make an exception. I
"Unless you know our president, don't even
think about it" he was told.
Murphy told him to get his trucks ready, then
retreated to try and figure out how to back up
his bluff. He called a fellow county executive,
asked out of the blue if he knew the company's
president, and it turned out the executive
golfed with him regularly.
Shortly after, the sales consultant expressed
I
Renewed Focus
With a bank loan secured, Murphy and the
executive committee needed to figure out
where NACo would ultimately go from there.
They asked members:
, Is NACo important to you?
- What do you want from NACol
The answer that resonated the most was
to have better government affairs efforts.
Despite a two-thirds cut to the NACo staff,
the legislative affairs department added three
lobbyists to the previous six and focused on
While NACo was able to
pull together friends and
influence to stay alive, the
following years were marked
by severe austerity for the
organization. Counties, too,
suffered a loss three years
later when General Revenue
Sharing met its demise after
winning a reprieve in 1983.
"We were preparing for that" said Kitsap
County, Washington Commissioner John
Horsley. "We were able to make the
being the voice of counties. transition with some tough, but not
fatal, adjustments.
But the most powerful response
came from Shelby County,
Tennessee Mayor Bill Morris.
I asked him, 'Should we just shut
this down?.. Murphy said. "'Should
we just get rid of NACo and just
have the American Association
of Counties and clean the slate
already?' He saido, my advice to
you would be to stay and fight. Let's
just do what we need to do to clean
this up and get it back together
"That's the army of
Murphy said. "We stick
After helping stabilize NACo,
reaching settlements with 323
creditors and establishing
accurate membership
records, Coffey moved on
to the National Tooling and
Machining Association, and
NACo in turn hired John
Thomas.
Thomas had been working
as executive director of
NACo President Bob Alderneyer'welcomes
President Ronald Reagan to the 1985
Legislative Conference. Alderneyer
was judge -executive of Kenton County,
Kentucky,
"In 1986 and
1987, the federal
government was
scaling back on
assistance to
counties and cities
but our burden,
especially in
mental health and
social services, was
growing."
— John Horsley, a Kitsap
County, Washington
commissioner and
former NACo president
C)
0-)
4-)
D
0
U
0
C
0
0
Cf)
(f)
"Bernie let me work on my doctorate while
I was working at NACo. I'm not sure I would
have finished it otherwise," Thomas said.
While in Florida, Thomas started organizing
the state association executives on an annual
basis, a precursor to the National Council of
County Association Executives.
It was a challenging transition for Thomas,
given NACo's situation.
a significant security upgrade, along with a
popular sandwich shop.
I have to say, sometimes you just plain get
lucky," Thomas said.
I would have loved to have taken 10 percent
and put it into programs, but the Board was
firm on paying off our debt," Thomas said. "You
have to get out of debt to have any credibility."
"We were able to hire the kind of people that I
thought we really needed to be cutting edge,"
he said.
services increased dramatically. Decreasing
property and sales tax revenues further
stressed county budgets.
1986 and 1987, the federal government was
scaling back on assistance to counties and
cities but our burden, especially in mental
health and social services, was growing,"
Horsley said. "We were between a rock and
a hard place. We're losing General Revenue
Sharing. We're losing federal grants in general,
but the burdens in the suburban governments
were increasing."
Though both served relatively short tenures,
Coffey and Thomas each faced a tough task
helping NACo through its transition. Coffey
was more financially oriented but lacked
experience working with a membership organi-
zation or county officials, and while Thomas
didn't care for the financial matters, he thrived
on engagement with county officials.
I found in Florida that if you could get wins fo
the rural counties, they'd support efforts th
benefitted urban counties" Thomas said. V
held on to that strategy to keep our advocac
efforts balanced," I
NACo past presidents gather in the 1980s,
"Hiring John Thomas was one of the best moves
we made in that decade because he just turned
out to be a superb leader," Horsley said.
Members of the executive committee started
making regular trips to Capitol Hill, a major
initiative led by President Ann Klinger, a
Merced County, California supervisor.
In 1991, Thomas decamped for the American
Society for Public Administration, where
he could resume his academic interest in
MESEMM
I was able to leave feeling like I had given
h,ge.k." TWionigs sgid.
NACo Executive Director John Thomas
(left) and NACo President Bob Aldemeyer,
Alderneyer was the Kenton County,
Kentucky judge -executive,
CD
M
4�
CU
CO
(D
0
0
C
0
0
Cn
ANew]Era
rpAmajewMAW
•
• - r4 ! t 4 a.. _ i tr —ice. _
16.4
•
r �
s
O)l 0
"Sto the Mandate 4a
1 o , .W.:
The 1990s brought a new opponent into
view for counties; unfunded mandates,
President George H,W, Bush decried
them during his 1992 State of the Union
address, Photo by David Hathcox
9,
Springtime for Counties
Right before he left, Thomas saw the birth of a
major public affairs effort that his management
drove. The country observed National County
Government Week between April 7-13, 1991,
a celebration that later expanded to all of
April in 2010, stressing counties' role in the
intergovernmental relationship with the
federal government, cities, states and tribes.
More than 80 counties and state associations
recognized the week,
With county officials in attendance in the
Oval Office, President George Bush signed
a proclamation during that year's Legislative
Conference:
"In recent years, more and more American
have realized what many have known a
along: That the answer to many of th
problems before us can be found, not i
bigger federal government, but in effectiv
local leadership and cooperation betwee
citizens and public officials
at all levels. Indeed, we know
the government closest to the
people is truly government
of the people, by the people
and for the people. This is the
essence of federalism and
,•emocracy, and it is key to
As a testament to the organization's recovery
over the prior nine years, NACo received more
than 200 applications to succeed Thomas. The
executive committee reached back onto NACo's
bench with Larry Naake, the executive director
of the California State Association of Counties
who had worked in
NACo's legislative affairs in
the early 1970s and 1980s. The
same Larry Naake whom Bernie
Hillenbrand had entrusted
the General Revenue Sharing
lobbying effort in the 1970s.
6hi
President George H,W, Bush signs a
proclamation establishing National County
Government Week on March 19,1991, Looking
on are: John Thomas, NACo executive
director; Ann Klinger, NACo immediate past
president; Michael Stewart, NACo president;
Kaye Braaten, NACo first vice president:
Sen, Conrad Burns (R-Mont) and Rep,
Ben Erdreich (D-Ala), who introduced the
measure in Congress; Barbara Sheen Todd,
NACo third vice president and John Stroger,
NACo second vice president, Photo by
David Hathcox
M
NATIONAL
COUNTY
GOVERNMENT
CD
0')
4-�
M
co
Q)
0
0
C
0
-f --- I
CU
National Association of Counties: 90 years
1935
George F. Breitbach (below)
Milwaukee County, Wis, clerk organizes
gathering for county leaders
National County Officers Association
is formed
County Officer publication
subscriptions offer workaround
for membership — $3 a year
1937
National County Officers Association
conference is aired on short wave radio
1939
National Association of County Officers
conference reaches 500 attendees
1940:
CounEy IUdUUIJ IIUIP
mobilize troops and
resources during WWII
1945
Former Jackson County, Mo.
judge Harry S. Truman
becomes president
of the United States
UyIdVVJ d1IIUIIUUU EU dIIUVV Its lUlldl UI3EIM3
1957
Executive Director
Bernie Hillenbrand (above)
becomes NACo's first employee
1957
American County Platform
consolidates and articulates
NACo's policy objectives
1958
The Monday Letter
replaces the County Officer
1959
Counties earn seats on the Advisory
rnmminrrinn nn In+nrnn%inrmmnn+,iI Qnln+lnn
MW6
.A11VE CONFERENCE
S REVENUE SHARING
1960s
NACo News and Views
replaces "The Monday Letter"
1962
Name changes to
National Association
of Counties
1968
Former Baltimore County, Md,
Executive Spiro Agnew (below)
is elected vice president of the
United States
r !
