Boot camps train newly elected county officials

Idaho Association of Counties Government Affairs Director Sara Westbrook prompts newly elected officials to share their work in a training session. Photo by Jessica Roth
Error message
In order to filter by the "in queue" property, you need to add the Entityqueue: Queue relationship.-
County NewsFacing a brain drain with turnover, state associations pace newly elected officials intentionally while providing vital education about their new jobs.Boot camps train newly elected county officials
-
County News Article
Boot camps train newly elected county officials
Springfield County, Md.’s councilmembers seemed to be stepping on rakes every way they walked.
They ignored conflicts of interest, flouted open meetings laws and just couldn’t do anything right. Michael Sanderson, the executive director of the Maryland Association of Counties, was fine with that. The fictional county was a cautionary tale for the 60 newly elected county officials starting in 2023: Don’t do what Commissioner Donnie Don’t does. That buffoonish behavior at the association’s Winter Conference in January illustrated exactly what not to do, and that would be a more memorable lesson than simply modeling good behavior.
“A lot of people are coming into office with no experience, they’ve just been campaigning, and we want to let them know that this isn’t going to be like running a Rotary meeting — there are ethics laws, procedures and things like that,” Sanderson said. “There’s an adjustment, and we want to make it smooth. We have a pretty big wave of new folks starting at the same time this year, so we had an obvious window to help them get started.”
Peruse the curricula
Idaho's County Officials Institute
South Carolina's Institute of Government
California's CSAC Institute
While NACo is still compiling local statistics on the 2022 election, anecdotal evidence suggests roughly a change in one-third of the seats every four years, with that figure potentially rising as state term limits take effect. That means a significant portion of the experience and institutional knowledge leaves county courthouses and makes education for public officials a priority.
The Maryland association still sends everyone home with a three-ring binder packed with reference materials, but Sanderson said some of the most valuable learning came when he mixed the rookies with veterans and got them talking shop.
“They sit around the table and talk about how you conduct yourself at the grocery store when that neighbor suddenly is pestering you,” Sanderson said. “They really are hungry for that kind of advice and guidance and not getting it from a random person, not from their county, but just somebody who’s done this kind of stuff before.”
Ralph Patterson knew his way around the Charles County, Md. courthouse, usually when he’d come to visit his mother, now state Del. Edith Patterson, who was a commissioner for eight years. He took office in January, and pivoting from 17 months of campaigning to governing was daunting, and so too was his apprehension before the training.
“I was always afraid that was going to be like a graduate-level class, where you’d be sitting there trying to drink from a firehose,” he said. “They made everything digestible. They know we’re getting hit with a lot at once, so they were careful not to pile on too much.”
Chief among his concerns was learning about state legislative issues and how he could best communicate their local effects to his constituents
“They didn’t tell us how to vote, but they basically showed us the pros and cons of those issues,” Patterson said.
Brandy Grace brought her experience as Milliard County auditor to her job as CEO of the Utah Association of Counties, and that has guided her revision of the association’s educational programs. She has 56 new elected officials in the 2023 cohort.
“I thought about everything I wished I had known back then,” she said about developing the curriculum. “The most important thing was strategically timing the lessons to they’re coming when they’re really needed, rather than trying to learn everything at once.”
Utah county officials start off with a lesson on the legal requirements to run meetings and manage governmental records, with a primer on the state legislative process. In March, they reconvene to learn about property values and the overall ecosystem of the local public sector.
“I try to help them understand the various elected roles so they kind of know who’s responsible for what in their county, how we all incorporate,” Grace said. “We talk about property documents being recorded, then the assessor values them, then the auditor determines the tax rate and the treasurer sends out the tax bill. A lot of them haven’t worked in the public sector before, so we try to put it all together for them.”
The association partners with Utah State University to use extension offices throughout the state for seminars, which run for a few hours. September includes a budgeting workshop and the students celebrate their first year in office in December. From there, county officials can take enrichment classes through Utah State on specific topics.
Classes were online for Idaho officials in 2020, when the Idaho Association of Counties debuted its formalized County Officials Institute, and after a soft in-person launch in 2021, the association took the show on the road in fall 2022, holding classes in Latah and Bonneville counties. The institute’s course catalog covers 18 credit hours of core courses and 12 hours of electives.
“We’ll touch on planning and zoning, ethics and the basics, but we come back and give them a chance to work more hands-on with topics once they’ve had some time in office,” said Kristin Cundiff, director of operations for IAC, who has guided the program during her tenure. “We can talk about different scenarios and hypotheticals.”
While it’s geared toward the first-year commissioners, Cundiff said she sees plenty of experienced officials coming back for more.
