The Maryland Association of Counties (MACo) hosts a summer and winter conference every year. These conferences serve several purposes; they allow locally elected officials opportunities to learn from experts in a wide range of topics, they allow for forecasting and looking forward to the future, and they allow for networking and solution sharing. St. Mary’s County is not unique in any of the challenges facing us and I find it extremely beneficial to hear the best practices from other counties in Maryland and around the nation. This year’s summer conference went from Wednesday, August 18th through Saturday, August 21st. Below is a summary of the session that I was able to attend.
Wednesday, August 18th
After registering and signing in, the first session I attended was a deep dive in “Strengthening Security: Protecting Your Networks from Cyberattacks.” Moderated by Senator Katie Fry Hester, this great panel of speakers included the CEO of Attila Security, Gregg Smith, and Steven Wilson, the Chief Technology Officer of Fire and Rescue for Howard County. Maryland, as a state, is a worldwide leader in Cybersecurity and it was very interesting to hear from these experts! One of the common points across the panel was that added security (something that everyone recognizes the need for) means there is a need for increased support personnel.
After that I attended a session on Public Sector Agility moderated by Councilwoman Laura Price from Talbot County and then the always excellent County Financial Management session taught by Carroll County’s Ted Zaleski. Ted has been their Director of Management and Budget for 20 years and he brings incredible experience and perspective to the class. My final session of the day was “Consensus and Teambuilding”—it was a very interactive session with multiple exercises and great lessons for all to keep in mind. My partner through these exercises was Autumn Grant, the Chief of Staff for Senator Arthur Ellis, and I appreciate the opportunity to work with her during the class!
Thursday, August 19th
The second day of the conference was a busy day filled with a lot of great information. The morning started off with the Rural County Coalition Breakfast where we heard from members of the Public Service Commission on Solar Power requirements for the state of Maryland. Our state has set aggressive requirements to meet and it will require 3-5 acres per megawatt of energy. This topic was incredibly timely for us to hear because in our August 17th Commissioner’s meeting we heard the final report from our Solar Task Force. The disappointing part of the PSC presentation was the acknowledgment that there will need to be current farmland and forest land committed to solar arrays.
After the breakfast I attended the Welcome Session and Keynote Speaker—kind of the official kickoff start. The session was titled “Leadership: Innovation and Resilience in Action” and the keynote speaker was Senator VanHollen—full honesty, it was not an especially interesting or inspiring talk. Next was the MACo Book Club. I have participated in the book club at every MACo conference since I was elected, I enjoy the time spent in discussion and hearing other’s perspectives on the reading; I even led a previous book club discussion. This conference’s book was Digital Body Language by Erica Dhawan and I highly recommend the book! The discussion was led by my friend Doug Krinsky from JP Morgan.
Following lunch, I attended the General Session: Dollars and Sense: Budgeting in a Post-COVID World. This session had a phenomenal panel of speakers: Chris Trumbauer, the Budget Officer for Anne Arundel County, Andrew Schaufele, the Director of the Bureau of Revenue Estimates in the Comptroller’s Office, and Warren Deschenaux, the retired Executive Director of the Department of Legislative Services for the Maryland General Assembly and chief financial advisor. I finished the day with sessions on “Are Some Pandemic Quick Fixes Here to Stay?” and “Crisis Communications: Ensuring Residents are Ready”.
Friday, August 20th
Friday started off with the County Elected Officials Forum and Business Meeting. We heard from several speakers, including the president of the National Association of Counties (NACo) and several MACo committee updates and we approved the MACo budget. The first session of the day was entitled “Taking Next Steps—Planning for Growth and Change” and dealt mainly with land use issues. After that I attended a Town Hall Forum with Senator Ben Cardin.
The afternoon sessions were “Economic Development—Taking Care of Business Post Pandemic” and “Public Sector Apprenticeships: A New Twist on an Old Model”. Both were extremely interesting and had valuable ideas that I would love to see implemented in St. Mary’s County. The last official item of the day was a reception with the Governor’s Cabinet. I enjoyed being able to speak with Secretary of Commerce Kelly Schulz (who will hopefully be our next governor!).
Saturday, August 21st
The closing day of the conference is a shorter day. Commissioner President Guy and I attended an extremely informative session on “American Rescue Plan Put to Action.” The panel was made up of NACo Director of Government Affairs Mark Ritacco, Kent County Administrator Shelley Heller, and Carroll County Budget Director Ted Zaleski and they all offered great perspective and advice on making full use of the Federal grant dollars that have come down to the counties. After that I attended a very interactive “Pandemic Partnership After-Action” discussion that included the Secretary of Health, Dennis Schrader. I was able to share that during the height of the COVID pandemic, the timelines imposed by the state were not always best for the counties—the one size fits all approach doesn’t work for us and I advocated for more local control. The conference ended with a Closing Address from Governor Hogan (viewable on his Facebook page).
I always appreciate the opportunity to attend these conferences and constantly in the forefront of my mind is the question “what can I take away from this to improve the lives of the citizens of St. Mary’s County?”. Without a doubt, this conference was valuable for the information we gained as we move forward. I look forward to continuing to represent St. Mary’s County at the MACo Conferences!