NACo
at 90
0 le�
f
on o ounties,
90-year history
s of til lified county leadership
.t
1970
Achievement Awards
NACo recognizes innovation
in counties large and small
with a national awards
program
1970
Clesson Y. Chikasuye
(above) becomes NACo's first
Asian American president,
launching a decade of
important firsts
7
1980
NACo establishes a deferred compensation
program for countybeginning 1991
long relationship would become Executive Director
Nationwide Retirement SolutionsLarry Naake (above) brings a
blend of legislative experience
A80sand business sense to help
NAC' makes an untimely lease NACo rebuild a strong financial
�
of ' building • foundation with the launch NATIONAL
of U.S. Communities COUNTY
Counties celebrate GOVERNMENT
WEE K
1982 National County
NACo members, state associations Government Week, which
and friends help pull NACo evolves into National County
through financial crisis Government Month April 7 -13
1 9 9 1
1972
1983
Gladys Spellman (right)
Executive Director Matt Coffey (below)
becomes NACo's first
helps stabilize NACo finances and operations
woman president
• '
1986
1973
Executive Director John Thomas
NACo helps secure passage of
(above) expands NACo pivot back
General Revenue Sharing�
toward county programming
1976
President Gerald Ford
signs Payments in Lieu_
of Taxes program
1978
T
Charlotte L. Williams
becomes NACo's first
+,
African American
M,
`
Qresidp.nt (rinht)1!
�.� �.•.�
act Stop the
�mpthome- Mandate
1 Madness
the Mandate Ntadn
2000
NACo reaches
2,000 member
county milestone
2001
Javier Gonzales (below)
becomes NACo's first
Hispanic American president
2001
Counties contribute to
homeland security
2004
NACo starts the County
Leadership Institute
2006
NACo is named one of seven
outstanding associations by th
American Society of Associatio
Executives
2011
iCivics and
Counties Work Game bring
dynamic civic education
to an online audience
2012
Executive Director Matt Chase (below)
brings generational change and a
foundation of county data to NACo
THE
U
STEPPING.P
I N I T I A T I V E
2015
Stepping Up initiative seeks to divert
people suffering from mental illness out
of county jails
2019
Hi n Leadership High Performance lead p
Academy partnership
with Colin Powell and
Professional Developement Academy
launched
2020
Former New Castle County, Del,
Councilmember Joe Biden is elected
president of the United States, Former
San Francisco County, Calif,
District Attorney Kamala Harris
is elected vice president of the
United States
2021
Counties secure $65,1 billion
in direct pandemic aid through the
American Rescue Plan Act
2023
NACo launches Public Promise
Insurance and Public Promise
Procurement
2024
The Marvelous Adventures of
Countyland helps counties look
toward the transformative potential
of artificial intelligence
Public
Promise
Insurance
Powered by \AG;
1,1,e Marvelous
Adventures of'
FFr
Countyland PUBLIC
PROMISE
PROCUREPY;__
w.oder =1�C1.
...tiM1
} 5 WE ARE~
�:.
/ I COUNTIES +
NE --AWE 1 lr
AUNTIES I ,Fri \ "`
" e
��'`�� ' i WE ARE (- --
�•�v^� r COUNTIES �►,� CwOUNTIES
i -
"Some people in the
White House didn't
know the difference
between a county
and a city. it was a
shock to me:'
Jim Snyder, a
Cattaraugus County, New
York legislator and former
NACo president
CD
0-)
4--J
co
Cn
(a)
C)
4-
0
C:
0
a
York legislator and former NACo president,
left county office to serve as director of
intergovernmental affairs for President Bush.
He noted a distinct lack of county awareness
among his colleagues in the executive branch,
and he sought to correct this.
"Some people in the White House didn't know
the difference between a county and a city. It
was a shock to me" he said in 2019.
Ten years later, President George W. Bush
would also bring a county veteran in as
director of intergovernmental affairs, former
San Mateo County, California Supervisor
Reuben Barrales. That administration also
included former Orange County, Florida
Mayor Mel Martinez, who served as Secretary
of Housing and Urban Development.
Cooperative Purchasing
When Naake returned to NACo, he left a small
but reliable cooperative purchasing project at
CSAC which his successor, Steve Swendiman,
HM
Soon after, he recruited Swendiman, formerly
a Shasta County, California supervisor, to
join NACo and bring his business sense with
Wiiv, and they considered devising a program
0
Multnomah County, Oregon Intergovernmental Affairs officer Fred Neil,
president of the National Association of County Intergovernmental Relations
officers, enjoys a light moment with Jim Snyder, newly appointed special
assistant to the president for intergovernmental affairs, after a White House
briefing Oct, 22,1991,
"I was never a guy who wanted to lobby,"
Swend
iman said. I always preferred the
management side of things:'
Swendiman didn't take a salary and lived
on the road while he built what would be
administered as NACo's new for -profit
Financial Services Center.
"That revenue went back into the organization,
after the expenses) and really supported the
-1 - .- U 4. #-% % j,,e% + f% i ;,, in i , , Qt n n
The program, one of the first of its kind,
sought to take advantage of the economies
of scale when bundling the needs of many
counties to secure lower purchase prices.
David Davenport invested $1 million to seed
the program.
Swendiman is quick to credit Naake with
navigating the elements at play.
"How do you create something that's going to
have a residual revenue flow to NACo? How
do you do that without disturbing a nonprofit"
We said. I think it was masterful."
Swendiman also lauded Fairfax CountN
Virginia Supervisor Gerry Hyland for givin(
cooperative purchasing the shot in the arm i
needed,after pitchesto other nonprofitsto ge
in on the business were unsuccessful. Hylan(
won Fairfax's purchasing director over on thi
service and before too long, Fairfax Count)
and Los Angeles County were competing t(
Steve Swendiman, founder and managing director of NACo's Financial
Services Center, Photo by David Hathcox
do the most business, motivated by the 50/*
commission counties would earn.
The first major contract, with Office Depot,
started at $2 million and grew to $700 million
a year wn seven years.
"It turned out to be our bread-and-butter
program and it allowed us to do a bunch of
other programs" Swendiman said. Doug Bovin,
a Delta County, Michigan commissioner who
was NACo's president when the Financial
Services Center launched, was an evangelist
for the program in Michigan. "it had the great
dual benefit of making things more affordable
for counties, while allowing NACo to be able
to do more and be financially secure," he said.
"It turned out to
be our bread-and-
butterprogram and
it allowed us to do
a bunch of other
programs.
Steve Swendiman,
managing director of
NACO's Financial Services
Center
co
(D
4�
0
U
`4-
0
C
0
4�
M
C)
0
U)
Cf)
<�r
NACo President John Stroger (right) meets
with Virginia Gov, Douglas Wilder, Stroger
was a Cook County, Illinois commissioner,
41
CO
(0
(D
41
0
C)
L4-
0
C
0
4--J
(13
C)
0
By 2018, U.S. Communities, as the cooperative
purchasing venture was known, had grown
in 23 years to $3.5 billion in annual sales,
with 45 high -value national contracts. When
partners in the business sold to a competitor,
NACo sold its interest in the entity. Following
a four-year non -compete agreement, NACo
returned to the business, launching Public
Promise Procurement and Public Promise
Insurance under the rebranded NACo EDGE.
Back in the 1990s, a growing corporate
membership program put vendors in front
of county decision makers, reflecting a
nationwide trend toward more formalized
NACo also sold its option to purchase the
building on First Street, netting 2.3 million.
By 1997, NACo's 15-year deficit was eliminated
and two years later, the organization boasted
a $5.5 million surplus.
Caucuses
Following the riots in Los Angeles in Apri
and May 1992, then -First Vice President Joh
Stroger, a Cook County, Illinois commissione
called for an urban county summit later in Ma
to meet with White House and congression
leaders.
"All you need to do is look at the Los
Angeles riots to see how extensive a role
county government plays in the life of urban
America" Stroger said. "it was the county
health network that handled the emergency
admissions during the unrest. it was the
county fire department that fought nearly
1,000 fires during the days of the disturbance,
and it's the county that will have to deal
with the overcrowded court system in the
aftermath of thousands of riot arrests."
The Large Urban County Caucus (LUCC) held
its first regular conference in Washington,
D.C. that fall. The caucus would meet every
7
Four years later, President Michael Hightower,
a Fulton County, Georgia commissioner,
established the Rural Renaissance Task Force,
which later begat the Rural Action Caucus
(RAC), led by Blue Earth County, Minnesota
Commissioner Colleen Landkamer, later a
NACo president, and Harney County, Oregon
judge Dale White, previously a Western
Interstate Region president. Landkamer later
twice served as Minnesota state director of
Rural Development for the U.S. Department of
Agriculture.
"At first it was just 10 or 20 us of, now look
at it" Landkamer said of RAC, a caucus that
eolam
Donald Murray (left) represented NACo for 40 years as a legislative
director for justice and public safety issues.
strains the occupancy limits of its conference
meeting rooms. "The rural voice is so c ral,
and RAC members are getting so much
information tailored to their needs they
wouldn't get anywhere else."
