Welcome to NACo News Watch — the official media relations blog of the National Association of Counties. We observe and analyze media coverage of the nation's 3,068 counties and NACo so you don't have to.
Another success story to tell about the NACo Prescription Discount Card Program. This time from Brazos County, Texas. As reported here in the Bryon College Station Eagle, Brazos County officials announced that the program has saved their constituents over $1.2 million in prescription drug costs.Terrific savings for a county of about 155,000 residents.
The county has distributed the free card for three years as a result of its membership in NACo.
"This is one of the greatest projects that we as commissioners and we as citizens in Brazos County have been involved in," said County Judge Randy Sims.
Will County, Ill. employees warmed some hands and hearts with their recent mitten drive. According to the Herald News (Joliet, Ill.), County Executive Larry Walsh said he is proud of the success of the mitten drive and the generosity of the county’s employees.
“It has been a difficult year for the county and many of our residents,” he said. “Our employees are always willing to lend their support. A warm hat and gloves are important this time of year."
The San Jose Mercury News reports that "Contra Costa County firefighters have put together 350 new bicycles this year to be given out to low-income children in the annual Bikes for Tykes program.
"Fire Capt. Gil Caravantes said today says every year for the past 20 years, firefighters have spent their pre-Christmas off-duty time assembling bicycles and tricycles at fire stations throughout the county for the program."
This year, all 270 firefighters helped put the bikes together.
Capt. Caravantes said the fire district chose to give out bicycles because "as we all know, as a kid growing up, your bicycle was your first sense of freedom."
Very interesting development reported here on Poynter.org (a blog from the Poynter Institute -- the parent company of the St. Petersburg Times) regarding the New York Times decision to scrap its social media editor position. Like so many county officials (and NACo staff for that matter), news media organizations have been struggling to figure out just how to make the most of social media communications tools available. NACo along with its affiliate organization the National Association of County Information Officers (NACIO) has held several webinars and workshops about social media strategies for county officials. The truth is, none of us have figured this out yet. But I was intrigued by this quote in the Poynter piece by New York Times Social Media Editor Jennifer Preston whose position is being eliminated by the newspaper:“Social media can’t belong to one person; it needs to be part of everyone’s job,” Preston said. “It has to be integrated into the existing editorial process and production process. I’m convinced that’s the only way we’re going to crack the engagement nut.”I think the same hold true for counties. A County Director of Social Media position is probably not workable. But county officials and departments with public communications responsibilities should at least begin to consider how Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social media sites and technologies can help fill the communicatons void between the county and the communities they serve.
Many coutnies are doing a terrific job with social media. Our task ahead is to try and determine what works and what does not work for counties and communicate those lessons to other counties.
Stay tuned.
NACo's fellow Big 7 government organization - the National Council of State Legislatures (NCSL) released its latest report today on the state budget situation. We all know it's been bad for years for many states and downright desperate in a few. But, as reported here by Pew Center on the States' online publication stateline.org., things may be getting a tad better.
"While tax revenues seem to be stabilizing after years of poor receipts, at least 15 states still must close budget shortfalls totaling $26.7 billion in the current fiscal year," stateline.org reports. "Next fiscal year, 35 states face deficits as the federal stimulus expires and the strain on social services, particularly Medicaid, goes up."
NCSL's report says Illinois faces the largest proportional shortfall of any state in the current year, at $13 billion, or 47 percent of its overall budget. Other states with substantial mid-year gaps include Missouri, New Mexico and Texas.
Not reported: when states are desperate to fill budget gaps, burdens often shift to counties.
NACo Executive Director Larry Naake co-authored this piece which was published in The Hill's Congress blog regarding the Build America Bonds program. NACo argues that Build America Bonds have been a success. They have brought new investors to the municipal market and have increased demand for traditional tax-exempt bonds so that market works better. NACo, along with the Bond Dealers of America, the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers, and the National Association of Bond Lawyers are urging Congress to refine and extend the Build America Bonds program.