“We’ve had some people take classes five times in the last 10 years because they learn something new every time,” she said.
That kind of mixture of the blank slates and the experienced officials is better than she had ever planned, and Sanderson aims for the same mix in Maryland conferences.
“We try to put the new people in tables with state senators with county government experience and give them a chance to really hear it from all perspectives,” he said. “There’s super-high value for the brand-new elected official who used to sell used cars, and now they run a jail. Suddenly they’re the ones being handed the keys for the first time and that takes some getting used to. We just try to surround them with good teachers and good information.”
Facing a brain drain with turnover, state associations pace newly elected officials intentionally while providing vital education about their new jobs.2023-01-30County News Article2023-01-31
Springfield County, Md.’s councilmembers seemed to be stepping on rakes every way they walked.
They ignored conflicts of interest, flouted open meetings laws and just couldn’t do anything right. Michael Sanderson, the executive director of the Maryland Association of Counties, was fine with that. The fictional county was a cautionary tale for the 60 newly elected county officials starting in 2023: Don’t do what Commissioner Donnie Don’t does. That buffoonish behavior at the association’s Winter Conference in January illustrated exactly what not to do, and that would be a more memorable lesson than simply modeling good behavior.
“A lot of people are coming into office with no experience, they’ve just been campaigning, and we want to let them know that this isn’t going to be like running a Rotary meeting — there are ethics laws, procedures and things like that,” Sanderson said. “There’s an adjustment, and we want to make it smooth. We have a pretty big wave of new folks starting at the same time this year, so we had an obvious window to help them get started.”
Peruse the curricula
Idaho's County Officials Institute
While NACo is still compiling local statistics on the 2022 election, anecdotal evidence suggests roughly a change in one-third of the seats every four years, with that figure potentially rising as state term limits take effect. That means a significant portion of the experience and institutional knowledge leaves county courthouses and makes education for public officials a priority.
The Maryland association still sends everyone home with a three-ring binder packed with reference materials, but Sanderson said some of the most valuable learning came when he mixed the rookies with veterans and got them talking shop.
“They sit around the table and talk about how you conduct yourself at the grocery store when that neighbor suddenly is pestering you,” Sanderson said. “They really are hungry for that kind of advice and guidance and not getting it from a random person, not from their county, but just somebody who’s done this kind of stuff before.”
Ralph Patterson knew his way around the Charles County, Md. courthouse, usually when he’d come to visit his mother, now state Del. Edith Patterson, who was a commissioner for eight years. He took office in January, and pivoting from 17 months of campaigning to governing was daunting, and so too was his apprehension before the training.
“I was always afraid that was going to be like a graduate-level class, where you’d be sitting there trying to drink from a firehose,” he said. “They made everything digestible. They know we’re getting hit with a lot at once, so they were careful not to pile on too much.”
Chief among his concerns was learning about state legislative issues and how he could best communicate their local effects to his constituents
“They didn’t tell us how to vote, but they basically showed us the pros and cons of those issues,” Patterson said.
Brandy Grace brought her experience as Milliard County auditor to her job as CEO of the Utah Association of Counties, and that has guided her revision of the association’s educational programs. She has 56 new elected officials in the 2023 cohort.
“I thought about everything I wished I had known back then,” she said about developing the curriculum. “The most important thing was strategically timing the lessons to they’re coming when they’re really needed, rather than trying to learn everything at once.”
Utah county officials start off with a lesson on the legal requirements to run meetings and manage governmental records, with a primer on the state legislative process. In March, they reconvene to learn about property values and the overall ecosystem of the local public sector.
“I try to help them understand the various elected roles so they kind of know who’s responsible for what in their county, how we all incorporate,” Grace said. “We talk about property documents being recorded, then the assessor values them, then the auditor determines the tax rate and the treasurer sends out the tax bill. A lot of them haven’t worked in the public sector before, so we try to put it all together for them.”
The association partners with Utah State University to use extension offices throughout the state for seminars, which run for a few hours. September includes a budgeting workshop and the students celebrate their first year in office in December. From there, county officials can take enrichment classes through Utah State on specific topics.
Classes were online for Idaho officials in 2020, when the Idaho Association of Counties debuted its formalized County Officials Institute, and after a soft in-person launch in 2021, the association took the show on the road in fall 2022, holding classes in Latah and Bonneville counties. The institute’s course catalog covers 18 credit hours of core courses and 12 hours of electives.
“We’ll touch on planning and zoning, ethics and the basics, but we come back and give them a chance to work more hands-on with topics once they’ve had some time in office,” said Kristin Cundiff, director of operations for IAC, who has guided the program during her tenure. “We can talk about different scenarios and hypotheticals.”