In 2025, NACo's board filled the gap by
establishing a new Mid -Sized County Caucus.
Unfunded Mandates
The 1990s brought a new opponent into vie
for counties: unfunded mandates. Presiden
Bush decried them during his 1992 State
the Union address: I
"We must put an end to unfinanced federal
government mandates. These are the
requirements Congress puts on our cities,
"We must put an
end to unfinanced
federal government
mandates. These are
the requirements
Congress puts on
our cities, counties,
and states without
supplying the
money,
— President
George H.W. Bush
(D
va
(D
C
0
0
tll-
0
C
0
Ca
0
0
Cf)
U)
.1
NACo Executive Director Larry Naake speaks with President Bill Clinton,
NACo members engage in many ways. Steering
committee members dedicate an hour each
month for calls, plus countless other ways, in
actively offering ideas and feedback to White
House and agency officials, congressional
committees, and coaon partners.
Other officials encourage their staff to attend
conferences. Some large counties like
Franklin County, Ohio bring more than two
dozen staff to conferences. Some elected
officials, like Hanover County, Virginia in
2005, make it a point in A1 Board of D
their public meetings
to credit NACo with is one of the large
a particular program nonprofit world. In
or solution they to Board nominei
are employing. In
rece.nt years, Ramsey state associationE
chairs of two steering committees and the
Large Urban County Caucus in the 2010s.
Commissioner Mary Jo McGuire went even
further, serving as NACo's president.
111tis just part of our culture in Ramsey County
to be involved in NACo and the Association of
Minnesota Counties" she said. "It was accepted,
irectors encouraged and supported. We make
sure there's a travel budget because
4,1t in the it's an investment in our county.1)
addition
L McGuire credited the rest of her Board
s f ro m E
of Commissioners with shifting her
NACOIS responsibilities during her presidency
NACo officers Randy Johnson, Jane
Hague and Betty Lou Ward draw states'
names during an Annual Business
Meeting. Johnson was a Hennepin County,
Minnesota commissioner, Hague was a
King County, Washington councilmember
and Ward was a Wake County, North
Carolina commissioner, All served as NACo
president. Photo by David Hathcox
4�
M
cry
0
C:
0
4�
CU
0
0
U)
Cn
I was able to
show Georgians,
that NACo is a
partner, that it
complements
everything we 'do
on the state level:'
— Larryjohnson, a
DeKalb County, Georgia
commissioner and
former NACo president
we interact with the federal government" she
said.
Don Stapley ran for the NACo executive
committee, and served as president in the
late 2000s, to ensure that Maricopa County,
Arizona, where he was a supervisor, had a
voice in the national policy discussion.
"We knew the issues we faced were on a
different scale than a lot of counties, but more
often than not, they are still the same issues"
NACo's Board of Directors is one of the larges
in the nonprofit world. In addition to Boar
nominees from state associations, NACo'
president nominates 10 members, and NACo'
24 affiliates also have seats. I
es that have 100 perceo nt NACmembe
Statrship
earn an extra seat on the Board of Directors,
which motivates recruitment. Larry Johnson, a
DeKalb County, Georgia commissioner, served
as NACo's ambassador throughout the state,
before, during and after his presidency, helping,
to achieve 100 percent membership.
stronger. We have so many more Georgians
involved in steering committees now, it's a
point of pride for me."
NACo executive leadership displays an even
higher level of commitment.
Randy Johnson, then a Hennepin County,
Minnesota commissioner, once made three
trips to Washington, D.C. in the 1990s'to testify
before congressional committees in a single
week while he was a NACo vice president,
all while attending to his responsibilities at
home. Riki Hokama's presidency may have
set a record for air miles traveled, owing to his
home county of Maui in Hawaii. The distance
and the time zone difference did not dull his
passion for NACo advocacy.
I wanted to try to visit every state while
I was on the executive committee" said
Valerie Brown, a Sonoma County, California
supervisor who -served as NACo's president.
"You meet so many people who put their time
and energy into county government in states
where they have different responsibilities and
powers, it's really fascinatings"
was able to show Georgians that NACo is a
Randy Franke, a Marion County, Oregon
state association meetings. "The travel was
worth it for all of the impressions you get
to make and receive from the members;' he
said. "It's a big country and there was always
something to learn about what more we could
be doing for counties."
The runway through the executive committee
has shortened since its six -seat process in the
late 1970s to four today.
State and county policy often play large part.,
in when county officials can seek office, giver
county officials in some states face term limits.
New Mexico, for example, limits officials t(
two terms, forcing candidates from the Lan(
of Enchantment to pursue NACo office ver,
early in their elected careers. Others •
als(
have short windows of opportunity.
q When I thought about it, there was reall
only one year that it made sense for me to ru
given what I wanted to do with my career
said Bill Hansell, a Umatilla County, Orego
commissioner who served as NACo presiden
in the 2000s.
Because they must be elected county officials
to serve in a leadership capacity, some NACo
Riki Hokama has been involved in NACo leadership for nearly 25 years, including as president from 2014-2015, when he
was a Maui County, Hawaii councilmember, Photo by Denny Henry
election as governor in 1980. There are times
when NACo has held simultaneous elections
for multiple executive committee seats.
NACo moved away from a nominating
committee in favor of direct elections for
officer positions in the late 1980s.
Now, the executive committee consists of a
second vice president, first vice president,
president and immediate past president,
along with four regional representatives, a
format introduced in 2010 after a governance
review committee led by San Diego County
Supervisor Greg Cox, who served as
NAWS FOUR REGIONS
WESTERN REGION
SOUTHERN REGION
CENTRAL REGION
NORTHEASTERN REGION
Gladys Spellman, of Prince George's
County, Maryland was NACo's first woman
president in 1972,
law
Competitive elections
don't necessarily lead
to acrimony among
candidates. During the
three -ballot, four-way race
for second vice president
in 2018, the candidates
bonded and became
friends during and after
the campaign. En route to
the Western Interstate Region Conference in
Blaine County, Idaho, Boone County,
Kentucky judge -Executive Gary
Moore and DeKalb County, Georgia
Commissioner Larry Johnson found
themselves sitting next to each other
on the flight from Salt Lake City.
"We had both been through
primaries the day before, so we had
.0
a lot to talk about there" Moore said.
"He was elected the next year, and
we worked so closely together and
became great friends"
In the late 1980s, the election for
the executive committee featured
a matchup between Kaye Braaten,
f ra vt 1,2,_##O-r)erson Richland County,
Chikasuye
Williams
"We got along very well even though we
ran against each other," Braaten said. "it was
important for NACO to have that diversity. I
was just a nurse from a farming community
who ran to fix our roads and bridges, and
he was from a county that did anything you
could think of."
In addition to biweekly calls, members of the
executive committee commit to ambitious
travel schedules to attend conferences by
state associations of counties.
NACo's leadership has featured
noted diversity. Honolulu County,
Hawaii's Clesson Chikasuye was
NACo's first Japanese American
president in 1970. Gladys Spellman,
of Prince George's County, Maryland
was NACo's first woman president in
1972. Charlotte Williams, a Genessee
County, Michigan Commissioner,
was NACo's first African American
president in 1978, and Santa Fe
. A
County Commissioner Javier
Gonzales was NACO's first Hispanic
president in 2001.
2000 Election
El
the "butterfly" ballots distributed
in Palm Beach County, Fla.
NACo and the National
Association of County Recorders,
Election Officials and Clerks
formed the National Commission
on Election Standards and
Reform to develop policy
recommendations for Congress,
states and counties. The
commission's report, delivered
in May 2001, addressed a variety of areas o
concern and recommended best practice
for dissemination throughout county electio
off ices.
"One good thing that has come out
this year's election is that people hav
started talking about the role of countie,
in the electoral process," said King Count
Washington Councilmember Jane Hagu
then NACo's president and a county election
official earlier in her career.
September 11, 2001
While the entire country, and even the world,
was transfixed by the enormity of the day,
counties were at work, cooperating with state
IThe Flight 93 Memorial in Somerset County
Pennsylvania,
Commissioner Pamela Tokar-
Ickes.
"On that day, we sort of divided
all of the responsibilities
that fell upon the county of
Somerset" Tokar-Ickes said
in 2022. "And we did what
needed to be done. One of
my fellow commissioners
worR-e-a very closely with the
coronerls office. Another one
of the commissioners really assisted with
all of the central purchasing requirements
and the things that were needed, And I was
tasked, really, immediately, with working on
memorialization.11
The events happened on Tuesday, and by
Friday night, the Somerset County courthouse
was home to a massive memorial service,
drawing thousands for one of the biggest
gatherings in the county's history, including
family members of Flight 93 passengers.
