Strategic goal highlight
Game planning for ‘County Government 101’

‘First and Goal’ team tackles information and education initiative

By Todd McGee
Director of Communications

Commissioners Dumont Clark of Mecklenburg County and Jimmy Garris of Pitt County review some of the project ideas generated by “First and Goal” team members (from left to right) Trinh Ngo, Donald P. Czysz Jr., Alisa Cobb, Judy Stancil and Sharon Hudgins-Waters during the NCACC Board of Directors meeting Dec. 8. Robert Hester, Ingrid Mangum and Todd McGee are also team members. (Photo by Todd McGee)

A booth on county government at the state fair; an interactive database with loads of statistics about counties; and an outreach program aimed at helping citizens understand what counties do are just some of the ideas being tossed about by NCACC staff to help inform and educate the public and the media about county government.

Educating the public and media about county government was one of five goals adopted by the NCACC Board of Directors in October as a result of the Association’s four-year strategic planning and visioning process.

After the Board formally adopted its goals, NCACC Executive Director David F. Thompson charged the staff with the business of creating an implementation plan to achieve the various goals.

Association staff was divided into five teams, with each team focusing on one of the goals. This article is the first in a series that will examine what each team is envisioning to help achieve the Board of Directors’ adopted vision.

Informing and educating the public was a major interest of commissioners during the strategic planning process. Many commissioners pointed to studies that show citizens have a lack of trust in government officials as a reason for needing to improve communications with citizens. Others relayed numerous instances in which constituents complained to commissioners about an issue in which counties have no jurisdiction.

“It was clear early on in this process that commissioners are looking to this Association to help them devise ways to spread the word among citizens about what it is that counties and county commissioners do,” said NCACC Deputy Director Patrice Roesler. “With the vast differences from county to county and region to region in this state, the challenge for the Association will be to devise strategies and materials that can be used by all counties.”

Among the ideas being generated by “First and Goal” – the name of the staff group that is working on the public education strategy – are several that will involve commissioners and county staff.

“We really see our role in this kind of effort as being one of providing county officials – both elected and appointed – with information that they can use whenever they are speaking to civic groups about county government,” said Roesler.

The group hopes to create a public information campaign called, “Welcome to Your County.” The campaign would feature a booklet that describes what counties do, a companion PowerPoint presentation that could be tailored to individual counties to be used by commissioners and managers, and a Web site for citizens to learn more about county government.

Another goal of the group is to work with outside agencies, such as the Civic Education Consortium at the School of Government and the North Carolina City and County Management Association, to re-emphasize civics education in the public school curriculum in North Carolina.

The group also wants to explore such ideas as creating a series of educational videos on county government that could be distributed statewide and played on local public access programming channels, developing monthly newspaper columns on county government, and providing training for county commissioners on public speaking and working with the media.

Each of the five teams provided an initial progress report to the Board of Directors at its Dec. 8 meeting and will provide continuous reports to the Board as needed during the implementation.

Training wheels set in motion As an organization in change, the Association has a lot of learning to do. In late November and early December, county officials and senior NCACC staff members tried to help straighten the learning curve. At left, Lee County Manager David Smitherman discusses the county manager form of government during a meeting with all staff members on Dec. 5. Former Anson County manager and current NCACC Policy Advocate James Bennett organized the training session, which also involved Mecklenburg County Manager Harry Jones (center) and Town of Indian Trail Manager John Munn, a former manager in Union and Surry counties and one-time interim manager in Stanly County. At right, House Principal Clerk Denise Weeks talks in the House chamber with NCACC staff members Michael Collard, Glenn Girton, Ingrid Mangum and Donna Walker during a tour of the Legislative Building and Legislative Office Building conducted Dec. 2 by NCACC General Counsel Jim Blackburn (far left). Bonita Chasten, Russell Corbally, Catherine Franklin and Jason King also took the tour. On Nov. 30, Bennett brought in an outside speaker to conduct a seminar based on Spencer Johnson’s best-selling book, “Who Moved My Cheese?,” which deals with individual and organizational change. In addition, Chief Financial Officer Elizabeth Floyd, Director of Member Services Ed Wooters, and Director of Marketing Kim Kilday are attending the six-week long Municipal and County Administration Course at the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (Photos by Jason King)