Congratulations to Catawba County, N.C. and Humboldt County, Calif. who were selected to receive the 2010 County Government Wireless Broadband Award. Chosen from applications submitted from across the Unites States, these counties were recognized for unique proposals regarding the planned use of wireless broadband technology to enhance communications across county government. The awards program is a partnershuip with Motorola Solutions.
Important story for counties here in NACo's County News regarding what the new 112th Congress will mean for long-standing and vital county programs funded from from Capitol Hill. NACo's Legislative Affairs Department details exactly what's at stake for programs such as PILT, various justice programs, and transportation funding. Must read.
Here's a terrific story by Steve Schultze of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Milwaukee County's efforts to use less precious resources and save taxpayers' money through innovative green government efforts. The county has reportedly saved $800,000 in energy costs since last year. The article mentions a recent NACo "Green Government Initiative" survey. If you missed our survey, you can check it out at www.naco.org in the Media Center's Features section.
Nice coverage of counties here in the Press Enterprise (Riverside, Calif.) on the California State Association of Counties meeting, Nov. 16-19.
Riverside County Supervisor John Tavaglione, who will become the group's president Thursday, effectively captured the sentiment of many elected county officials across the country by saying:
"Day in and day out, our members see the growing need for local services that residents deserve. The association's role in protecting those residents has grown dramatically as state budget problems have worsened."
Good news here for the residents of DuPage County, Ill.: They will soon be saving money on their dental expenses thanks to their membership in NACo. As reported in the Lisie (Aurora, Ill.) Sun: "James Healy, County Board member from District 5 of Naperville, said the DuPage Dental Discount Program is a result of DuPage County’s affiliation with the National Association of Counties, which selected Careington as the vendor for the dental program following a lengthy evaluation process." Healy is an active member of NACo. He is Vice Chair of the Transportation Steering Committee, and is a member of the Membership Committee, Programs and Services Committee and the Large Urban County Caucus. NACo recently launched the Dental Discount Program to help residents in member counties. Thirty-eight counties have agreed to be a part of a pilot to test the program. The program will provide residents in those counties with cards that will save from 5% to 50% on a full complement of dental services. The cards will cost $59 a year for individuals and $69 a year for families.
More information at www.naco.org.
Congratulations to NACo Board of Directors member John Ellison who was elected Tuesday to the Nevada State Assembly. Ellison, who served as an Elko County Commissioner for nine years, is a very active member of NACo. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors, Ellison is Vice Chair of the Public lands Steering Committee, and is a member of the Membership Committee, the Audit Committee, and the Rural Action Caucus.
NACo is quoted in this Associated Press article about how voters in several states have been embracing tax increases at the local level. The AP analysis looked at 39 states, representing a cross-section of the country. It quotes NACo and mentions NACo's “County Economic Status” survey from the summer.
You have to wonder just how far newspaper circulation will fall before it reaches bottom. New figures show that most of the nation's largest newspapers - such as USA Today (-3.7%), The New York Times (-5.5%), The Washington Post (-6.4%), and Chicago Tribune (-5.2%) - continue to lose paid subscribers. The only major newspaper up is The Wall Street Journal (+1.8%). Newspaper industry officials say that newspaper content reaches many more people today than ever before thanks to the Web and cell phones. The problem, which remains unresolved today, is how to make money in this online world of instant information.
Sad but true reporting here once again from the excellent stateline.org (The Pew Center on the States), on the financial dilemma many counties are facing. When the state is broke, money does not flow to the counties who are providing direct and costly services to their residents.
NACo's Large Urban County Caucus is meeting this week in Palm Beach County, Fla. to set its 2011 Legislative Priorities. They heard via video yesterday from Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.), who chairs the Congressional Urban Caucus and is a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee. He promised LUCC members to "put cities and counties at the front end" of Congressional priorities and funding."
Charles Taylor writes about 2010 ballot initiatives affecting counties in the lastest County News.
This is why we read County News, NACo's biweekly newspaper. Who knew about synthetic dope? Add "Spice" to the massive list of challenges counties must address each day.