While it’s geared toward the first-year commissioners, Cundiff said she sees plenty of experienced officials coming back for more.
“We’ve had some people take classes five times in the last 10 years because they learn something new every time,” she said.
That kind of mixture of the blank slates and the experienced officials is better than she had ever planned, and Sanderson aims for the same mix in Maryland conferences.
“We try to put the new people in tables with state senators with county government experience and give them a chance to really hear it from all perspectives,” he said. “There’s super-high value for the brand-new elected official who used to sell used cars, and now they run a jail. Suddenly they’re the ones being handed the keys for the first time and that takes some getting used to. We just try to surround them with good teachers and good information.”
Hero 1
About Charlie Ban (Full Bio)
County News Digital Editor & Senior Writer
Charlie is the County News digital editor and senior writer.More from Charlie Ban
-
County News
Economic momentum, bipartisan hope mark Biden’s return to Legislative Conference
Not satisfied to coast on two years of legislative wins, President Joe Biden charted the path forward for what he called a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America during his second consecutive address to NACo’s Legislative Conference. -
County News
Keith Carson channels Berkeley upbringing on Alameda County Board
A student government program that kept Keith Carson out of jail as a teenager helped him find a talent and passion for government and launched a career that has included 30 years on the Alameda County, Calif. Board of Supervisors. -
County News
President Biden to address 2023 NACo Legislative Conference
President Biden will join the Feb. 14 General Session at the NACo Legislative Conference. -
County News
High school students step into county commissioners’ shoes
Eleven Knox County, Tenn. high-school students are serving as “junior commissioners” in a county effort to get the next generation excited about local government. -
County News
High Performance Leadership Academy changes game for human rights advocate
Rockland County's new human rights commissioner credited NACo's High Performance Leadership Academy with helping him make the leap to his new position. -
County News
Former NACo President Harvey Ruvin dies at 85
Miami-Dade County Clerk Harvey Ruvin had two lives in county government, including as NACo president in '87-'88, during his 85 years. He died Dec. 31 after more than 50 years of public service.
-
Conference
2023 NACo Fall Board Meeting
November 30, 2023 – December 2, 2023Save the date to join county leaders for NACo's Fall Board of Directors MeetingRamsey County (St. Paul), Minn.113011:00 am<h3>Save the Date</h3>
<p>Save the date to join county leaders for NACo's Fall Board of Directors Meeting in Ramsey County (St. Paul), Minn. Nov. 30 – Dec. 2.</p>
-
Basic page
NACo High Performance Leadership Academy
The NACo High Performance Leadership Academy is an online 12-week program that will empower frontline county government professionals with the most fundamental leadership skills to deliver results for counties and communities.pagepagepage<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width:100%" summary="medium-call-out transparent">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
Contact
-
County News Digital Editor & Senior Writer(202) 942-4210
Related Resources
-
County News
Economic momentum, bipartisan hope mark Biden’s return to Legislative Conference
Not satisfied to coast on two years of legislative wins, President Joe Biden charted the path forward for what he called a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America during his second consecutive address to NACo’s Legislative Conference. -
County News
Keith Carson channels Berkeley upbringing on Alameda County Board
A student government program that kept Keith Carson out of jail as a teenager helped him find a talent and passion for government and launched a career that has included 30 years on the Alameda County, Calif. Board of Supervisors. -
County News
President Biden to address 2023 NACo Legislative Conference
President Biden will join the Feb. 14 General Session at the NACo Legislative Conference.
-
Press Release
Winfrey Begins NACo Presidency
Will County, Ill. Board Member Denise Winfrey was sworn in as president of the National Association of Counties (NACo) on July 24 at the conclusion of NACo’s 87th Annual Conference in Adams County, Colo. -
Video
NACo President Denise Winfrey Announces RISE!
During the 2022 NACo Annual Business Meeting, NACo President Denise Winfrey outlined her presidential priority, “RISE!” -
Video
2022 NACo Annual Conference Livestreams
Tune in for livestreams of select conference programming from the 2022 NACo Annual Conference & Exposition.
Related Events
-
30Nov2023Conference
2023 NACo Fall Board Meeting
Nov. 30, 2023 – Dec. 2, 2023Ramsey County (St. Paul), Minn.
More From
-
Economic momentum, bipartisan hope mark Biden’s return to Legislative Conference
Not satisfied to coast on two years of legislative wins, President Joe Biden charted the path forward for what he called a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America during his second consecutive address to NACo’s Legislative Conference.
Learn More