Three County officials have declared their candidacy for the office of NACo Second Vice President. The election will take place on July 20 at the Annual Business Meeting during NACo’s Annual Conference in Orleans Parish, LA.
One of the candidates is Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Vice Chair Mike Turner. Get to know more about Supervisor Turner from this interview with the National Association of Counties.
Why are you interested in serving as a NACo officer?
I’ve spent my entire life in public service, first as a U.S. Air Force officer, helicopter pilot and fighter pilot for 28 years, then as a development officer (fundraiser) in six different national nonprofit organizations, and finally, as a Loudoun County, VA elected official. I can say without hesitation, being the Ashburn District Supervisor and Vice Chair of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors is the most deeply satisfying and rewarding job I’ve ever had.
I want to contribute, and at this moment in NACo history, I believe my contribution to NACo leadership and NACo members can make a real difference.
I have made lasting, positive changes in every organization I’ve belonged to. During my final assignment in the military, I wrote a proposal for a concept to build an African peacekeeping force that ultimately trained more than 250,000 peacekeepers and became the largest U.S. foreign assistance program to Africa in history.
While serving in several national nonprofit organizations, I created three major donor annual giving programs to establish a steady, predictable flow of unrestricted donations in support of each organization’s operations. These programs have raised millions of dollars for these organizations and still exist today.
I believe every one of America’s counties are now facing or will soon face some of the most complex and challenging issues they’ve ever encountered regarding the unprecedented growth of data centers. They are going to turn to and rely on NACo leadership for answers and support.
Over the past two years I’ve done extensive research into the historic growth of data centers and the concomitant exponential growth in demand for energy to process data nationwide. As an elected Supervisor in Loudoun County, VA, home to the world’s highest concentration of data centers, I felt I had an overarching responsibility to understand this phenomenon and its potential impact on my constituents. My research led to my authorship of a white paper tracing that growth in Loudoun County, exploring all aspects of the issue within the data center/energy sectors and providing in-depth analysis from an elected official’s point of view of what may lie ahead for all of us. You may download the paper and a one-page data center “Best Practices” sheet for communities considering data centers at www.Loudoun.gov/Ashburn.
I believe we are entering a second Industrial Revolution. As the nation’s leading voice representing our 3,069 counties, I feel strongly NACo must take an informed and assertive national leadership role on this issue, an issue I expect to dominate the national discussion for the foreseeable future for all our members. My work in this area has garnered considerable national and international attention. I believe I am uniquely well-qualified to lead NACo during these historic times.
What do you consider to be the two or three most important challenges facing NACo in the near future on which the Officers/Executive Committee/Board of Directors should focus? Why?
First, as stated above, exponential data center growth and the resulting exponential increase in demand for power to accommodate that growth are impacting, or will impact within the next five years, every county in America. Every data center/power issue our members will face will be unique to their county, shaped and influenced by local ordinances, land-use best practices, history and culture. As data center growth and power demand grows, so too will pressure on state and federal governments to respond, often without regard for uniquely local considerations. NACo, the leading national voice for counties, can best serve them by ensuring all levels of government work collaboratively in support of sustainable, local solutions. As NACo members have always believed, the role of state and federal governments must be to empower smart local decisions. That has never been truer than today amidst such historic changes in the data center sector.
This same trend is happening with housing as a result of the nationwide, affordable housing shortage. While localities are working to find innovative housing solutions, many state and local governments are now considering programs that would force localities to build homes “by right” without regard to the negative impacts on critical, local infrastructure. NACo, through a united, common effort by its members, must continue to assert its leadership role on the issue of housing affordability by advocating for local housing solutions appropriate to each community.
Finally, NACo must continue to be a unifying voice for our counties and reflect, through them, ethical, compassionate and principled national leadership during one of the most divisive and challenging times in our nation’s history. Such principled leadership was expected of me as a senior military officer, and my NACo membership has simply reaffirmed these core values.
When I was first elected, I, like most Americans, thought of government as a pyramid of influence and power, with the federal government at the top, state government in the middle, and county government at the bottom. After six years as a county Supervisor, I’ve come to realize this hierarchy is exactly reversed. County elected and appointed officials are the frontlines of American Democracy. We do more in one week to improve the quality of life of our constituents than our state and federal representatives do in a year. Never in my lifetime has it been so important for American citizens to see and hear their local elected officials demonstrating every day in their local communities the highest ideals and aspirations of American Democracy: compassion, fairness, respect, self-sacrifice, decency, non-partisanship, honesty, and so much more. In these turbulent times in our nation, NACo must be a clarion voice of reason, optimism and hope, a shining testament to those principles which have made America the most enduring democracy in human history.
What do you consider to have been your most important contributions to the National Association of Counties to date? What do you consider to have been your most important contributions to your state association of counties?
I have been appointed Chair of the Environment, Energy and Land Use Committees (EELU) of both NACo and the Virginia Association of Counties. As the NACo EELU Chair, I designed a 10-month training syllabus addressing every aspect of data center/power grid growth, microgrid development, alternative energy sources, energy storage and power generation, transmission and distribution to educate and inform our members. I believe it’s essential every county official become an expert on all aspects of these highly complex challenges.
What measures would you recommend to increase and retain NACo membership and to encourage broad participation in NACo by elected officials and employees of NACo member counties? What specific role would you be willing to assume to help build and sustain membership in NACo?
For over two years, through an entirely organic process and word-of-mouth, I have been invited to participate in seminars and on panels to assist county officials from across the country facing serious data center challenges. These include the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania (site visit), the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia (webinar), and dozens of one-on-one virtual meetings with county elected officials throughout the nation to answer questions about our Loudoun County, VA experiences.
I believe this same process offers NACo an extraordinary opportunity to grow membership. Every community in America is going to have to grapple with these same historic challenges over the next five years, and county officials who have become experts on data center/power issues are going to lead the way. No organization in America is better positioned and better suited to educate, empower and inform local officials on these issues than NACo.
I would be honored to continue my work travelling, participating in and hosting events and activities specifically designed to empower our NACo members to become community experts and to invite others to join the NACo team as a means of better serving their communities. Indeed, I can’t think of a better role for a NACo 2nd Vice President.
SOURCE: National Association of Counties | County News