Changes are in the works at the Cable News Network, AKA, CNN. It sounds like they are continuing the basic prime time philosophy of the network, which is straight news and interviews. Of course, Fox News is the prime time ratings winner and has been for a decade with its right-leaning opinionated-based programming. MSNBC and its left-leaning prime time opinionated programming are far behind in the ratings but have made some gains. I think CNN's problem is that by the time 8 p.m. ET rolls around, most Americans who care already know the news of the day, so they much prefer a hearty debate over the issues. I think CNN should have at least one show on in prime time with a McLaughlin Group or Crossfire type roundtable. They could easily pull this off and not be accused of leaning to far left or right.
The joint jobs survey by NACo, the National League of Cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, released earlier this summer, received mention today in this Bloomberg/Businesss Week article.
NACo President Whitley is quoted in this Reuters article by Lisa Lambert on the still stubborn housing crisis and the effects it continues to have on counties and cities.
Times are tough for local government officials, no doubt. But it not much better, if at all, for members of the news media: According the Gallop: "Americans continue to express near-record-low confidence in newspapers and television news -- with no more than 25% of Americans saying they have a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in either. These views have hardly budged since falling more than 10 percentage points from 2003-2007."Ouch.
Nice piece here by the California State Association of Counties Executive Director Paul McIntosh on one of the many benefits of being a member of NACo. thanks Paul!
Fitting tribute to Sonoma County Supervisor Valerie Brown who today completed her one-year term as NACo President. Thank you Supervisor Brown for leading the nation's counties for the past 12 months!
More terrific coverage on the NACo Annual Conference by the Reno Gazette Journal.
Not a bad week for Tarrant County, Texas Judge Glen Whitley. He was elected NACo President today at the Annual Conference and was honored by American City & County magazine as County Leader of the Year. Congratulations Judge Whitley!
Front page coverage of the NACo Annual Conference in the Reno Gazette Journal.
More terrific coverage of the NACo Annual Conference in the Reno Gazette Journal.
These are tough times. Some question, legitimately, the value and worthiness of local government officials traveling out-of-county to meetings and conferences. Here's a terrific explanation from Etowah County, Ala. For county officials, information is your best friend.
Thoughtful editorial in today's Reno Gazette Journal as a result of yesterday's meeting between NACo President Valerie Brown and President-elect Glen Whitley and the newspapers' editorial board. Here's the money line:
"With all the attention that's been paid to Congress as the recession took root in the country in the past couple of years, the NACo meeting in Reno is an important reminder that it's local governments -- cities and counties -- that actually have the greatest impact on the everyday lives of Americans."
Amen.
Happy 75th Anniversary NACo! NACo staff are already arriving in Washoe County/Reno, Nevada for the 2010 Annual Conference and Exposition which begins Friday and concludes Tuesday. More than 2,100 county officials, speakers, vendors and guests are expected to participate. You can check out the NACo media advisory for the highlights.
Also, you can expand your social network by becoming a Facebook fan of NACo or following on Twitter. NACo will be tweeting with the tag #NACoAnn during the conference. Check us out at www.facebook.com/NACoDC and www.twitter.com/NACoTweets.
The NACo survey, "How Are Counties Doing - An Economic Status Survey" received some national media coverage today, thanks to reporter Lisa Lambert of Thompson-Reuters.
The Gulf Oil Spill is a terrible environmental and financial disaster for the Gulf Coast Region which will have ripple effects across the country for years to come. An oil rig operated by British Petroleum exploded on April 20 killing 12 people. Since then, an ungodly amount of oil has been gushing into the Gulf of Mexico hour after hour, day after day, week after week and month after month. With no end in site, the cost of the disaster remains unimaginable. What will be the financial impact on Gulf Coast counties in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi Louisiana and Texas? No one know for sure. Stateline.org (Pew Center for the States) begins to put the disaster into perspective.
The Gulf Oil Spill is a terrible environmental, financial and political disaster for the Gulf Coast Region which will have ripple effects across the country for years to come. An oil rig operated by British Petrolium exploded on April 20 killing 12 people. Since then, an ungodly amount of oil has been gushing into the Gulf of Mexico hour after hour, day after day, week after week and month after month. With no end in site, the cost of the disaster remains unimaginable. What will be the financial impact on Gulf Coast Counties in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi Louisiana and Texas? No one know for sure. Stateline.org (Pew Center for the States) begins to put the disaster into perspective.