Knowing the site would soon become a
national memorial, the county coordinated
with the local historical society.
"Counties have a
significant role to
play in our new
national strategy
for homeland
security. We are
the public's first
defense:'
—Javier Gonzales, a
Santa Fe County, New
Mexico, commissioner
and former NACo
president
CD
M
ca
W
Q)
0
0
0
C)
0
U)
(1)
�M
The 2017 County Leadership Institute remains and the purchase of everything that
cohort celebrates completion of their was needed at that site for recovery.
three-day intensive programming,
"Everything from lip balm and sunscreen to
the individuals who needed to be mobilized
to actually search the site for human remains,
everything"Tokar-ickes said. "The Pennsylvania
Emergency Management Agency team told us:
"This is your responsibility from start to finish.
We just want you to know that. Nobody Is going
to come in here and do this for you. This is the
county's responsibility.
"The county coroner held the crash site for
more than a year and the county hired sheriff's
.-'. - 1'.1. C
release that site because you had people who
were always wanting to come onto the site
for various reasons, to pay their respects. We
didn't feel that anyone should be on that site."
Across the river from New York City, Hudsor
County, New Jersey assembled three stagin(
areas where EMS personnel treated injure(
people and transported them to hospitals. Thi
county's fire department responded on thi
day of the attacks, and several EMS personnE
remained on the scene during recoverl
operations.
Arlington County, Virginia EMS crews were first
on site at the Pentagon, and by mid -morning
more than 270 personnel were at work. Nearby
counties contributed personnel and resources
to all the affected areas.
Counties bridged the gap staffing securit)
at their airports between September 11 an(
when the Aviation Security Act establishe(
the Transportation Security Agency and pu
federal employees in charge of security an(
baggage screening at some county airportc
which account for one-third of the nation
airports, and a user fee funded securitl
measures at all U.S. airports.
eyeing a focus on rural county development. In
an instant, his leadership pivoted.
"We got him a place to speak in front of the
National Press Club that December, and he did
a great job presenting where counties were in
terms of protecting the country," said former
NACo Legislative Director Ed Rosado.
Gonzales served as chairman of NACo I s
Homeland Security Task Force and testified
before the Senate Governmental Affairs
Committee, Dec. 11, 2001, demanding
better coordination from federal agencies
and increased assistance to counties for
preparedness and security. He called for a $3
bon local anti -terrorism block grant to help
finance emergency preparedness investments
and for adequate funding of local public health
infrastructure under the Public Health Threats
and Emergencies Act.
Ap'!
"Counties have a significant role to play in our
new national strategy for homeland security,"
Gonzales told the committee. "We are the public's
first defense, but we do have limited resources
and will need additional support and cooperation
from the federal government in order to succeed."
of public health, local law enforcement and
intelligence sharing, infrastructure security
and emergency planning and public safety.
County Leader Education
and Training
I always saw NACo as a higher education for
elected officials, said C. Vernon Gray, a Howard
County, Maryland Councilmember who served
as NACo president in 1999-2000. "It's a place
where you go and learn more. A lot of people
become local officials because they' re popular
at home. They get elected, and they've not
done much in terms of educating themselves
with all the issues,"
Gray himself was chair of the political science
department at Morgan State University, so had
a unique perspective on the issue.
Executive Director Matt Chase
chats with former Secretary of
State Colin Powell during the
2020 Legislative Conference,
Photo by Denny Henry
C)
CO
(D
0
C)
'-4-
0
0
(0
0
0
U)
CO
N
In 2006, the
American Society
of Association
Executives named
NACo one of
seven outstanding
associations.
CTJ-
4�
�4-
0
C
0
4�
CU
.5
0
time job at home.
later served in Congress.
to address the governing challenges one of
their classmates was facing at home.
But Langston noted that a lot of the growth
happened outside of class as the officials
navigated New York City together.
XAI;-k +ke% I^nnn n+ AAO Piret Ot
I
NACo's recognition in 2006 as one of seven
outstanding associations by the American
Society of Association Executives. Together,
the two events helped turn the page for NACo
to look to the future with a stable footing.
Civic Education
In 2011, NACo partnered with iCivics,
nonpartisan nonprofit founded by Supre
Courflustice Sandra Day O'Connorto develol
an interactive computer game that place(
users in the shoes of a county official. Face(•
with a budget, a suite of county department.,
and a procession of constituents armed wit[
requests for service, players learned thi
variety of responsibes and powers count)
governments wield.
By matching their request to the appropriat
department, players earned the confidenc
and approval, of the voters to aid them
their quest for reelection. iCivics also offered
civic education curriculum focused on county
government aimed at students from grades
The online game helped counties reach a
complex target audience thanks to the wide
variation in county authorities, and names, in
different states.
because they'd have to
change for every state,"
said NACo President Glen
Whitley, Tarrant County,
Texas judge.
Several years later, NACo
funded upgrades to
the game, particularly
adapting it to changing
technology.
GOVERNING
NACo President and Boone County, Kentucky
N", MIEJudge-Executive
GRQV
Gary Moore; Spokane County,ND
Washington Regional Veterans Services
Director Cathrene Nichols, Weber County,
Utah Clerk Auditor Ricky Hatch and Travis
In 2022, NACo published county, iexas commissioner nnHowar
celebrate the release of Governing on the
"Governing on the Ground" Ground, Photo by Denny Henry
t- h e story of county
government seen through the eyes of
31 elected and appointed officials. . . . . .
These county leaders not only
explained how their responsibilities
and expertise in subjects like
countv roads. informatio
WI -
technology, climate preparedness,
mental health and homelessness
interact with the public, they
also offered a window into their
motivations for pursuing a career
in county government.
"After 25 years as an assistant public
Graphics from
the "Counties
Work" game,
CO
CO
(D
4--J
0
0
0
C
0
4�
CO
C)
0
U)
CO
<r
®■
I NACo President Sallie Clark
PI leads a 2015 Fall Board Meeting
tour of Waldo Canyon, the site
of a devastating fire that struck
El Paso County, Colorado. Photo
by Charlie Ban
New Leadership
Approaching Larry Naake's retirement in 2012,
an executive recruitment firm tasked with
finding his successor pursued Matt Chase,
then the executive director of the National
Association of Development Organizations.
Chase was raised by a Washington County,
New York district attorney and judge and a
mental health professional and brought fresh
federal government affairs experience to the
job. "Matt wanted to make NACo the place
to go for information, the source nationwide
for data on counties;' said Lenny Eliason,
an Athens County, Ohio commissioner who
was NACo president while recruiting Chase.
"We had been an information clearinghouse,
but he saw an opportunity to enhance our
credibility by being more assertive, really
becoming a leader in the ideas marketplace,"
NACo soon fortified its
research department,
which compiled reliable
statistics ranging from
the proportion of
county -owned roads
(44%) and bridges
(38%) to the share
Of the U.S. workforce
C
NACo COUNTY EXPLORER
AN 412 N (i CO L N I Y DPQ A.
Map an Indicator County profit.
in recruiting members who overlapped with
congressional leaders in relevant committees.
"We wanted to put a human face on the
services that counties are providing, and
these are our neighbors, these are our family
members, these are our friends," Chase said.
"Counties are about community. We're not
just about dollar figures, physical assets and
courthouses,"
The overall effort helps to illustrate the scope
of the work counties do, the people involved
in their governance and administration and
the extent to which county governments have
authority to enact policy.
The data analysis added up to the County
Explorer, an interactive website displaying a
dizzying array of county -level data.
www.NACo.org/CountyExplorerNACO
chyfhps.,ch� 1110
�
. .. ...... .
n
16
2Q1$P.yrrttirUfTa(P1LT)
Policy development
evolved to policy
advancement, following
to demonstrate counties'
willingness to generate
ideas and readiness
to take charge and
n- J-,&J Ad r A a k f% n + 61 a, ; 11 Ax.
W""A#&WNft
NACo Executive Director Matt Chase
"Matt wanted to
make NACo the
place to go for
information, the
source nationwide
for data on
counties:'
Lenny Eliason, an
Athens County, Ohio
cD commissioner and former
CID
NACo president who
hired Matt Chase 0
0
I IN
E
0
M
Q
0
CIO
U)
IMMIN®R
L
MOP— I
"Most of the
individuals with
mental health
illnesses actually
are the victims, not
the perpetrators."
