98th Annual Conference
Ron Aycock bids farewell to Association

The following is a transcript of Ron Aycock's farewell speech to the NCACC membership, given at the opening general session of the 98th Annual Conference on Friday, Aug. 26.

I want to say more than the usual thank you when being introduced as a speaker because this is my last time to express my gratitude for 32 years of working for you.

County commissioners, the focal point of this organization, I am grateful to you – you county commissioners current and past who have taught me that public service is a calling – a calling to make your home county and state a better place, often at great personal sacrifice.

I am grateful to officers, board members, past and present, who have taught me that leadership is about shared responsibility, vision and building consensus around issues. I am grateful to county staff, managers, attorneys, clerks and the countless others who have taught me the meaningful work is not just about drawing a paycheck, but it’s really about doing a job to make a system work to benefit all. I am grateful to my colleagues from cities, schools, state government, the university system and other associations – national, state, public and private – who have taught me that every part of our society has a unique role in making our political and economic system work.

I am grateful to association staff, past and present, who have taught me that no one does the job alone, but that each team member has a substantial contribution to make to every result. Finally, I am grateful to my family, Susan, Chris, Alison and their families who have taught me that all of our high flying goals, objectives, ideals, visions are at their core, really about fostering and maintaining family values of love, compassion, hard work and humility. My wife Susan does a really good job in explaining about the humility part to me.

People and organizations have a natural rhythm to their existence, a journey through a continuum with people and events entering and exiting. Let me say that I have enjoyed my part of the journey with you - no, enjoyed is too mild a verb. I’ve loved it. I’ve loved this journey with you. As I leave I am confident in the future of county government and of this organization. Your officers and board, along with your new staff leader, position you well for the future. This organization is at an exciting point in its journey.

Let me share with you some reflections on the last 32 years and be bold enough to make some observations about the future.

This association exists to serve the needs of county government. In responding to those needs it has grown in many areas over the last years. The organization’s role in advocacy has grown. Now in addition to its traditional state legislative advocacy role substantial state administrative rule making advocacy, federal legislative advocacy and judicial advocacy roles have been added. The association has even sued the federal government – successfully, I might add, Larry (Naake, NACo executive director) - compelling the federal government to pay you, North Carolina counties, $50 million more each year in payments for Medicare, ambulance services that you provide.

The service role of this organization has grown. In addition to its $200 million per year risk management program, the association now provides panoply of diverse services to counties. Including debt collection through debt-set off of income tax refunds. We have achieved reduced costs in purchasing working with NACo through the joint purchasing; we even have created an eBay type program for disposal of county assets. We have in addition to the Medicaid enhancement; we have enhanced the Medicaid payments to counties for ambulance services of about $10 million per year.

In training and education - this organization has grown as well in the provision of its training and educational services. This work with our wonderful partner, the School of Government, I still call it the Institute of Government but it is really now the School of Government, sometimes operating as an institute of government. We have worked very closely with them in enhancing the training and education available to county commissioners and other staff. Totally revamping the training program for country commissioners, new and experienced, to make it more interactive and responsive to modern day training needs.

In technology, this organization has grown. It has grown in its ability to aid counties in their transition to a modern technology base society. Years ago, when many of us didn’t even know what the Internet was, the Association provided grants to counties to initially get connected to the internet and provided training for those county officials to learn how to use this new technology. Now the association provides modern Web-based technology communication to all counties and aids in tran-technology transfer such as our recent property tax software program, which Wake County developed, gave to the Association for the Association to expand to other counties in the state, thereby creating a modern North Carolina base property tax system. Now, I think that is expanded to about seven counties as diverse as Wake and Mecklenburg, Wayne, Catawba, that program is available for all.

In communications, this organization has grown in its ability to help counties tell the story of county government through various media. We have partnered with the city/county managers Association, the NCLM and the School of Government in providing educational materials about local government to all school children in North Carolina. We have produced booklets and pamphlets on what county government is and how citizens can participate in county government. An observation, in this area of communicating about county government, we have, I believe, one of the greatest challenges of our organization. If the people don’t understand the importance of county government, you, county commissioners and county staff, will not be able to do your job.

Let me give one example, Becky (Carney). It frustrated me when the primary state news paper that reports on legislative issues changed its pattern, it used to say “Becky Carney, Democrat, Mecklenburg County” it now says “Becky Carney, Charlotte, North Carolina” - not that we are not connected to our cities but North Carolina was built on a base of county government. We have so many new citizens we saw evidence of those new citizens this morning in the awards, we see evidence of our new citizens who have absolutely no grounding in North Carolina and the county government base. I believe we have a responsibility to increase our efforts in having those new citizens and older experienced citizens understand what county government is all about and what kind of services it provides to its citizens.

This Association has grown in its ability to respond to issues and opportunities as they arise, also. For example, in the 80s, in one of the recurrent federal fiscal crisis’ bill that has come all the time, the federal government is always running out of money, in the 80s during one of those federal fiscal crisis, the federal government decided it needed to sell federal assets. It sold some property, but for us, it sold some intangible property, it sold, it offered to sell federal loans that counties had made at a discount. We took them up on that offer and brokered an arrangement whereby a state bank offered financing to counties to buy back those federal loans at an average discount of 50 percent, thereby saving counties hundreds of millions of dollars - an example of responding to opportunities as they arise.

In another example, of responding to opportunities as they arise, in the aftermath of our frequent hurricanes – it used to be, Bobby (Greer, New Hanover County chairman), that the hurricanes sort of aimed at the Cape Fear River and came up – unfortunately for our friends in Florida they seem to aim at the panhandle of Florida now, we’re sorry for them but glad they’re not aiming so directly at North Carolina. But during those times, and we still have those hurricanes, we partnered with the NCLM and state government in creating a system of local government mutual aid which has become a model for the nation.

We don’t want those natural disasters but when we have them now; a system exists so that Mecklenburg sends assistance to Brunswick and Brunswick sends assistance to Buncombe when those events occur – all in an integrated mutual aid system developed by the Association

As the Association has traveled through, on its journey, through these and other challenges, it has always been guided by a commitment to respond to the needs of counties. You are positioned now to continue that response. Three years ago, the Association adventured into a major strategic visioning and planning process. Every county official had an opportunity to participate in that visioning and planning process. That comprehensive process is now ready for further examination and implementation. Now the challenge for all county officials, our officers, board, Executive Director Thompson and his staff is to use that process to guide the Association on its journey to even higher levels of service. The journey is important. Now, for me, the Association train has paused on its journey and is pulling into a station – I’m getting off. Or, if it doesn’t stop, I’m going to jump off. As much as I will miss traveling with you I am looking forward to new journeys and adventures. I wish you all well as you continue this journey.