It's easy to say, "cut spending" but difficult to do effectively. Stateline.org has an interesting article about state budget cuts backfiring. Often the political decision is "cut across the board" but what if you are cutting positions that bring money into state coffers? That appears to be the case in some states. "For example, 5,300 employees of the Franchise Tax Board have been told to take three days off work each month rather than spending that time auditing delinquent taxpayers and collecting back taxes. For every dollar it has saved by furloughing these workers, the state has lost $7.15 in uncollected revenue, according to a report by the California Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes. The decision to keep these workers off the job could reduce the overall projected savings of the furlough program by more than one-quarter, according to the report."
We had a great NACo webinar recently, "Stay Ahead of the Story: Media Relations Strategies for County Officials in Tough Times." The featured presenter was Aileen Pincus, President and Founder of The Pincus Group. We also had Todd McGee who is the Communications Director of the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners and 2nd VP of the National Association of County Information Officers (NACIO). If you missed it, we have a recording that you can access free of charge at your convenience. You can find it on the Webinars and Seminars page at www.naco.org.
We know that newspapers are shredding subscribers, laying off and buying out reporters and editors, cutting back on distribution, and closing bureaus across the country and worldwide. Like state and local governments, revenues are down at daily newspapers. They need to figure out how to bring in the money in this digital age. I'm not sure that this is the answer. Several years ago, the Times tried charging for access to their columnists and readership dropped so much they soon made access free again. It will be interesting to see if the new New York section of The Wall Street Journal will succeed in attracting advertisers and subscribers in the NY Metro area. Will they PAY for that renewed focus on LOCAL news? On the other hand, The Washington Post experimented with "hyper-local" websites a couple years ago (by county!) and that did not work either. I don't know what the fix is for newspapers.
From Bloomberg.com:
"Newspaper publishers Brown Media Holdings Co. and Brown Publishing Co. have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy relief and plan to sell their assets in 10 states to a bidder the companies have chosen. The Cincinnati-based, family-owned businesses filed Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York, asking for approval of $2.5 million in financing to help the companies through bankruptcy."The list of newspapers Brown & Brown own are small dailies and weeklies, many located in Ohio. The company will be sold, but surely in these tough times not all of the newspapers will survive.
Paid circulations continue to sink like a stone for all but one of the nation's largest daily newspapers. Editor and Publisher (itself on shaky grounds) reported on the latest figures released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC):"Overall average paid daily circulation fell 8.7% year-over-year for the six months through March, ABC said. That's an improvement on last fall's numbers, which were down 10.6% year-over-year."Sure it's less of a drop from two years ago, but alarming nonetheless. The Wall Street Journal saw a tiny increase in paid circulation (less than 1%), but all others are continuing to shed readers. Down double digits: The New York Daily News (11%), USA Today (13%), L.A. Times (14%), Houston Chronicle (13%), Chicago Sun-Times (13%), Dallas Morning News (21%), San Francisco Chronicle (22%), and Detroit Free Press (13%). I can go on, but you get the point. For counties, especially those in and around these metro areas, you can expect more shrinking newsrooms in the months ahead, which means less coverage of local government.
We have finally posted the full length video from the Large Urban County Caucus "Rally on Capitol Hill" on the NACo Channel. The April 14 event was in support of H.R. 4812 - The Local Jobs for America Act - legislation to “provide federal funds to states, local governments, and community-based organizations to save and create local jobs through the retention, restoration, or expansion of services needed by local communities.”Joining NACo President-elect Glen Whitley and LUCC Chair Ilene Lieberman, who led the three-day "fly-in" advocacy effort, were Rep. John Sarbanes and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The bill's sponsor is Rep. George Miller, who chairs the House Committee on Education and Labor. You can find the NACo Channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/NACoVideo
NACo President-elect Glen Whitley and Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas, president of the National Governors Association, testified on April 15 – Tax Day – on the impacts of Congressional legislation on state and local governments. The hearing was before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, chaired by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn). Whitley told the panel that Congress should “avoid preempting local taxing authority, preserve local budgeting flexibility and resist imposing unfunded federal mandates” on county governments.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.)and Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) join members of NACo's Large Urban County Caucus on Apirl 14 to rally in support of the Local Jobs for America Act during a LUCC Fly-in. The bill, which has more than 115 cosponsors in the House, would provide direct federal funds to states and local governments to help pay for job creation. LUCC is chaired by Ilene Lieberman, commissioner, Broward County, Fla. 