— Matt Chase, NACO 9 s
executive director
THE
UP
I N IT I A T I V E
When Chase arrived for his first day at
.. A -1. 1 - --- --L - - .,..Lt- - -&.11 e%.r 1^++^rc%
It also demonstrated a new tactic NACo was
taking to address counties' needs.
The initiative followed the example of Miami -
Dade County, Florida Administrative Judge
Steve Leifman's pioneering work directing
people in mental health distress toward
resources that will help them receive the
treatment they need while also making better
use of resources counties are otherwise
spending on jail operations and expansion.
Leifman's work was elevated by NACo's LUCC
Chair Sally Heyman, a Miami -Dade County
commissioner.
"The cost to local county governments, because
of not treating this population, is so exorbitant"
he said in 2024. "It's almost'mind boggling. I
think if taxpayers understood how many billions
of dollars were getting wasted by not treating
people, they would be stunned, and we might
be able to actually fix the problem."
In addition to the pretrial services, Stepping Up
has also emphasized the importance of crisis
intervention training for law enforcement,
equipping responding officers with the
knowhow to de-escalate situations with
people experiencing mental health crises.
"We've just seen tremendous buy -in and great
results, including sheriffs and law enforcement
&90
have been recognized as "accelerators" fo
e
their sophisticated, comprehensive effort
to reducthe number of people with ment
illness in their jails. I
Close Partners
In 2016, NACo moved again, this time to the
.?-djacent building located at 660 North Ca pitol
Co -located with the National League of
Cities, the building includes a joint conference
center, which has allowed NACo to play host to
an increasing number of briefings, conferences,
peer exchanges, confabs, discussions, dialogs,
debates and meetings.
0
Council of State Governments Executive
Director Michael Thompson; Loudoun
County, Virginia Sheriff Mike Chapman;
Ramsey County, Minnesota Commissioner
Toni Carter; Rep, Patrick Kennedy (D-Mass.);
mental health advocate Paton Bloch;
NACo Director of Strategic Relations Linda
Langston and Department of Justice Director
of Justice Assistance Denise O'Donnell
celebrate the launch of the Stepping Up
Initiative in May 2015, Langston, a former
Linn County, Iowa supervisor, was a NACo
president, Photo by Alix Kashdan
A PRESCRIPTION
FOR ACTION
Local Leadership in Ending
the Opioid Crisis
S�
"My greatest
surprise was how
physicians that
were trying to find
solutions to pain
management had
bought into the fact
that opioids were
not addictive and
it
that they were safe:'
— Gary Moore, the Boone
County, Kentucky judge -
executive and former
NACo president
CD
cn
U
k4-
0
C:
0
co
0
co
U)
diagnostic effort or corroboration.
These clinics were often the refuge of
patients who received prescriptions
for medicine that was advertised
OPIOID
SOLUTIONS
CENTER
to be nonaddictive, then found out
those claims were inflated and were desperate
to avoid withdrawal symptoms.
Those efforts were too late to stem the increas
in Americans suffering from substance us
disorder as a result of their prescriptions. B
2016, drug overdose was the leading caus
of accidental death in the United States, an
counties were seeing those results manifes
across the services they provided.
First responders were finding more and more-,
residents suffering overdoses, and for many
it would be years before they had access t#;
L.
treatment to stop those overdoses. Failed drug
tests had become major contributors
to unemployment. Coroners and
medical examiners saw added
caseloads when overdoses became
fatal. Child and family services were
stretched thin when parents died or were
unable to care for children.
Much like the mental health crisis, options
for treatment were dramatically limited by
the number of providers, which was almost
always far less than the demand. And when
supply crackdowns made it harder and more
expensive to obtain prescription drugs, users
would divert into heroin and later synthetic
opioids like Fentanyl, which posed even
greater risks of overdose.
In 2016 NACo and the National League of
es formed a joint opioid task force to
examine the intergovernmental solutions to
the issue, analyze best practices and offer
policy prescriptions.
Boone County, Kentucky Judge -Executive Gary
Moore, who later served as NACo president,
was NACo's co-chair for the task force and saw
-the effects of the epidemic in his home county.
that were trying to find solutions to pain
management had bought into the fact that
opioids were not addictive and that they were
safe" Moore said.
Soon, counties were seeking legal relief from
the consultants, manufacturers and dis-
tributors of these painkillers, arguing that
not only were they improperly marketed as
nonaddictive, but the marketing efforts singled
out individual communities. Between 1999 and
2017, the CDC estimated that 400,000 people in
the United States died from opioid overdoses.
"Something that I think was key was through
our work and working with others, demanding
that the amount of money that would be paid
by either manufacturers or distributors needed
to be based not on population but based on
some critical data like how many overdoses
occurred in a county," Moore said.
Part of the $54 billion settlement from the
multidistrict litigation against pharmaceutical
manufacturers, distributors, marketers and
retailers offered new resources to counties,
and NACo's Opioid Solutions Center and Opioid
Solutions Leadership Network presented
resources to help them invest that money
Ckffn^+;% ff.-% Is & " — _. - — I ffi- I -
Early Childhood Care
Though only a few states charge counties with
a significant role in public education, there's
a short window for county programming to
make a difference in a child's development.
Counties for Kids is a public awareness
campaignforcountyleaderswhoarecommitted
to making investments in young children from
prenatal to age three. The campaign offers
peer learning networks for rural, suburban
and urban counties for county leaders to learn
local early childhood innovations and leading
practices for advancing PN-3 policies, services
and systems,
Like his early 2000s effort to address
mental illness in jails, Dallas County, Texas
Commissioner Ken Mayfield brought attention
to the county role in child development, and
that cause was carried further by Tarrant
County, Texas Commissioner Roy Charles
Brooks in 2017 upon his NACo presidency
with a partnership with the Pritzker Children's
Initiative and the National Collaborative for
Infants and Toddlers.
"We have a vested interest in the lives of
children because those children become
Franklin County, Ohio Director of the
Department of Job and Family Services
Joy Bivens discusses how the federal
government can help states and counties
deliver services that create pathways
out of poverty while testifying before the
House Committee on Ways and Means
Subcommittee on Worker and Family
Supports,
pp Viz:
1 F
r
5311Nnp 41�s3ll Pn N4r7
tim 3dV 3MJ
3V 3' -
S311NnOJ _
321V 3M �� 5311NnOJ �� 5311NnOJ
�� 3tiV 3M I n 3dV 3M 1�
L _
3dV 3M r1 + 5311NnCi
` . N
\ ' ^ •. � '�7 �' wry;. �
53 tf 3M Y
53a no:)
3tiV 3M
(i
Pandemic
As county officials gathered in Washington,
D.C. for the 2020 Legislative Conference,
news from China buzzed in the background.
Regardless of whether they were public health
officers, word of a fast -spreading respiratory
virus had a growing number of attendees
concerned. Some wore surgical masks. Health
Policy Steering Committee Chair Phil Serna,
a Sacramento County, California supervisor,
eschewed handshakes for an elbow bump as
a precaution against spreading a disease that
few understood.
King County, Washington Executive Dow
Constantine arrived in Washington, D.C., and
immediately flew back to Seattle upon the
news that the first domestic death attributable
to COVID-19 had been recorded in his county.
President Donald Trump, making the first
appearance by a U.S. president at a NACo
conference in 24 years, brought with him to
the conference CDC Director Robert Redfield
to address county officials' concerns. Trump
had invited several thousand county officials
to visit the White House during his term, giving
elected officials new levels of access to the
executive branch and NACo an opportunity
to engage with more county officials.
President Donald Trump addressed the 2020 Legislative Conference, on the eve of the COVID-19 pandemic,
Photo by Denny Henry
year as they grappled with a public health
and economic crisis that few if any could
prepare for as the COVID-19 pandemic spread
throughout the United States.
The nation's 1,900 local public health
agencies responded with varying guidance
regulating the size of gatherings, limiting
commercial activity and trying to pierce
the fog of uncertainty with guidance from
the CDC, National Institutes of Health and
other authorities. Many county agencies
coordinated testing for COVID-19 when tests
became available.
T
0 ,
t.,.✓
tt�
0
CO
President "
Waymon Mumford
George HUM&
�},;,
YC�
11
yb'
�
Hugh Clarke (NACo)
Dan E99leston
�f
113 Hong Michael Logsdon Magist...
�
M 'KI.TAN
CC N }
Jim Zwetzig Ronald Houseman I
C
AI
Willlam Kyger Manny Ruiz
46
4
0
The pandernic placed tremendous strai
on county • who •# •
responsibility for the well-being of thei
residents. Onondaga County, New Yor
Executive Ryan McMahon suffered vislo
problems because of stress and exhaustion.
