NACo Board approves office move in 2016, gets 'WOTUS' update

Tarrant County, Texas Judge Glen Whitley, past NACo president, raises questions about a committee report at the Board meeting. Photo by Tom Goodman.

The NACo Board of Directors, meeting during the WIR Conference in Kauai County, Hawai'i, approved the relocation of the association's headquarters in the fall of 2016 to a new building on Capitol Hill. The change will allow NACo to co-locate with the National League of Cities and create a joint conference center at 660 North Capitol Street, directly behind the association's current site.

The Board also received briefings on the proposed EPA rule related to "Waters of the U.S." (WOTUS), the NACo BluePrint, current federal legislation, the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign and the NACo Financial Services Corporation.

Samuel Brown, senior attorney with Hunton and Williams in San Francisco, Calif., spoke to the Board about the number and types of comments received during the public comment period for the WOTUS proposed rule, which ended last November. The EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers jointly released the proposed rule Definition of the Waters of the U.S. in April 2014. The proposed rule would impact county-owned and maintained roadside and drainage ditches, flood control channels and stormwater systems.

Brown said the agencies received more than one million comments. Some comments were substantial like the ones received from NACo, state associations and individual counties. However, most comments were part of campaigns with identical messages sent by different people.

NACo Executive Director Matt Chase presented the NACo BluePrint, a plan that outlines the mission, objectives, performance metrics and burning imperatives for the association. Chase said a new logo, slogan and website will be unveiled during the annual conference in July.

Chase said NACo's core objectives are advocacy, leadership development, county solutions, civic education and excellence in public service.

The association has the mindset of an 80-year-old start-up company that is totally invested and dedicated to the success of its members, Chase said. To achieve that success, the burning imperatives that need to be pursued are:

• drive relevancy of county government in the national policy arena
• refresh NACo's brand through contemporary style, narrative and communications platforms
• intensify membership engage ment, especially with newly elected officials
• strengthen existing programs while pursuing new enterprise and membership services, and
• nurture an organizational culture of public service excellence.

The Board also received a legislative update from Deborah Cox, legislative affairs director, and learned about "Counties Connect America," NACo's effort to engage and educate candidates for U.S. president in 2016 about counties and county issues.

Information and a progress report on the NACo Financial Services Corporation (FSC) was provided by Bill Jasien, executive chairman of the FSC, and David Thompson, president and managing director of the FSC.