I had the pleasure today to meet with Mr. Bernard F. Hillenbrand who in 1957 became the first executive director of NACo. As the first full-time employee and lobbyist at NACo (formerly the National County Officers Association), Mr. Hillenbrand played a significant role in shaping NACo through the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. He was here at NACo headquarters to tape a few video interviews we are making commemorating NACo's 75th Anniversary. He fondly recalled that the very first NACo office space was a tiny room off the laundry room at the Mayflower Hotel and the day the House of Representatives approved general revenue sharing (1972). The videos of Mr. Hillenbrand will be posted on the NACo Channel at a later date.
What recovery? This morning's Wall Street Journal is depressing:Los Angeles Faces Threat of Insolvency (Peter Sanders writes on page A6); Foreclosures hitting the wealthy hard (Craig Karmin and James R. Hagerty write on page 1); Cash Crunch Will Force Governments to Do Less (Gerald F. Seib writes in his Capital Journal column on page A2); Jobless Claims Rise Unexpectedly (Sarah N. Lynch and Darrell A. Hughes write on page A2); and States Skip Pension Payments, Delay Day of Reckoning (Gina Chon writes on page A5).While we can point to some hopeful signs of economic recovery in recent numbers (see my "Revenues Up? What?" post from April 7), it's clear we have a long, bumpy road ahead.
NACo got some airtime on the radio waves here in Washington, D.C. via Federal News Radio. Our director of research, Jackie Byers, was interviewed about best practices in county governments in the human resources field. This was more than a sound bite (but we like those too!). It was several minutes of interview time. Federal News Radio has been around about 10 years. It covers both the federal government and those who do business with the government concentrating on management, procurement, technology, security, policy and pay and benefits. Anytime NACo can reach an audience of federal government workers about COUNTY GOVERNMENT is a very good thing.
A smigit (technical, accounting term) of good news has arrived on the state and local government revenue front: tax revenues were up slightly in the 4th quarter of 2009 as compared to the same period of 2008. According to a report by the U.S. Census Bureau, as reported by the excellent stateline.org. Web site from Pew, state and local tax revenues in the fourth quarter of 2009 had risen for the first time since 2008. While it was up less than 1%, it was the first positive growth in five years. "Of the four largest tax categories," the report stated, "property tax and corporate income tax increased in the fourth quarter, while general sales tax and individual income tax continued to decline, though the declines are not as sharp as they have been for the past four quarters."Hopefully the upward trend will continue in the months ahead.
Counties across the country are celebrating National County Government Month and generating positive media coverage. Here's just one example from the Hickory Record in Catawba county, N.C.
New York Times' Richard Pérez-Peña reports in his Media Decoder blog:
"It’s no surprise that 2009 was the worst year the newspaper business has had in decades, but the scale of the damage, shown in figures released Wednesday by the Newspaper Association of America, is stunning. Advertising revenue fell 27.2 percent, or more than $10 billion, from 2008 – which was, at the time, the industry’s worst year since the Depression."Local government and newspapers are in the same boat -- there's little money coming in.
As reported in the Texarkana (Texas) Gazette: Miller County Justice of the Peace Haze Hudson participated in the National Association of Counties Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C., to improve relations between local and federal officials. “Being on the national community and economic development steering committee for the past two years has helped bring new ideas to Miller County, such as conservation grants for our county buildings and rural water for Miller County. I have learned from experts how to apply for available funds,” Hudson said.Thanks Justice Hudson for helping to shape national policies affecting counties.
Congratulations to Catawba County, N.C. Commission Chair Kitty Barnes for being appointed to NACo's Green Government Initiative Advisory Board!