The totality of the county effort was hard to see
at the time, but looking back, Borgeson was
amazed at what she saw.
I was proud that counties showed that w(
!• shut down. We just find a way to do wha
we need to do to get the job done" she said."
was just so extremely proud • the NACo staf
getting people together daily on phone call.4
to give them the best information, sometime,
just peace of mind or a chance to hear thel
concerns and try to find answers.
"It was amazing to see the weekly calls with
-the media, the close coordination with the
administration. I think we showed that we can
continue to be strong for all counties, even
through a pandemic,"
The CARES Act, passed in March 202
s.upplied some financial relief, though it wa
a state -oriented bill that only offered direcl
11C) w6iwk 'Mk i i I r% +; t
Former NACo President Chris Rodgers and Mary Ann Borgeson, then NACo's president, comply with public health guidelines
while conducting a Douglas County, Nebraska commissioners meeting early in the COVID-19 pandemic,
Meanwhile, NACo's We Are Counties
campaign highlighted the frontline roles
that county personnel played in staffing
nearly 1,000 hospitals, over 800 long-term
care facilities, 750 • health centers,
1,900 public health departments, emergency
operations centers and • systems. The
campaign showed the faces of the local civil
servants who were keeping their counties
running from home or six feet apart.
NACo had the foresight to purchase pandemic
insurance for its events, which softened the
financial blow of canceling the 2020 Annual
Conference, scheduled for Orange County,
Florida. Like everything else that year, a
stripped -down conference was held online,
with a fully remote Annual Business Meeting
for the first and only time.
"I had daily
conversations
with people on
the phone or on
Zoom. A lot of
people called for
advice, or to trade
stories, asking how
other counties
were managing the
pandemic,"
— Mary Ann Borgeson,
a Douglas County,
Nebraska commissioner
ca
4�
0
0
C:
0
4--J
(0
-5
0
U)
U)
_-rl
W
CORONAVIRUS
STATE & LOCAL FISCAL
RECOVERY FUND
ADVOCACY TOOLKIT
NACo's Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal
Recovery Fund Advocacy Toolkit was a
sampling of NACo's resources related to the
American Rescue Plan Act.
"We had to start
educating federal
partners about
what counties were
doing to address
the COVID-19
pandemic both
immediately and in
the long term:'
Eryn Hurley, NACo's
managing director for
government affairs
on Election Day, older Americans whose age
put them at elevated risk for serious COVID
infection. County election officials expanded
ballot access, installed drop boxes and
navigated uneven state laws governing ballot
counting procedures. Elected officials of all
kinds faced criticism, skepticism and in some
cases harassment after a close presidential
election, driving tremendous turnover in their
ranks for years after.
Joe Biden, who had been a mainstay at NACo
conferences both as a U.S. senator and in
2015 as vice president, took office in 2021,
leading a ticket in which both officers were
county veterans. Biden had served on the
New Castle County, Delaware Council from
1971-1972 and Vice President Kamala Harris
had served as San Francisco City and County
district attorney from 2004-2011, as a deputy
district attorney in Alameda County, California
from 1990-1998 and chief of the San Francisco
career criminal division from 1998-2000.
Throughout 2020 and early 2021, the need
for additional COVID relief was apparent, and
negotiations would continue through the end
of Trump's first term and into Biden's. Along
the way, the Senate changed hands, but
+k rr% I I ri k r% 1 1+ K I A t' ^ n r-s ri n ri^ r4 ^ ^ n ri rn c- -; r% n n I
ARPXs overall $1.5 trillion price tag was driven
by economists' contention that insufficient
relief for state and local governments
in 2008 prolonged the Great Recession
and contributed to uneven recovery. Two
provisions made all the difference for
counties: First, the $65.1 billion —the largest
federal investment in county government
in American history —would be distributed
directly to counties, with no need to navigate
relationships with governors. And second, the
money could also be used to backfill lost tax
revenue as a result of the pandemic.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.),
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell
(Ky.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
all committed to giving local governments equal
footing with the states, though Matt Chase
noted that their first draft proposal used the
Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)
formula to distribute the money.
"We wanted it to be general aid and not a grant,
they picked CDBG because it was really the
most common trusted formula that got money
directly from the federal government to local
government bypassing the states," Chase
said. "What they didn't realize was that the
,1
start educating federal partners
of articulating the challenges counties were
"Senator Schumer
counties were doing to address
facing. They played an instrumental part in
was a champion of
-19 pandemic both immediately
building political support..directing
k long term," said Eryn Hurley,
money to
naging director for government
"There was also tremendous continuity
the local level. The
took charge of ARPA education
between the Trump and Biden administrations
New York county
for county governments. It really
while we worked it out."
ed how counties were on the front
executives and the
ressing the COVID-19 pandemic
When Boone County, Kentucky Judge-
New York State
3M just public health. There were
Executive Gary Moore spoke to McConnell
Association of
her items that were exacerbated,
about getting aid directly to counties, he
A and everything.
called upon the memory of General Revenue
Counties did a great
Sharing to show how the package would
job of articulating
Support for a 50-50 share between
work. Although ARPA passed on a party -line
:ounties, with a key provision that
vote, Moore said there was value in engaging
the challenges
�d city -counties could tap into both.
the Republicans.
counties were
r, all three congressional leaders
facin ."
I consolidated governments.
We did have an impact with Republican
ved a San Francisco district,
senators because while they were insisting
— Matt Chase, NACO's
ad represented New York City in
that they were opposed to the package, they
executive director
)rior to the Senate and McConnell
understood that when it happened, it would
-executive of Jefferson County,
be best to not go through the states. So, we all
Mich consolidated with Louisville
had an impact in educating and moving it."
Counties had the leeway to invest their
:-flosi was unbendable" Chase said. ARPA funding as they wished, supporting
3. so many efforts by the governors local businesses, bolstering food distribution
�ut and to reduce our money, and systems for residents, offering grants to social
Iosi, in particular, was just a piece service organizations and senior resource
Senator Schumer was a champion centers, providing housing assistance, public
I money to the local level. The New health and more.
-y executives and the New York
r%iation of Counties did a great job
LO, n
63
nwr
"Thanks to the
pandemic, the
universal need
for broadband
became reality
overnight, rather
than something
that might have
been 10 or 20 years
in the future."
— Gary Moore, the
Boone County, Kentucky
judge -executive and
former NACo president
As 2021 dawned, counties were part of the
chain of custody delivering and distributing
doses of the COVID vaccine that allowed the
country to tenuously return to a pre-COVID
time. The successful vaccine distribution
allowed NACo to quickly plan a hybrid 2021
Annual Conference, with an in -person event
held at the Gaylord National Harbor in Prince
Georg e- 's County, Maryland. Located within
driving distance of NACo's Washington, D.C.
office, conference planning staff were able to
prepare for the conference while limiting their
travel. Accustomed to planning conferences
over much longer timeframes, NACo had
once arranged an Annual Conference on
short notice in Cook County, Illinois in 2006,
but staff had one year to plan that, compared
to three months in 2021.
Vice President Harris continued a growing
streak or the executive branch when she
spoke at the 2021 Annual Conference, and
Biden would carry it on for three more years,
addressing General Sessions at the 2022-
2024 Legislative Conferences.
Connecting Across the Country
When schools went remote, doctors limited
in -person appointments, small businesses
to the world at the moment and where things
would be evolving in the future.
NACo had already been pushing to verify
the accuracy of internet service providers'
claims, introducing a smartphone app, TestIt,
that allowed users across the country to test
their internet speed from their counties. The
Broadband Task Force, in 2020 and 2021,
examined what counties must do to prepare
for broadband, what stood in the way, how
disparities in access affected their residents
and how counties could prepare to compete
in a global internet economy.
"Thanks to the pandemic, the universal nee
for broadband became reality overnigh
rather than something that might have bee
10 or 20 years in the future" Boone Count
Kentucky Judge -Executive Gary Moore said.
Boone County was one of the first in the
nation to connect every home to high-speed
internet service.
As the task force's work began, Chair J.D.
Clark did not have much experience with
broadband, even as judge of the Wise County,
Texas Commissioner's Court.
"NACo.
Microsoft
Ak
lk,
%P
-ANIL
111(aiNUPSIM
Innovations in the
field can develop
so quickly that
the committee's
report, the Al
County Compass,
instead focused
on a framework
for assessing the
technology.
