Clark takes NACo leadership reins; Brooks wins 2nd VP office

El Paso County, Colo. Com­missioner Sallie Clark is NACo’s new president, elected at the as­sociation’s annual conference July 13. Joining Clark, as the newest member of the executive team, is Tarrant County, Texas Com­missioner Roy Charles Brooks, who won the only contested race for NACo office. Other newly elected officers include First Vice President and Leon County, Fla. Commissioner Bryan Desloge and Immediate Past President and Maui County, Hawai’i Council Member Riki Hokama.

Clark will focus on “Safe and Secure Counties” as her presidential initiative. “Safe and Secure Counties will demonstrate the importance of our counties, parishes and boroughs. It will showcase our current initiatives, policies and efforts on everything from emergency preparedness to jails and courts, infrastructure and transportation to public health. Through ‘Safe and Secure,’ we will build on the ‘Why Counties Matter’ message to our residents, to our states and to our nation,” she said during her inaugural remarks.

More than 2,500 elected and appointed officials participated in NACo’s 2015 Annual Confer­ence held in Mecklenburg County (Charlotte), N.C. July 10–13. They heard from Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Secretary of Trans­portation Anthony Foxx and could participate in more than three dozen educational workshops that explored topics ranging from the pros and cons of body cameras in law enforcement, to how automated vehicles and mobile technology affect trans­portation patterns to legislative updates and new research findings for counties.

Conference delegates also discussed federal policy and legislation on a wide range of key topics such as transportation and infrastructure; rural and urban development; energy, environ­ment and land use; public safety; emergency preparedness and response; housing and community development; health and other topics. They adopted more than a 100 policy resolutions, which will serve as NACo’s official policy positions — the American County Platform — for the next 12 months.

spot­lighted the 2015 Best of Category Achievement Award winners. Ameri­cans for the Arts also presented its Public Leadership in the Arts Award to the Riverside County, Calif. Board of Supervisors. In other award presentations at the conference: The presidential scholarship award winners were Luke Kikukawauke and Marc Austin Pader. The presidential scholarships, sponsored by David Davenport and CH2M Hill, are awarded to students from the out­going NACo president’s county.

This year’s conference also served as the stage for the official unveiling of NACo’s new brand, highlighted by a new logo, new website and new tagline, “Stron­ger Counties. Stronger America.” Also new at the conference were daily one-minute wrap-up videos produced by NACo’s digital team.

Los Angeles County will host the 2016 Annual Conference in Long Beach, Calif., July 22–25.