Reflections on County Innovations at the 2024 NACA Ideas Exchange
The 2024 International City/County Management Association (ICMA) annual conference, held in Pittsburg, PA, brought together thousands of local government professionals from around the world to connect and learn from one another about emerging trends and challenges facing our local communities. The schedule included not only networking opportunities and social events, but also ICMA micro certifications, educational sessions, and panel discussions highlighting what’s new and noteworthy in the field of local government administration.
While the vast majority of attendees of the ICMA conference come from a municipal background, simply because of the higher tally of municipal governments compared with other units of local government, many county officials aptly point out that the C in ICMA stands not only for City Management, but County Management as well. After all, the United States has over 3,200 counties and county equivalents. The ICMA annual conference is thus also a perfect venue to host to the annual board meeting of the National Association of County Administrators (NACA), as well as their Ideas Exchange, which “provides an opportunity for county officials from across the country to discuss issues specifically relevant to counties in an informal setting.” County administrators from across the country were in attendance, with over half of the states represented, and participated in the two-day set of Idea Exchange meetings following their two-day board meetings.
For an academic like me, who was generously granted a scholarship to attend the conference from the family of David J. Krings (who served in important roles in both ICMA and NACA), being able to attend the conference and talk directly with movers and shakers in the field is like being in a goldmine of information and expertise. It not only helps inform my own research agenda, but more importantly allows me to share with my students the vital importance counties play in the provision of public services as well as the meaningful opportunities counties offer as they embark on their future careers.
The following is a summary of the Ideas Exchange, along with some reflections of an academic who specializes in local government administration.
In terms of the format of the Idea Exchanges, which were facilitated by current NACA President Kenneth Wilson (County Administrator of Franklin County, Ohio) and President-Elect Betsy Keller (Chief Administrator of El Paso County Texas), attendees were provided with an introductory welcome and then presented with a breakdown of key topics the group would consider. The President and President-Elect presented a brief opening statement about each topic and then opened the floor for attendees to share individual stories, anecdotes, ideas and innovations, and feedback. Overall, the contributions were especially robust and, while sometimes brief, incredibly detailed and direct, which offered the opportunity for nearly all members to add meaningfully to the conversation.
Key topics covered courts and jails, climate and sustainability, ARPA, innovation, workforce recruiting and retention, infrastructure development, county board orientation, and economic mobility and housing. Below I’ll cover each topic in more detail and offer some summary reflections.
Courts & Jails: In a time of increasingly tight fiscal conditions, especially post-pandemic, the conversation on this topic centered around ideas for cost reductions while maintaining service levels. Speakers highlighted the need to address recidivism and re-entry challenges to prevent long-term cost increases. This included but was not limited to providing enhanced mental health services not only to deputies but inmates as well. Interestingly, the conversation turned to jail medical costs, and a vigorous conversation about outsourcing emerged. While some counties recounted successes contracting out with private firms, others shared their outsourcing challenges, and some talked about how they created cost savings from providing services in-house. While no defining consensus or panacea emerged, what did stand out was that there is ample room for additional research and exploration of options in this area. The academic literature suggests that a combination of outsourcing and in-house service provision can often lead to service quality consistency, but there is still no one-size fits all solution identified in this situation and perhaps NACA can facilitate additional attention to this intriguing dilemma.
Climate & Sustainability: The effects of climate change are increasingly focusing the attention of local leaders to address this issue with novel ideas and solutions. Speakers provided an array of projects aimed at tackling the problem, from implementing programs to increase the urban tree canopy (to help cool paved areas) to providing hi-tech options to reduce emissions from landfills (one particularly innovative program renovated landfill operations to convert trash into aviation fuel). Given the heightened political nature of climate change policy, it was perhaps unsurprising to learn that many while the majority of counties in attendance did not have a formal climate action plan, several counties did have individual rules and policies aimed at promoting environmental sustainability. The key takeaway from this topic is that many counties are utilizing creative solutions to address environmental challenges and developing opportunities for innovation are available for discovery.
ARPA: The American Respue Plan provided billions of dollars of intergovernmental aid to county governments to help local communities recover from the recent pandemic. While the regulatory rules governing aid disbursement was a chief concern among the speakers, several highlighted key strategies for fostering successful projects (whether they are general infrastructure, public health, and/or economic recovery) in their jurisdictions. Two standouts are worth mentioning, including the helpfulness of partnering with grassroots organizations and focusing on outcome/performance measurements. One standout project worth sharing is how one county utilized ARPA funding to promote DEI principles and help reduce the law enforcement employment disparity there by funding paid training for recruits and outreach efforts to highlight employment opportunities in diverse-rich communities.