C)
0-)
U)
Q)
0
0
C
0
4--J
co
the employment world changes. As executive
director of the New York State Association of
Counties, he has been attuned to the nuances
of a heavy public sector union state.
"There's a sense that 'we've always done it
this way, and it's hard to break that inertia"
he said. "The lack of understanding by most
people will be the impediment to adopting it."
Innovations in the field can develop so quickly
that the committee's report, the Al County
Compass, instead focused on a framework
for assessing the technology and providing
county officials with a basic understanding of
how to evaluate Al.
"I'm worried that a county will get itself into
a contractual agreement that may not be
favorable," said Peter Crary, a committee
member and senior manager of technology at
the Texas Association of Counties. I really do
hope that we can give them guidance on what
to do. If we can at least build guardrails and
educate them on how to build the policies,
what vendors are looking for, these are the
questions you should ask.
Frankly, residents may come to expect Al -
"The speed of evolution of the technology
is going to be a challenge for county
governments because they do not move at
the pace of the private sector," he said.
Chris Rodgers, a Douglas County, Nebraska
commissioner who made cybersecurity
his priority as NACo president in 2012-2013,
was concerned about the proliferation of
misinformation and disinformation in what
Al models learn, influencing their outputs. If
counties perpetuate that bad information, it
legitimizes it and could deteriorate a county's
trustworthiness.
"Once it's out there, there's no way you pull it
back in," he said.
Matt Chase used generative Al to compose
The Marvelous Adventures of Countyland, a
rhyming children's story about the functions
of county government, as an example to
elected officials of what is possible with the
new technology but also illustrating some of
the limitations inherent in Al, such as biases in
assuming demographic details in illustrations.
Housing Affordability
One of the long legacies of the Great Recession
It became clear in 2022 that housing
affordability had reached a crisis, and every
level of government would have to figure out
how to make it easier to build housing. Will
County, Illinois Board Member Denise Winfrey,
then NACo's president, created the Housing
Affordability Task Force to articulate ways
counties could do their part to encourage the
development of affordable quality housing units.
NACo worked with the Brookings Institution and
the Aspen Institute to create a Housing Solutions
Matchmaker tool, which analyzes demographic
trends for individual counties, comparing them
against their peers in the same state and other
counties across the country.
The task force itself provided policy
prescriptions for leveraging federal resources,
land use reforms, regulatory adjustments,
community engagement and more.
"Stable, quality housing is the foundation
for better health, safety, education, a strong
workforce, improved financial wellness, and
lower demands on the social safety net"
Winfrey said, "NACo's Housing Task Force
is committed to meeting the moment and
addressing our residents' housing needs-."
Vled to rural counties, with many occupying
second homes in resort communities near
national parks and recreation areas. Public
lands soon saw themselves being "loved to
death" around the same time that wildfires
in national forests sent plumes of smoke
across the country. All of that converged to
raise the awareness of the challenges public
lands counties face in managing and funding
operations.
Public lands counties, funded in large part
by Payments in Lieu of Taxes and the Secure
Rural Schools Act, have a unique relationship
with the federal government, with federal
Prairie County, Montana Commissioner
Todd Devlin speaks at the 2018 Capitol Hill
rally in support of the Payments in Lieu of
Taxes and Secure Rural Schools programs,
Photo by Jason Dixon
"We, as an
organization,
really believe in
the importance of
factual information
and data -driven
analysis to inform
public officials."
—Craig Sullivan,
executive director of
the County Supervisors
Association of Arizona
t� .. . t Z ; F
�� 14 1
Some of those counties focus on resource
extraction, some on outdoor recreation.
Others are affected by the ease with which a
presidentcan increase or decrease the amount
of public land covered by the Antiquities Act,
which governs national monuments. They
have economies all of their own, and NACo
and the Western Interstate Region created
the National Center for Public Lands Counties
in 2023 to study those economies, tell their
stories and serve as a repository of knowledge
for county leaders, including documents like
natural resource plans and other strategic
planning documents.
Sparked by the creation of the Loc
Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fun
h
countis voluntarily cntriuted funs for t I
eobd
center to demonstrate how the prosperity
of public lands counties creates a more
prosperous America, telling that story through
traditional and new media.
"As a group, we have decades of experience
working with public lands issues, but the
problem with that is that it takes decades to
build that up" said Greg Chilcott, a Ravalli
County, Montana commissioner who was an
early champion of the center. "By pooling
our experience and bung that repository
of knowledge, we can help new officials in
public lands counties speed up their learning
curve.
Craig Sullivan, executive director of th
County Supervisors Association of Arizon
prizes the data and analysis the center's sta
has generated. I
as an organization, really believe in th(
importance of factual information and data
driven analysis to inform public officials,
he said. s also important to tell the stor)
of public lands in a way that people cat
understand, because the public lands stor)
is very complicated. We're already seein(
foundational information coming out of thi
"Ir, Air, ;rA' I-= 60 : r% AAJ AtL ; -At 1W + 6� ; 'XI I-W C' + I& 'n + V#Alal I I I 1i i
Disaster Reform. Task Force
Repeated wildfires and floods in Sonoma
County and elsewhere in California have
shown Supervisor James Gore that federal
disaster assistance policy, managed by the
Federal Emergency Management Agency, is
broken. Resiliency and disaster preparedness
had long been a priority for NACo leadership,
particularly for presidents Linda Langston,
from Linn County, Iowa, site of devastating
floods, and Sallie Clark, from El Paso County,
Colorado, which suffered both wildfires and
floods. Their advocacy reinforced the need
for counties to perform mitigation work to
prepare for an increasing number of natural
disasters,
Gore named an Intergovernmental
Disaster Reform Task Force to provide
recommendations for policy reforms and best
practices that improve disaster mitigation at
the county level. Those aspects include direct
technical support, reduced administrative
burdens and public accountability.
With one-third of counties experiencing at
least one disaster each year, the issue has
reached a critical mass for change.
.4
Congress to dismantle the agency. Counties The Intergovernmental Disaster Reform
will offer their perspective on how federal Task Force provides recommendations
for policy reforms and best practices that
disaster assistance should changes improve disaster mitigation at the county
level,
"Reform of FEMA is very different from
elimination of FEMA, with no more payments
for public assistance," Gore said. "if we have
a cost shift where the federal government
does not pay for debris removal anymore, we
are fighting against that because our general
funds cannot handle that. That is not a political
fight. It's an existential fight,"
Counties often carry millions of dollars
Looking
Ahead
wa.� ate j h �'
44
gri
fill 0
40
ow
r
attendees athfor a group photo
County Crossroads Symposiumg
at the Lake Sonoma Overlook in Sonoma County, California in
noromhor M94 Prnnrammina covered issues of interest to both
New York ended, former NACo President Bill
Murphy moved to Georgia and went to work
for PEBSCO and Nationwide, and his tenure
there far outlasted the length of his time in
county office. Approaching NACo's 90th
anniversary, he had lived another lifetime
after leaving county government.
But he never lost touch with the formative
years of his career nor with NACo. He remains
a County News reader and looks with pride
at the way NACo not only survived its near
calamity but found its way through the
challenges and away from the hazards facing
any organization and set its trajectory.
"NACo was able to meet the challengE
sustIin itself and grow into the wonderfu
organization that you have right now," Murph)
said in 2024. "It's so much more multifacete(
than when I was in off ice, and a lot of tha
is a function of having the revenue from thi
deferred compensation program to be able t(•
do those kinds of things.
"I'm also proud they were able to keep the
right perspective between the entrepreneurial
nature of the organization and the lobbying
nature of the organization and not let one
crush the other, which frequently can happen,
particularly when the entrepreneurial side
crushes the other side.
.4 - �
NACo President Bill Murphy reflects on NACo's past and the promise for its future. Photo by Myava Mitchell
obvious to me that NACo is held in very
high regard by the people on Capitol Hill
when we need their support for the things that
are important to us. But it's also important to
me that that NACo is seen as a resource for
local governments at all levels. I know my
commissioners here in Forsyth County attend
NACo conferences, and they allow their staff
to do the same thing. You have this coalition,
this association of people of like minds dealing
with similar problems. And no one of us is as
smart as all of us, right?
"The more people we can bring to bear on a
problem, the better off we are always going
to be."
"NACo was able
to meet the
challenge, sustain
itself and grow
into the wonderful
organization that
you have right now."
