J.D. Clark reflects on his year as NACo president

Key Takeaways

Wise County, Texas Judge J.D. Clark, a former high school history teacher, took office last year as president of the National Association of Counties in Philadelphia. He recently discussed what the year has been like for him.

Q: You performed an original song, “Hold That County Line” at least year’s Annual Conference. Can NACo members expect another performance?

A: It’s New Orleans, anything can happen. It’s a great music city. We’ll see if there’s a guitar around … That song, the reason I wrote that is, it sums up a lot of the reasons that we’re doing this, no matter what size county we’re from. And it’s been fun to see that resonate and continue with county officials, and be, I think, a source of pride and a source of inspiration, as a short, concise three-minute reminder, like, ‘Oh yeah, that is why we do this work.’ 

Q: You’ve said, “If you’ve seen one county, you’ve seen one county, because the next one will undoubtedly be a little bit different.” What motivated you to step into this role of representing the nation’s 3,069 counties, and is there any particular experience you’ve had or advice you received that you feel best set you up to do that?

A: I’ve seen and experienced firsthand the wonders that NACo’s opened up to me as a county official, in terms of resources and ideas and networking and problem solving. I believe deeply in the work that we’re doing as counties and as NACo, and I wanted to help continue to elevate that and push that forward.

I think that my past NACo experience [with the Rural Action Caucus and Broadband Task Force] really teed me up for this year — to have an understanding of, beyond my county borders, the variety of different issues the counties are working on, and to be able to engage and try and help and communicate about those issues. Whether it’s technology or transportation or public safety issues or economic development, we’re all working on these in our own capacity. It may look a little different from county to county but just helping to be able to take the vastness that county government touches that many people don’t realize and help push that forward to our policy makers that, ‘Hey, this county perspective matters.’ 

Q: When you were sworn in as NACo president, you said that “stories help county leaders cut through the noise, connect with our communities and make an impact.” Did a particular story from your time serving America’s counties really embody that? 

A: The emphasis on storytelling has resonated with counties — we’ve seen so many counties across the nation and state associations grab that and run with it, because it was kind of like a wake-up call to all of us that we get so bogged down in the work and the data that we forget sometimes that people outside our county government need to hear these stories and understand what we’re working on and what we’re doing. 

I went to the Nebraska Association of Counties, and they had just become a 100% NACo member state, which is exciting, so their conference theme was ‘Nebraska is all in,’ and they grabbed that storytelling idea and had opportunities set up through the conference for county officials to just grab a Post-it note and write ‘Here’s why I’m all in for my county.’ Seeing a visual representation of all these examples and stories from Nebraska officials about what’s firing them up and keeping them pushing and doing this county work, that is exactly why we have to lift up these stories, because they’re human, and it really helps you show the people who are trying to do this work.

Q: What do you see as the common thread, uniting America’s counties?

A: The common thread is the work, not the politics. People who serve at the county level are in it because they’re interested in results and solutions, and that’s the common thread that I’ve found with county officials everywhere I’ve been, is they’re not in this for the politics, they’re often in it in spite of the politics, because they believe in the county work, and they want a county solution. 

Q: What has been the most challenging aspect of your time as NACo president?

A: It can be a challenge to be a results-oriented, work-oriented person when we live in a time that is very divisive, hyper-partisan, hyper-polarized and I think a challenge, not just for myself, but for the association, for all of us that are engaged as county officials, is to keep ourselves motivated to rise above all that. We’ve got to stay focused on the work. 

Q: Your motto for your leadership in Wise County has been “Honoring the past, building the future,” which feels particularly apt ahead of America’s 250th anniversary. Counties are the oldest form of government in the United States — in what ways do you feel NACo honors, or serves as a continuation of, the ideals the country was founded on? 

A: When we were first set up as shires and then as colonies in early states, you had to be scrappy, and it wasn’t some career position that people were teeing themselves up for. It was farmers and blacksmiths and lawyers and shopkeepers, and they were all just stepping up to serve their time and try and offer what skill set they had to set up this new republic, and I think you see that reflected in county government still, because you likely have been drawn to county government because of some issue, some solution you want to achieve. 

It’s amazing to me when you start visiting with county officials to see the diverse and interesting backgrounds and life paths that have led people to these roles, and that’s what makes our association and our counties so rich, is all these different perspectives, different skill sets.

Q: As for building the future, what work that NACo has accomplished over the past year — or is currently working toward — excites you the most?

A: The immense success that NACo has had so far in the past year and really ramped up the past few months is our success at getting county governments included at the table and in the funding for federal infrastructure programs, because now that we’ve helped establish that, as ‘Yes, that’s a thing we need,’ I’m excited to see where that grows in the coming years.

I’m very excited by how cutting-edge NACo has been for county governments on AI and understanding it. ‘How can it help you provide better government services? What are guard rails it needs? What are things we should be concerned about?’ I haven’t found many people, in my talking to, that say, ‘Yeah, I’m completely comfortable with AI, I understand it all.’ It’s a big, complicated, complex thing that we’re all trying to wrap our minds and our arms around, and NACo has been so good at helping get us educated as county officials.

Q: With a NACo presidency under your belt, what advice would you share with those who step into the role in the future?

A: The greatest resource that NACo has is the network of county officials and county staff who engage in that association, and use them, use them, use them. Ask them questions, hear their stories, learn what’s keeping them up at night, learn how they’ve been creative. What a rich treasure we have in all our fellow county officials, and I’ve learned so much from them.