Candidate platforms 2026

Sarah Bentar
County Treasurer
Cooconino County, Ariz.

Dear Colleagues,

It has been one of the greatest honors of my career to serve as Coconino County Treasurer and to work alongside so many of you through NACo. County government is where service becomes personal — where the decisions we make touch the lives of our neighbors, our families, and our communities. My commitment to this work is rooted in a deep belief that local leadership matters, and that when counties are empowered to lead, our communities are stronger, safer, and more resilient.

My journey in NACo has been shaped by the incredible leaders I’ve met and the shared challenges we’ve faced together. Over the years, I have had the privilege of serving in several roles, including:

• Vice Chair, Finance, Pensions & Intergovernmental Affairs Steering Committee
• Chair, Fiscal Policy & Pensions Subcommittee
• Member, NACo Board of Directors
• Member, NACo Audit Committee
• Member, Health Steering Committee
• Member, Human Services & Education Steering Committee
• Past NACo Tally Clerk
• 2023 National Government Financial Professional of the Year (Controllers Council)

These roles have given me a deep appreciation for the complexity of county governance and the strength that comes from working together. They have also allowed me to contribute directly to NACo’s national policy work — from shaping fiscal policy recommendations, to strengthening intergovernmental partnerships, to helping develop NACo’s positions on issues that affect counties of every size.

As the Chief Banking Officer and Chief Investment Officer for my county, I oversee financial operations that touch every resident. That responsibility has shaped my belief that fiscal stewardship is one of the most important forms of public service.

Across the country, counties are facing a moment of profound change. We are navigating rising costs, workforce shortages, behavioral health crises, housing pressures, aging infrastructure, and increasing expectations from our residents. At the same time, counties are being asked to shoulder more responsibilities without the flexible, reliable funding needed to meet them. These challenges are real, and they require thoughtful, steady, and collaborative leadership.

One of the most pressing issues we face is fiscal sustainability. Counties are responsible for essential services — public safety, public health, elections, transportation, human services — yet our revenue systems often lag behind the needs of our communities. Cost shifts from states, uncertainty in federal funding, and inflation in labor and materials all strain our ability to plan for the future. Through my work chairing NACo’s Fiscal Policy & Pensions Subcommittee and serving on the Audit Committee, I have seen firsthand how counties benefit when NACo advocates for flexible funding, modernization of revenue systems, and tools that help counties build long-term financial resilience. Our ability to serve residents depends on it.

Another critical issue is protecting local control. Counties must retain the authority to make decisions that reflect the unique needs of their communities. Whether it’s land use, economic development, resource management, or service delivery, local leaders understand their communities best. My testimony before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee — where I spoke as a national expert on fiscal policy and local authority — reinforced for me how essential it is that NACo continues to defend local decision-making. When counties decide, communities thrive.

We must also pursue innovation and responsibly implement new technology in ways that strengthen county operations and support our workforce. As Treasurer, I have focused on practical, meaningful innovation — most notably developing a cash-flow modeling system that supports disaster response and recovery, giving counties clearer insight into financial capacity during emergencies. This work has demonstrated that responsible use of technological advancements, when guided by real world needs and human judgment, can boost resilience, improve decision making, and strengthen public trust. NACo can play a vital role in helping counties adopt tools that are effective, accessible, and grounded in real-world needs.

Finally, we must continue to focus on community well-being. Counties are on the front lines of behavioral health, homelessness, public health, emergency response, and social services. The challenges our residents face are complex and interconnected, and counties are often the only level of government positioned to respond holistically. My work on NACo’s Health and Human Services & Education Steering Committees has shown me how essential it is that NACo continues supporting counties with resources, research, and advocacy that strengthen our capacity to meet these needs.

As we look to the future, NACo’s strength will depend on the strength of its membership. Engagement is essential. Expanding the NACo Ambassador Program, creating more opportunities for new members to connect, and offering limited-access previews of NACo resources can help counties understand the value of participation. Regular communication, peer learning, and intentional outreach — especially to counties with fewer resources — will ensure NACo remains relevant and responsive to all members.

I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to serve alongside you. County officials are some of the most dedicated public servants I have ever known, and it is your commitment that inspires me every day. The relationships we build through NACo — the conversations in hallways, the problem-solving across state lines, the shared commitment to our residents — are what make this organization so meaningful and impactful.

To learn more about my experience and vision for our future, or connect with me personally, please visit www.sarah4naco.com. I look forward to our upcoming conversations as we shape the path forward for NACo. Thank you for your service, leadership, and unwavering dedication to your communities. It is an honor to walk this path with you. I humbly ask for your support and vote to serve as your next NACo 2nd Vice President. When counties decide, communities thrive.