General Innovations: In perhaps the most varied topic discussed, county administrators shared a smorgasbord of ideas about how their governments strategically invested in projects aimed at reducing long-term costs and improved resident involvement. Projects ranged from affordable housing solutions to creating entities for increased citizen engagement to converting fleets and solid waste machinery to electric (saving bundles in gasoline costs). One standout from this section highlighted how partnering with nonprofit organizations to increase the number of case managers led to a decrease in the length of homelessness by 32 days. Overall, the takeaway here is that while the conventional wisdom holds that government is a too rigid, process-driven institution, county administrators are increasingly innovating in high numbers, across various policy areas, with increasing success. As Michael Lewis writes in The Fifth Risk, while there is no Oscars equivalent for governments, that doesn’t mean extraordinary things aren’t happening in the public sector – and highlighting these projects more could be a boost to the public dialogue.
Workforce Recruiting & Retention: In the wake of a new office culture following the pandemic, organizations and businesses are increasingly struggling to adapt to a more demanding workforce, and local governments are no stranger to this dilemma. One might think that compensation alone would be the inevitable central focus, but the Ideas Exchange highlighted how nuanced solutions about compensation and benefits packages have yielded results in recruiting and retaining talented staffers. Ideas included tuition reimbursement (albeit with maximum levels linked with in-state tuition levels), mental health insurance benefits, parental leave, salary & benefit statements and transparency, compensation benchmarking, succession planning, and early recruitment and school outreach. One novel idea from Illinois worth mentioning is how the job tier system was remodeled to allow for step increases for employees (e.g. from IT tech 1 to 2) without the need for a job vacancy, to allow for employee promotion based on years of service instead of simply waiting for a higher up position to become available. A recurring challenge was also highlighted in recruiting and retaining employees particularly in the areas of urban planning and finance, with some ideas explored about how internships and student involvement might increase the job base there.
Infrastructure (Broadband) Development: The availability of ARPA funds, particularly for broadband development in rural communities, continues to provide opportunities as well as challenges for county governments and administrators. Private property limitations, permitting requirements, and telecomm rules and regulations can complicate build outs of fiber cabling and improving internet access for millions of residents. The highlight of this section can best be summarized by the need for partnerships, including not only public-private partnerships (P3) with organizations like Comcast and Engie, but also city-county partnerships.
County Board Orientation: With over 3,200 county governments in the United States, which are governed by boards ranging in size from 3 to 47 (there are over 58,000 elected county officials), one might conclude that educating (newly) elected members, who often have a steep learning curve, is a perhaps Herculean task. County administrators are required to walk a fine line with educating their “bosses” and highlighting the challenges and practices of the organizations they manage. In exploring this endeavor, some speakers highlighted a few best practices – including rebranding “orientations” as “trainings” which fosters less HR-related technospeak and more program and policy-based discussions, to inviting electeds to visit various departments in person (and in one inventive case inviting members to a meal in the jail).
Economic Mobility & Housing: According to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, over 653,000 people experienced homelessness in 2023, up roughly 12% from the previous year. It goes without saying that this situation places increasing strain on county services. The Ideas Exchange highlighted several initiatives some counties are pursuing to help curb this troubling trend. A few standouts during this section include everything from counties providing micro-conferences on financial literacy and workforce skill development to utilizing CDBG funding for micro-enterprises, as well as a specialized focus on combining jail re-entry services with food banks and job training programs. A common thread highlighted throughout was the need for counties to identify synergies across similarly-focused agencies to create redundancies/meeting points for service provision.
Summary and Conclusions
During my time at the ICMA conference and NACA Ideas Exchange I was delighted and astounded at the level of communication and openness to collaborate and share experiences about county successes and challenges. NACA is an organization that has no lack of innovation, expertise, and networking opportunities for the country’s top county leaders. When former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis praised American federalism and the ability for states to be “laboratories of democracy,” he probably didn’t have this conference explicitly in mind, but the NACA Ideas Exchange is a prime example for the ideal he espoused – that governments can and do come together to share their best practices and problem solve in order to provide the best possible outcomes for their citizens.
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John Kovari is Professor of Political Science & Public Administration at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and co-author of ICMA’s new publication Tax Increment Financing: A Practical Guide for Analyzing TIF Risks, Benefits, and Outcomes.