County officials participate in leadership academy

Supervisor McCloud, Wellton mayor McCullough selected for 12-week classes

Two Yuma County elected officials are participating in this year’s Flinn-Brown Civic Leadership Academy, a statewide program offered to higherlevel local leaders.

Yuma County Supervisor Russell McCloud and Wellton Mayor Cecelia McCullough were selected as two of the 36 Flinn-Brown Fellows, who began a 12week series of classes on Friday.

McCloud has been in office for 14 years now, but he said he’s found there’s always many more things to learn about the county and the role it plays statewide. “You never, you never know it all. I learn stuff almost daily, it’s like a cliche. Literally every week something comes up I learn a little something more.

“Particularly this time of year when the Legislature’s in session and bills start coming up which affect counties, and so you’re like, well why are they trying to do that, what’s the problem? So you end up learning there’s this kind of challenge.”

McCloud said he was inspired to run for county office after he went through a leadership program for rural Arizonans called Project CENTRL. One of his classmates there, Paul Brierley of the Yuma Center for Excellence in Desert Agriculture, went on to the Flinn-Brown program and

suggested McCloud apply this year.

McCullough said Brierley encouraged her to pursue the program after she asked him about it, and it will offer her a chance to learn more about several topics she wants to focus on, among them water, transportation, education and border issues.

“I really believe that it’s going to be a fantastic experience. And just the fact that this is given. The materials are given, they cover your hotel and your travel expenses and they feed you while you’re there. This is just a gift that’s been handed to us, and I’m not going to take it for granted,” she said.

Besides Brierley, two more Yuma County residents have gone through the program. Both are county employees, Public Health Director Diana Gomez and Chief Financial Officer Gil Villegas.

The leadership program focuses on one issue each Friday session, such as the justice system, health care or tribal interests. It sets a goal for its fellows of taking a role in state policy within three years, either through elected office or by joining a state commission or board.

This year’s fellows were selected through a competitive process by the Flinn Foundation’s Arizona Center for Civic Leadership, said its executive director, Nancy Welch.

“Applicants are chosen for interviews based on reviews and scoring by teams. An outside Selection Committee of civic leaders from a variety of sectors and across the state interviews and selects a cohort of Arizonans who represent Arizona’s diversity from all walks of life and perspectives,” she said.