Greg Cox

Supervisor
San Diego County, Calif.

 

Why are you interested in serving as a NACo officer?

I have been in local government service for 40 years, since I was first elected to a city council. For the past four decades, I have served residents at the local level in a variety of offices and been part of numerous great teams much like the one at NACo. I truly love local government; it is the level of government that can roll up its sleeves and get to work, where you have to work collaboratively to solve problems and make a difference. It’s also the level of government at which the focus is on policy and projects and how they affect our residents, not politics. I believe that counties are the level of government that truly makes a difference in the lives of our citizens.

I have also had the privilege of serving as president and leading two of the largest local government associations in the country: the California State Association of Counties and the League of California Cities. In each of these capacities, I collaborated with local officials from small, medium and large jurisdictions to solve problems. No city or county was too small or too large to be part of the solution, and I have learned that whether an elected official represents a small community of 500 or a county serving millions, the drive to serve our communities and make them better is the same.

I thrive on working with small, medium, and large jurisdictions to solve problems. I’ve done it in my community in San Diego County through our innovative 2-1-1 phone referral system and the countywide “Live Well San Diego” public health effort. I’ve done it in my role as president and an officer of CSAC through a statewide ballot proposition to constitutionally guarantee revenues to local government and through trial court reform to ensure county authority aligns with our responsibilities and funding. I’ve done it in my role as president of the League of California Cities and as chair of the Institute for Local Government: a collaboration of cities, counties and special districts focusing on local governance issues.

It is with this experience of successfully creating powerful coalitions and open communication that I offer my candidacy as NACo second vice president. I’m prepared to share my passion and experience for bringing people together to create lasting solutions for all counties throughout the country. As NACo second vice president, I will strive to strengthen NACo’s existing partnerships and create new ones to further our leverage on key issues for counties. I also offer my breadth of experience in coalition building and finding solutions that work at the local level to create a strong voice for all counties.

 

What do you consider to have been your most important contribution to the National Association of Counties to date? What do you consider to have been your most important contribution to your state association of counties?

While serving as a NACo board member, I was appointed in 2008 to co-chair a committee commissioned to examine the structure of NACo and recommend a potential reorganization. At that time, NACo had five officers and more than 160 board members — an onerous organizational structure that left many members feeling unrepresented.

Through the NACo Governance and Structure Task Force, we developed a new organizational structure that allowed for significantly more representation and opening up new opportunities for members to get involved in the association. Through the four regional representatives, we can now ensure that all our counties have a greater voice. The new structure has also provided better lines of communication among members — crucial to an association as diverse as NACo in region, size and interests.

When I became president of our state association, it was a time of political turmoil in our state. A governor had been recently recalled and Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected to office. Our top priority was to protect local funding that was continually being diverted by the state for other purposes.

Working with the governor and other local government partners, we put together a strong coalition that developed a ballot initiative — Proposition 1A — to protect county and city local finances. Through the strong partnership with the governor and legislators, our state association led the way in seeing this measure approved overwhelmingly by more than two-thirds of California voters. To this day, Proposition 1A ensures that billions of local government funds stay at the local level.

 

What do you consider to be the two or three most important challenges facing NACo in the near future on which the Officers/Executive Committee/Board of Directors should focus? Why?

A key issue facing our leadership during the 2016-17 year will be working with the new president in Washington, D.C. We need to ensure our incoming president, his or her Administration and new members of Congress hear and understand NACo priorities and the critical role counties play every day. There’s an old political saying that “if you aren’t at the table, you are on the menu.” As the voice of our nation’s counties, we need to ensure we are at the table.

Another challenge facing NACo as the voice of our nation’s counties will be to examine ways for counties to leverage and take advantage of services already in place. We cannot solely focus on seeking new fiscal resources out of Washington, D.C.; we must look for new ways to provide our citizens with access to existing resources. As counties, we need to enhance our collaboration with community groups and the private sector. For example, I have been a strong advocate of the 2-1-1 system that plays an invaluable role in connecting citizens with local services. We need to examine opportunities such as this locally driven program to see how they can be expanded to serve all citizens.

The health of our residents is another issue we cannot overlook. Many counties have already implemented programs for children that focus on nutrition and healthy living. In my county, our “Live Well San Diego” program has become a national model on how to create healthy, safe communities. Led by the county, this initiative includes a broad coalition of partners including cities, schools, businesses and non-profit community providers. By developing preventive public health programs such as this, we can ultimately reduce the need for county services down the road. And more importantly, we will be helping to create a healthier population — a scenario that can benefit all of us.

NACo has an opportunity to be a leader and a resource on these challenges. We can lead the way in Washington D.C., in our states and in our communities, to provide our members with best practices that work in counties of all sizes and all regions of the country. It is our role as a national association to ensure that counties have the opportunity to learn from each other.

 

What measures would you recommend to increase and retain NACo membership and to encourage broad participation in NACo by elected officials and employees of NACo member counties? What specific role would you be willing to assume to help build and sustain membership in NACo?

I have always believed that an association is only as strong as its membership. As president of both the California State Association of Counties and League of California Cities, I put strong emphasis on the retention and, as needed, recruitment of members. I was very proud of the fact that we had 100 percent participation from all jurisdictions. It is crucial for members to hear from — and meet with — their leadership and association staff. Our members need an opportunity to express their viewpoints and discuss issues of importance to them. That is often difficult to do in a large setting such as an annual conference; it is most effectively done in their home state or county where the association comes to them. Local outreach is critical for both the county members and the leadership of an association.

It is also vital that NACo members understand the value of their membership. As NACo continues to add to its value through innovative programs, advocacy and services, it is important for these accomplishments and opportunities to be communicated back to all members. All members of our national association must believe we have their interests at heart and that we are working hard for them.  Only when we are able to show true value will we find our members become more active in the association — and only then will we have the tools to build our membership.

This is not a new idea, but it’s a process that must be continued year after year. As a NACo officer, I would make it a goal to visit all state associations and to meet with as many of our members as possible in their home states. NACo is an incredibly effective organization advocating on behalf of our counties across the country and in sharing resources. But we can always do more; we must always strive to reach that next level. I want to bring my experience to the table and play a leadership role in communicating the successes of today and tomorrow to our membership.