Betty Lou Ward
NACo President

County and city officials took a successful first step toward addressing the challenging issue of technology by participating recently in the Summit on Governance in a Technological Millennium in Chapel Hill, N.C.

I suggested that a summit like this be held because I realized the importance of technology when the Research Triangle was developed in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina, near my home county.

Technology is a force that is with us every day. It is changing the way Americans learn, work and play. And it is beginning to have a dramatic effect on the way we govern and deliver services.

Technology offers challenges and, at the same time, opportunities. I want to make sure that county officials take advantage of those opportunities.

There were probably more questions raised than answered at the summit, but a great deal of information was exchanged and discussed, which is important in this stage of the process. The summit explored the technological issues that confront local governments and emphasized that local officials need to embrace technology and use it effectively.

The next step is the crucial one. Where do we go from here?

Jim Ley, Sarasota County (Fla.) administrator, expressed how he felt about next steps: "Dialogue is not enough. We’ve got to go beyond dialogue. You can’t talk fast enough to deal with this issue."

He’s got a point. Of course, with elected officials it’s almost impossible not to have meetings and conferences and dialogue. But his real message is that we have to move forward on this issue. We’ve got to be practical and use common sense, but we need to act.

The county delegation to the summit urged NACo to take a leadership role in technological governance, work to hold a follow-up summit, and collect and share best practices. I will take these recommendations to the executive committee, the board of directors and the membership for review and urge that they be adopted.

At the same time, I encourage all county officials to make technology a priority – learn how you can use it to improve the delivery of services to the citizens of your county.