I Bill Murphy, the
Rensselear County, New
York executive and former
NACo President
4-�
(D
0
U
k4-
0
C-
0
4-�
M
0
0
CU
Z
71
IVIIIVVUUn�.�. vvuiiLY, VVI..,vvI1vIII
1935-1938
........,....... ,,.,,....J, .. .... ,.�
1949-1950
,,
1962-1963
1971-1972
George F. Simmons
Dean Z. Haddick
David Bird
Gladys Noon Spellman
Weber County, Utah
Rock Island County, Illinois
San Diego County, California
Prince George's County, Maryland
1938-1939
1950-1951
1963-1964
1972-1973
Jake E. Loy
M. Ward Forman
Clifton Beverly Briley
Gil Barrett
Grayson County, Texas
St. Clair County, Alabama
Davidson County, Tennessee
Dougherty County, Georgia
1939-1940
1951-1952
1964-1965
1973-1974
Austin Moore
Harry Bartell
M. James Gleason
Stanley Smoot
Fayette County, Kentucky
Alameda County, California
Multnomah County, Oregon
Davis County, Utah
1940-1941
1952-1953
1965-1966
1974-1975
William A. Smith
Guerdon Allyn Treakle
Edwin Michaelian
Vance Webb
Los Angeles County, California
Norfolk County, Virginia
Westchester County, New York
Kern County, California
1941-1942
1953-1954
1966-1967
1975-1976
Eugene G. Meredith
Fred B. Glass
Woodrow Wilson Dumas
Daniel C. Lynch
Kimball County, Nebraska
Falls County, Texas
East Baton Rouge Parish,
Douglas County, Nebraska
1942-1943
1954-1955
Louisiana
1976-1977
Truman H. Preston
Donald C. Scribner
1967-1968
William 0. Beach
Steuben County, New York
Fulton County, New York
Edward Connor
Montgomery County, Tennessee
1943-1944
1955-1956
Wayne County, Michigan
1977-1978
Walter D. Ralston
Herman C. Kersteen
1968-1969
Charlotte L. Williams
Butler County, Ohio
Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
Ed Munro
Genessee County, Michigan
1944-1946
1956-1957
King County, Washington
1978-1979
G. Claiborne Blanton
Mark S. Johnson
1959-1960
Francis B. Francois
Dallas County, Alabama
Millard County, Utah
James H. Alldredge
Prince George's County, Maryland
1946-1947
1957-1958
Fulton County, Georgia
1979-1980
1961-1962
George W. Morgan
W. H. "Pat" Johnson
Roy Orr
Salt Lake County, Utah
Fulton County, Georgia
Conrad M. Fowler
Dallas County, Texas
1947-1948
1959-1960
Shelby County, Alabama
1980-1981
1962-1963
Joseph Hammond
William E. Dennison
J. Richard Conder
Duval County, Florida
Shiawassee County, Michigan
Clesson Y. Chikasuye
Richmond County, North Carolina
1948-1949
1961-1962
Honolulu County, Hawaii
1981-1982
1970-1971
L
rh
0
ru
U)
U
0
0
0
William J. Murphy
Rensselaer County, New York
1982-1983
Sandra R. Smoley
Sacramento County, California
1983-1984
Philip B. Elfstrom
Kane County, Illinois
1984-1985
Bob B. Aldemeyer
Kenton County, Kentucky
1985-1986
John Horsley
Kitsap County, Washington
1986-1987
Harvey Ruvin
Miami -Dade County, Florida
1987-1988
James Snyder
Cattaraugus County, New York
1988-1989
Ann Klinger
Merced County, California
1989-1990
D. Michael Stewart
Salt Lake County, Utah
1990-1991
Kaye Braaten
Richland County, North Dakota
1991-1992
John H. Stroger, Jr.
Barbara Sheen Todd
Pinellas County, Florida
1993-1994
Randall Franke
Marion County, Oregon
1994-1995
Douglas R. Bovin
Delta County, Michigan
1995-1996
Michael Hightower
Fulton County, Georgia
1996-1997
Randy Johnson
Hennepin County, Minnesota
1997-1998
Betty Lou Ward
Wake County, North Carolina
1998-1999
C. Vernon Gray
Howard County, Maryland
1999-2000
Jane Hague
King County, Washington
2000-2001
Javier Gonzales
Bernalillo County, New Mexico
2001-2002
Ken Mayfield
Dallas County, Texas
2002-2003
Karen Miller
Rnnno ('ni intxi RAiccnl Irl
Angelo D. Kyle
Lake County, Illinois
2004-2005
Bill Hansell
Umatilla County, Oregon
2005-2006
Colleen Landkamer
Blue Earth County, Minnesota
2006-2007
Eric Coleman
Oakland County, Michigan
2007-2008
Don Stapley
Maricopa County, Arizona
2008-2009
Valerie Brown
Sonoma County, California
2009-2010
B. Glen Whitley
Tarrant County, Texas
2010-2011
Lenny Eliason
Athens County, Ohio
2011-2012
Chris Rodgers
Douglas County, Nebraska
2012-2013
Linda Langston
Linn County, Iowa
2013-2014
G. Riki Hokama
Maui County. Hawaii
Sallie Clark
El Paso County, Colorado
2015-2016
Bryan Desloge
Leon County, Florida
2016-2017
Roy Charles Brooks
Tarrant County, Texas
2017-2018
Greg Cox
San Diego County, California
2018-2019
Mary Ann Borgeson
Douglas County, Nebraska
2019-2020
Gary Moore
Boone County, Kentucky
2020-2021
Larry Johnson
DeKalb County, Georgia
2021-2022
Denise Winfrey
Will County, Illinois
2022-2023
Mary Jo McGuire
Ramsey County, Minnesota
2023-2024
James Gore
Sonoma County, California
2024-2025
Joe Giles
Erie County, Pennsylvania
2009-2014
Christian Leinbach
Berks County, Pennsylvania
2014-2020
Mark Poloncarz
Erie County, New York
2020-2024
Tammy Tincher
Greenbrier County, West Virginia
2024-present
SOUTH
Burrell Ellis
DeKalb County, Georgia
2009-2011
Joe Bryan
Wake County, North Carolina
2011-2014
Merceria Ludgood
Mobile County, Alabama
2014-2017
Ruby Brabo
King George County, Virginia
2017-2020
Ron Berry
Roane County, Tennessee
2020-present
Buchanan County, Missouri
2009-2010
Keith Langenhahn
Marathon County, Wisconsin
2010-2011
Ron Houseman
Taney County, Missouri
2011-2014
Cindy Bobbitt
Grant County, Oklahoma
2014-2020
Tracy Graham
Audrain County, Missouri
2020-2024
Kurt Gibbs
Marathon County, Wisconsin
2024-present
WEST
Robert Cope
Lemhi County, Idaho
2009-2013
Tom Josi
Tillamook County, Oregon
2013-2015
Lesley Robinson
Phillips County, Montana
2015-2016
Gordon Cruickshank
Valley County, Idaho
2016-2019
Joe Briggs
Cascade County, Montana
2019-present
1957-1982
James Marshall (interim)
1982
Matt Coffey
1983-1985
John Thomas
1986-1991
Larry Naake
1991-2012
Matthew Chase
2012-present
NACo's names
National County
Officers Association
193-1939
National Association
of County Officers
1939-1962
National Association
of Counties
1962-present
0
U)
U
4--
0
0
co
0
co
U)
Q
M
E
0
4-
CU
z
Thank you to the NACo executive committee for your support in this project. President 1*1
James Gore, First Vice President J.D. Clark, Second Vice President George Dunlap,
Immediate Past President Mary Jo McGuire, Northeast Region Representative Tammy
Tincher, South Region Representative Ron Berry, Central Region Representative Kurt
Gibbs, West Region Representative Joe Briggs and Executive Director Matt Chase,
along with NACo's Board of Directors. Much of NACo's early years were initially
chronicled in a project by Bernie Hillenbrand, John McKeon, Tom Goodman and
Beverly Schlotterbeck. Leon Lawrence III envisioned and executed this book's design
and Nicole Weissman provided valuable direction in its development, Thank you to
everyone who shared time, memories and insight into NACo's history and development,
and for the time and energy you put into America's counties.
— C:harlia Ran Hine q(1qi�
N
f r �
�rx y'a
-...+wvoatMaw.azwtti:ie:W,}x'-•tt=%�- 'Mr r. •"1' _. 3 aim Y.a a. .w-er.L`:G tc+:x:a fw i�t�
a
s
. y .
1�� 9F4 � i -�.• _
� t V
fi
¢ � -s �.}, ( � �.,.e`.+naeane.� + amewnw• w,+lwh+u� •0.' @� :'da�r
nr