NACo Board members identify 'crisis-level' concerns in survey

A survey of NACo Board members identifying their top “crisis-level” concerns was unveiled Dec. 1 at the ForwardTogether Symposium and NACo Fall Board meeting held Nov. 30-Dec. 2 in Ramsey County, Minn.

By: Mary Ann Barton
County News Editor & Senior Writer for NACo

A survey of NACo Board members identifying their top “crisis-level” concerns was unveiled Dec. 1 at the ForwardTogether Symposium and NACo Fall Board meeting held Nov. 30-Dec. 2 in Ramsey County, Minn.

Conducted by NACo, the survey identified the top five concerns as: Mental health and substance use, housing affordability, transportation infrastructure construction and maintenance, county workforce recruitment and retention and broadband accessibility and expansion.

In introducing the results to the Board, Teryn Zmuda, NACo chief economist and research officer, noted that “part of my job is to focus on the research and the data and also bring that to life in our bodies of work, our thought leadership and our best practice cohorts.” Members conducted in-depth roundtable discussions of their concerns the following day.

The survey results and discussion were part of the three-day meeting featuring a number of speakers and panel discussions hosted by Ramsey County, home to NACo President Mary Jo McGuire. The meeting kicked off Nov. 30 with a visit to the headquarters of 3M.

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