Matthew Prochaska
Circuit Clerk
Kendall County, Ill.

Building Bridges. Strengthening Counties. Advancing NACo.

The National Association of Counties is at its best when county leaders come together in a bipartisan spirit to solve problems, share ideas, and advocate for the communities we serve. As a candidate for NACo Second Vice President, my vision is rooted in a simple principle: building bridges. Building bridges between counties, between rural, suburban, and urban communities, between state associations and NACo, and between experienced leaders and emerging leaders.

My commitment to NACo is grounded in a unique perspective shaped by service at multiple levels of county government. Before becoming a countywide elected official, I served eight years as a county board member, where I learned the importance of fiscal stewardship, constituent service, and collaborative leadership. Those experiences provided the foundation for my involvement in NACo and continue to influence my approach to leadership today.

I have also had the privilege of serving as NACo Membership Chairman, NACo Parliamentarian, and a member of the Credentials Committee. I also serve as President of the Illinois State Association of Counties and on the Board of the United Counties Council of Illinois. Through these roles, I have learned that NACo’s greatest strength is not any single program or committee. Our greatest strength is the relationships that connect county leaders across America.

Membership growth and retention must remain among NACo’s highest priorities. During my service as Membership Chairman, NACo achieved a membership high and one of its strongest retention rates. That success was built through outreach, relationship-building, and demonstrating the value of NACo membership.

When I served as a county board member, NACo provided me with access to ideas, best practices, and relationships that helped me become a more effective local official. That experience taught me that membership is not simply about joining an organization. It is about becoming part of a community of county leaders committed to improving county government.

We must continue to communicate both the financial and professional value of NACo membership. Counties need to understand not only what NACo does in Washington, but also how NACo helps them solve problems at home through advocacy, education, leadership development, peer networking, and programs such as NACo Edge.

At the same time, membership is about engagement. A county with only one actively engaged NACo member is an at-risk county. When participation is concentrated in a single individual, institutional knowledge can be lost and future engagement becomes uncertain. We should encourage counties to develop teams of engaged leaders and employees rather than relying on a single representative.

One of NACo’s greatest assets is its ability to connect county officials with colleagues facing similar challenges.

Some of the most valuable lessons I learned as a county board member came from conversations with county leaders who had already faced challenges my county was confronting.

These relationships build trust, encourage innovation, and provide practical solutions that can be implemented immediately. In the various capacities of my public service, I have seen how these relationships help counties avoid mistakes, identify opportunities, and improve outcomes for residents.

A strong association requires a strong financial foundation. NACo Edge has become an increasingly important resource for counties by providing practical solutions, strategic partnerships, and cost-saving opportunities. It has also become an important source of non-dues revenue for the association.

As an officer, I will support continued growth and innovation within NACo Edge while ensuring that it remains focused on delivering meaningful value to counties. Strengthening NACo Edge is not simply about generating revenue. It is about ensuring NACo has the resources necessary to support advocacy, education, leadership development, and member services for years to come.

At the same time, NACo must preserve its role as a bipartisan, solutions-oriented organization. My experience as a county board member and circuit clerk taught me that local government succeeds when people focus on solving problems rather than scoring political points. Roads must be maintained. Public safety services must be delivered. Budgets must be balanced. Residents expect results.

NACo has long been successful because it brings together leaders from different political parties, regions, and backgrounds to address shared challenges. As an officer, I will work to ensure NACo remains a place where respectful dialogue, consensus-building, and practical problem-solving are valued above partisan division. Counties are strongest when they speak with a unified voice, and NACo is strongest when it remains focused on county priorities rather than national political battles.

Leadership is ultimately about relationships. The most successful organizations are those that listen to a multitude of voices, bring people together around common goals and create opportunities for collaboration. NACo has done that for nearly a century, and I believe its future is bright if we continue to focus on engagement, innovation, fiscal responsibility, and bipartisanship.

The experiences I gained as a county board member participating in NACo remain the foundation of my leadership philosophy. They remind me every day that NACo exists to serve counties and the people who lead them. Whether representing a rural county, a suburban county, or a major urban county, our members deserve an association that listens, responds, and delivers value.

If elected as your NACo Second Vice President, I will bring my diversity of experiences to the office. I will work to build bridges between counties, strengthen member engagement, support NACo’s long-term financial sustainability, elevate NACo’s collective voice, and preserve the bipartisan spirit that has made our association successful for generations.

I’m honored to seek the position of NACo Second Vice President in the company of two other fine candidates and respectfully ask for your support.

