Transportation, emergency services highlighted at state leader conference

Nearly 500 county officials attend annual event in Cambridge

Elected officials, county administrators, and department directors from across the state traveled to the Eastern Shore city of Cambridge earlier this month to attend a threeday conference hosted by the Maryland Association of Counties.

Charles County Commissioner’s President Peter Murphy (D), Commissioner Ken Robinson (D) and Commissioner Debra Davis (D) were joined by county administrator

Michael Mallinoff, public works director Bill Shreve, and director of emergency services William Stephens in representing Charles County at the conference.

The theme for this year’s winter conference, which ran from Wednesday, Dec. 6, to Friday, Dec. 8, was “The Power of Partnership.”

High on many people’s agendas this year was the Maryland General Assembly session that begins in January. Next year’s session is expected to be a busy one because 2018 is also an election year.

MACo reported that 482 people attended the conference, one of two annual conferences that MACo convenes to provide county officials with opportunities to network and learn about important issues and trends.

“What is most useful to me is the opportunity to talk with my colleagues,” Murphy said. “The sessions are very useful in terms of giving the bigger picture, but what really helps me govern better is to have those conversations, to really understand how my colleagues are able to make things work in their particular jurisdictions.”

Murphy said that during the conference he was able to meet with state legislators and staff to discuss upcoming legislation.

“I always have an ear out for things that could have an impact on Charles County,” Murphy said. “That’s very important to me.”

One well-attended session addressed the controversial transportation scoring bill that Gov. Larry Hogan (R) vetoed last session but which the House and Senate narrowly overrode. The bill instituted a new method for assessing major transportation projects. Opponents argued that the bill failed to address road congestion, among other concerns.

For Shreve, the main benefit of attending was the opportunity to network with other public works officials who are facing similar issues to those he faces in Charles County.

“The general session focused on county school construction programs and changes in state policy on the future of those programs,” Shreve said. “We also heard from members of a statewide commission on school construction and modernization that is wrapping up their work on educational issues.”

Mallinoff said the highlights of this year’s winter conference included a panel on Maryland’s strategies for mitigating the effects of climate change.

“I was a member of the original climate change commission and wanted to see how we have progressed,” Mallinoff said. “I was really interested to see that we’re actually beating the goals we had set.”

Stephens echoed Murphy and the other attendees on the benefits of networking that the conference afforded.

“You’re there with your peers learning best practices from other localities, making plans for things in the future, and asking questions of people who you don’t get to talk with otherwise,” Stephens explained.

Stephens was a founding member of MACo’s emergency management affiliate group, which was established last year.

“It allows us to get issues in front of elected and appointed officials about emergency management issues that are coming down the pike,” Stephens said.

One of those issues is the rollout of Next Generation 911, an initiative to upgrade the nation’s emergency communications infrastructure to allow people to send text messages, images and video, and data to 911 centers in addition to phone calls.

“This is going to be a major undertaking in every county in this state,” Stephens explained. “We were there to discuss the implications of that and to get these issues out in front of elected officials because they’re going to have to foot the bill for this.”

Charles County, like other county governments across the state, should be actively seeking to establish partnerships with local private businesses to help communities recover from natural disasters, Stephens said.

Stephens saw the power of such public-private partnerships firsthand as a government official in Myrtle Beach, S.C., following the devastation wrought by Hurricane Hugo in September 1989.

“The community actually brought the city of Myrtle Beach back,” Stephens said. “We in the government did our part, but it really came down to what the community did to bring itself back from a major disaster.”

“By forming these partnerships ahead of time and working with the business and residential communities, we create better bonds and better means and methods of helping people recover,” Stephens explained.

Because this is an election year, the next MACo Winter Conference will be held in January 2019 so that newly elected officials can have time to settle in to their new roles first. The conference will feature an orientation program for them.

“I would encourage anybody who is in local government to attend MACo if they have the opportunity,” Robinson said.

“You tend to meet a lot of smart people who are subject experts,” Robinson said. “I never think you’re too old or too wise to be educated on issues.”