Super article in the Madison County (N.Y.) Courier about the county officials who participated in the 2010 NACo Legislative Conference. It's a terrific example of effectively communicating the value of getting involved with NACo to help shape national issues affecting local government.
NACo President Valerie Brown, President-elect Glen Whitley, and Executive Director Larry Naake met with the Editorial Board of USA Today this morning in their Tyson's Corner (McLean, Va.) offices. The meeting occurred on the last day - Capitol Hill Day - of our 2010 Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. Brian Gallagher, Editor of the Editorial Board, was a gracious host for us and we had a terrific meeting about county governments' essential role in American society. They talked about health care reform, federal stimulus spending, how partisanship at the state and federal level too often gets in the way of serving the public, and other issues. President Brown and President-elect Whitley's main point to the editorial page of the second largest newspaper in America: Counties matter for so many reasons.
Today was one of those days when you're on the phone with CBS News telling you YES they are coming to the conference in the morning while your cell phone is ringing from C-SPAN telling you they are NOT coming. House Speaker Pelosi is speaking at our General Session Tuesday morning followed immediately by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. When the smoke cleared tonight, the following national broadcast giants say they are covering the session: NBC News, CBS News, ABC News, Fox News Channel and CNN. I feel sorry for the guy who has to manage that in the morning. Oh, that's me.
Day 1 of NACo's Legislative Conference is history. Mostly a day of subcommittee and affiliate meetings. Sunday, more full committee meetings and hundreds more members will arrive. I had the pleasure to speak a few moments to a gathering of first-time conference attendees. I advised them how their active participation in NACo not only makes NACo such an effective voice of counties in Washington, but how we can assist them in communicating their efforts to the folks back home to help shape national policies affecting local government. Met some wonderful county officials already.
NACo leadership had a great meeting this morning with the new publisher and editor of GOVERNING magazine - Fred Kuhn and Tod Newcombe - at their Connecticut Avenue, N.W. offices. President Valerie Brown, President-elect Glen Whitley and Immediate Past President Don Stapley discussed the NACo Legislative Conference (which begins tomorrow), NACo's efforts to Restore the Partnership with the federal government, some of NACo's advocacy efforts to secure provisions in the "jobs bill," as well as NACo programs that benefit NACo-member counties and the people who live in member counties. GOVERNING magazine covers state and local government management, policy and politics. The publication was recently purchased by eRepublic, so today's meeting was the first time NACo leadership had met with the new GOVERNING staff.
My bosses, about 2,000 of them, begin arriving in D.C. over the next few days for our Legislative Conference. Meeting with Governing magazine on Friday, NACo Technology Summit and subcommittee meetings on Saturday; full policy committee meetings and media/communications roundtable discussions on Sunday, general session and workshops on Monday, more of those on Tuesday, and Capitol Hill Day on Wednesday. Oh, and a meeting with the USA Today Editorial Board on Wednesday. Keep checking in here for the latest info throughout the conference.
The future of network TV news looks bleak, as reported in this New York Times article by Brian Stelter and Bill Carter. The news is that ABC News is closing all of it's news bureaus worldwide, except Washington, D.C. and trimming staff. The money quote: “I just looked out at the next five years and was concerned that we could not sustain doing what we were doing,” said David Westin, the president of ABC News, as he explained the decision last week to jettison up to 400 staff members, a quarter of the news staff, in the coming months.These are harsh and alarming cuts. Much like county revenues, the money from advertising, ratings and other revenue sources is just not coming in as in the past. The fact is that news consumption has shifted from being an appointment part of our day (watch the evening news at 6:30, local news at 6 and 11) to getting news when it's convenient for us (Internet, our cell phone, e-mail alerts, etc.). We go get the news when we want it. I know for me, thanks to TiVo, I record the news programs I like (and some I don't like) and watch them at my convenience.Also, Americans seem to care much less about international and important national issues and the big media tries to give the folks what they want to hang onto their readers and viewers. This results in bureau closings. Very unfortunate, but it's the reality.
Happy 10th anniversary to the Dutchess County (N.Y.) Office for the Aging's Senior Exercise Program! They received a 2005 NACo Achievement Award and it's great they are keeping up the good work and good health there in Dutchess County.
