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Mike Norton - Winnebago County Board Supervisor - District 20
NACo Legislative Conference 2002-March 1-5, 2002
HOMELAND SECURITY
First Responders : Counties Secure America
The main theme of the conference was security--economic, cyber, and physical security. The first workshop I attended dealt with safeguarding workers' retirement benefits in a time of economic uncertainity. The presenters stressed the need to educate workers on saving for retirement and the role the public sector has in such education.
Cyber security was addressed in the first general session on Sunday. John Thompson, Chairman and CEO of Symantec Corporation, stated that there is great need for a contingency plan - similar to one counties had for Y2K- for there are 30,000 hackers websites and any system is vulnerable if the proper precautions have not been taken. An anti-virus program is not the only safety tool a system needs. Firewall and others security tools are needed also.
Another workshop I attended was on the topic of "How to Make Purchases In The Time of Crisis". In this workshop I learned how counties can achieve the most in savings when purchasing emergency equipment. Actually, through a program called U.S. Communities a county or any non-profits that contract with governments can achieve savings on office furniture,office supplies, computers, and industrial supplies. The program is also working on an airline contract and prescription drugs. There is no membership fee; to participate a county needs to get the contract number form US Communties,contact the supplier, sign an agreement that the supplier sends to you , receive an account number, and then start participating. Grainger Corporation gave a case study on how to act in time of crisis. The two examples were 9/11 and the ice storm of 1998. The main theme that came out was to in a time of crisis have a central purchasing authority, contracts in place that guarantee pricing, delivery and inventory, first response designations by suppliers, coordination between departments and other units of government . While I did not attend the workshop on "Infrastructure Security," I did bring back materials and a video and had them forwarded to the Chairman of the Emergency Government Committee.
At the Monday luncheon, Attorney General John Ashcroft was the speaker but the highlight was honoring and recognizing the individuals and counties who responded to the initial call for help on September 11 and those who later provided assistance through search and rescue teams. Later in the general session Senator Bill Frist gave an update on how the US government is prepared for any health risks to which we may be exposed, and stating that there will be a stock pile of vaccine in place if a threat is tried. Frist also talked about a new book he has out dealing with potential health risks from bio-terrorism.
The two workshops I attended on Monday had to do with human services issues. One was workforce development, public sector jobs, and public-private partnerships. The workshop turned out to be debate between the administration representative and the congressional representative from Senator Kennedy's office over how much funding the Workforce Investment Act should receive. Main arguments are states spending what was allocated to them already. The second workshop dealt with welfare reform reauthorization.
The congressional representative stated that under the bill--to be out in mid-summer-- Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) would continue to have state flexibility and full funding. The administration wants a 40 hour week commitment with various definitions on what makes up that work week, what to add money to for family stabilization. They say that there are not pushing marriage but want to encourage families to stay together. They also want new waiver authority to enable states to propose ideas to integrate programs from five agencies : HUD, HHS, Dept. of Agric., Dept of Labor, and Dept. of Education.
On Tuesday I along with other county supervisors from around the state met with Senators Kohl and Feingold. The issues brought before the Senators included federal highway funding, TANF reauthorization and Social Services Block Grants, homeland security and public safety, and Federal and State Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). Also discussed was federal funding for county nursing homes through the Intergovernmental Transfer Program. County Executive Jean Jacobson from Racine County came up with an idea which both Senators, especially Feingold, liked. Instead of the federal government deploying 40,000 units across the country to help with homeland security why not give the money to counties at the local level for they have retired law enforcement officials who know the area and the procedures needed to provide security. Generally both Senators were agreement over the issues that WCA presented to them.
County Executive Jacobson at this meeting and at the Wisconsin caucus meeting explained how her county is dealing with the CREP mandate--by adding a fee to administrate the program.
I did learn a great deal of information which I will use in the future and which I am willing to pass on. On a personal note it was my first time to DC, security was/is very tight, but I was able to meet more people from around the country at Saturday social functions and two workshops before the conference officially started.