Mike Turner
Vice-Chair
Loudoun County, Va. Board of Supervisors

Greetings NACo Colleagues. I’m Mike Turner, Vice Chair/Ashburn District Supervisor on the Board of Supervisors in Loudoun County, VA, and I’m running for NACo 2nd Vice President. I’m currently the Chair of both the NACo and the Virginia Association of Counties (VACo) Environment, Energy and Land Use (EELU) Committees.

I’ve served in a public service job every single day of my life since I was 17 years old. After graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy, I flew as an air rescue helicopter pilot for six years. I then transitioned to fighter aircraft and spent the remainder of my career as a fighter pilot. During my 24-yr. Air Force career, I had two senior staff assignments, first as General H. Norman Schwarzkopf’s personal briefing officer for two years before and during Desert Storm, and, in my final assignment, as a senior policy advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs at the Pentagon.

After retiring from the U.S. Air Force as a full colonel, I served for 22 years as the chief development officer or chief legislative officer in six different national nonprofits, including the American Red Cross, Mental Health America and Wounded Warrior Project.

And now, at the pinnacle of my public service career, I can say without hesitation my current job as an elected Loudoun County Supervisor is the most deeply satisfying and rewarding public service job I’ve ever had.

That’s why, when asked why I was running for NACo 2nd Vice President, I realized the NACo mission, the unwavering dedication of NACo members to public service in their communities, and NACo’s vital leadership role in empowering and representing the nation’s counties resonated deeply within me.

I believe NACo must remain a unifying voice for our counties and reflect, through them, ethical, compassionate and principled national leadership. Such principled leadership was expected of me as a senior military officer, and my NACo membership has simply reaffirmed these core values. Never in my life have I felt so compelled to stand up and devote all my energies and experience helping to lead an organization that represents the very best of our democracy.

I feel NACo leadership is critically needed in several areas. Here are three I believe are most urgent:

Data Centers:

NACo must empower county elected officials to become the “go to” experts on managing data center growth and historically increasing power demand.

As many of you know, Loudoun County has the highest concentration of data centers in the world with 253 data centers in the 30 square miles of eastern Loudoun County. For over twenty-six years, we’ve had to contend with the highly complex challenges related to historic data center growth, an unprecedented increase in demand on our power grid, pressure to roll back power de-carbonization programs, and rapidly growing community resistance to new data centers.

As a Loudoun County Supervisor, I’ve tried to learn about and understand all aspects of this historic change. I’ve spent the past two years researching every aspect of data center growth and its impact on our nation’s counties, participated in dozens of panel discussions, webinars, forums and site visits and met with elected county officials from across the country.

I’ve captured my research in a white paper, a slide deck, and a one-page primer of the 15 best practices for counties considering data center development. They can be downloaded from the QR code above or at www.Loudoun.gov/Ashburn.

I believe NACo is uniquely positioned to lead the nation in addressing this historic market trend by providing county leaders with the tools they need to make informed, sustainable decisions about data center growth, power demand, water use, emissions, energy storage and microgrids.

Affordable Housing:

NACo must continue to lead the nation in affordable housing innovation.

Every one of our member counties faces the issue of affordable housing, and many of them have developed highly innovative, community-unique affordable housing solutions. The best of these are the result of a high degree of collaboration among federal, state and local community programs. NACo is ideally positioned to facilitate this process. By sharing member county best practices and establishing regular forums for our members to relate their affordable housing successes—one of our great strengths—we can continue to raise the bar for all counties and help everyone achieve significant affordability results. For example, I helped write Loudoun County’s Unmet Housing Needs Strategic Plan shortly after being elected, and I conceived of an initiative to “fast track” residential housing developments comprising 100% affordable homes. The result: we have now cut the application processing times for fully affordable projects from two years down to eight months. NACo offers an ideal platform to share these types of successes with all our members.

Protecting County Authority:

NACo must strongly oppose increasing efforts by state and federal governments to usurp county authority.

The historic urgency of issues like data center growth, affordable housing availability and managing and regulating artificial intelligence is fueling a growing trend by state and federal governments to preempt county authority in these and other areas. NACo must continue to showcase local successes as proof that the most vital role federal and state governments play is to empower counties to implement county-appropriate solutions. The impact on local communities of these emerging, highly complex issues is far too community-unique to lend itself to “one size fits all” state or federal solutions.

Considering these and other emerging issues, it’s clear to me NACo members play a vital role in making American democracy work every day. It is important for American citizens to see and hear their local elected officials demonstrating in their local communities the highest ideals and aspirations of American Democracy: compassion, fairness, respect, self-sacrifice, decency, non-partisanship, honesty, and so much more. NACo must be a clarion voice of reason, optimism and hope, a shining testament to those principles which have made America the most enduring democracy in human history. I would be honored to serve as your 2nd Vice President.

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