Lyndsay Leonelli wrote a wonderful story today for the San Diego Union-Tribune on the Bereavement Center at the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office. The center is a tremendous example of an essential county service that too often goes unnoticed. The article points out that the center was a recipient of a 2009 NACo Achievement Award. As the article says, the center's chaplain, Joe Davis, worked with the Medical Examiner’s Office to create the Bereavement Center in 2006 and is one of only five like it in the nation. Unfortunately, sad and tragic events happen in life. But in San Diego County, there's extra assistance available to help families cope with heartache.
We had a great webinar yesterday on media relations for county officials in tough times. National Association of County Information Officers (NACIO) President Bret Scott offered tips on answering questions from reporters; Madison County, Mississippi Supervisor D.I. Smith discussed his experiences using social media such as Facebook and Twitter as a county official. I gave my best advice on how county officials can make the most of conference and meetings attendance. We had close to 200 folks participate. Interesting to me was the result of one of the quick polls we took: 53% of participants (elected & appointed county officials as well as county and state association of counties staff) said their county's relationship with the local media was good to excellent; 43% said it was fair to good; and only 4% said it was fair to bad.
I'm very excited about tomorrow's media relations webinar for our county members. Hopefully we'll offer some useful advice and have good discussions. Joining me as presenters are Bret Scott, president of the National Association of County Information Officers (NACIO) and D.I. Smith, Supervisor, Madison County, Miss.
Positive news coming out of NACo President Valerie Brown's home county as reported by KGO-TV San Francisco:
Starting Tuesday, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors' meetings will be live on the Internet. Internet users also will be able to access the meeting's agenda, staff reports and resolutions. The live streaming will include captioning for the hearing impaired. The board's meetings also will be archived starting with Tuesday's meeting and will be available for replay. Tuesday's meeting includes discussion on the county's budget and the condition of its roads.
"This will enhance the public's access to their county government," Board Chair and 1st District Supervisor Valerie Brown said. "This is a smart use of technology that moves the county closer to being paperless, and also complements our sustainability efforts," Brown said.
There's a huge event in the U.S. Capitol Wednesday. Oh, yes, President Obama is giving the State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress in the evening. But I was talking about the Partnership for Medicaid's "State of Medicaid" Congressional briefing at 9 a.m. in the new Capitol Visitor's Center. NACo is a member of the Partnership for Medicaid, a national coalition of of major stakeholder organizations in the Medicaid program. Each year, the coalition updates Hill staff about the importance of maintaining and strengthening the Medicaid safety net. The Partnership representatives will discuss its 14 principles and stress these in particular: Congress should 1) preserve the federal guarantee of Medicaid coverage, services and consumer protections; 2) expand Medicaid eligibility; 3) improve provider and health plan reimbursement rates and 4) address fraud and abuse.
Happy New Year! Or is it. Gerald Seib of The Wall Street Journal writes today in his column, "The Year Ahead - U.S. Focus 2010," about "States in Crisis." He says correctly that one of the great under-appreciated stories of 2009 was the deep fiscal woes of individual states."History shows that states - and cities - actually suffer their deepest drops in revenues after a recession ends, as the downturn's effects ripple through their tax streams. This year that problem will overlap precisely with a decline in stimulus dollars flowing out of Washington toward the states."The net result will be a double-whammy that will force states to cut spending and hiring and perhaps imperil recovery." While there is no mention of counties, of course, the same logic applies. And most counties will further suffer revenue declines from reduced state aid. Counties are in for great challenges in 2010 and 2011 to maintain the level of services residents have come to expect.
NACo President-elect Glen Whitley and Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas, president of the National Governors Association, testified on April 15 – Tax Day – on the impacts of Congressional legislation on state and local governments. The hearing was before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, chaired by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn). Whitley told the panel that Congress should “avoid preempting local taxing authority, preserve local budgeting flexibility and resist imposing unfunded federal mandates” on county governments.
Jim Philipps is NACo's Media Relations Manager. He has worked in media and government communications inside and outside of Washington, D.C. for nearly 20 years.
