(We think maybe someone’s been eating too many apples at the Washington State Association of Counties. The following item appeared in its “Courthouse Journal” of April 5. We reprint it here, with permission, because even though the writer, Kurt Sharar, may have ingested too many apples, we think the article is pretty funny. Not true ... but funny. We hope you do too.)
The National Association of Counties (NACo) has announced that at this summer’s conference in Houston, it will award its first award for the most innovative award devised during the past year to stroke the egos of member counties.
For the past decade, NACo has become a leader among professional associations in developing honors for its members. “Sometimes, giving them an award is the only way we can keep them as dues-paying members of NACo,” explained NACo Executive Director Larry Naake. “I’ve heard the criticism that sometimes we find ourselves awarding counties for things they should have been doing anyway, but what is the harm? So what if they receive a little plaque for keeping the potholes filled and this litter picked up?”
A critic said NACo was “on the verge of giving out gold badges to county officials if they can wake up alive each morning.” Naake defended NACo’s awards programs as an inexpensive way of keeping modestly paid public officials motivated to do their jobs.
Still, Naake acknowledged that there had been an explosion in awards in recent years. “Sometimes just when I think they have thought of everything they can grant an award for, they dream up another one,” he sighed. Still, he believes they are relevant and he has personally called a halt to awards for activities which have no meaning to effective county government. “Such as the watermelon-seed spitting contest they wanted held in Atlanta last year,” he added by way of illustration.
In order to honor the most innovative (if not outrageous) county award developed during the past year, NACo will now screen all recent applicants for awards and the applicant for a new award program may find him or herself in for a special “Award Award.” Get your applications in.