Talk of the County Podcast | Behind the Scenes of NACo's Annual DC LegCon with Commissioners Denise Winfrey and John O'Grady

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:00:14

We are about to start, Talk Of The County. This is a Franklin County, Ohio podcast. We've had a number of episode. We've had a number of interesting guests, but now we're here from the NACo Legislative Conference. And I'm here, with one of my bosses, Commissioner John O'Grady, and we are here with the immediate past president of NACo, Commissioner Denise Winfrey. And we are going to talk about counties, why counties matter, the impact of counties, because counties are truly, what makes communities run. Cities are great, but counties are where all of these things that, are important to your life, revolve around. So, let's kick this conversation off about Will County, Illinois.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:01:17

Tell us a little bit about Will County, Illinois starting.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:01:20

Well, Kenneth, I'll be glad to do that. As he said, I live in Will County, Illinois, and that's a county of about 700,000 and growing. We're at the crossroads of Mid America. We're the largest inland port in North America, and we're situated on Interstate 55 and 57 on each side. So if you think of an h, 80 in the crossbar, and then the 2 state uprights, football, are, Interstate 57 and 55, which gives us a lot of truck traffic. People going east and west through there. We have a large intermodal presence, plenty of Amazon sites, Dollar Tree, Walmart, IKEA. You name it, we've got a warehouse for it because from where we are, we can ship anywhere in the country easily.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:02:04

We also have the river. We float heavy equipment down the river, turbines, things like that. So we are a growing area. At one time we were a heavy farm area when we were much smaller. Over the years, the Caterpillar presence there, and a number of other businesses have come in a lot of people like to live out in our area and commute into the city to work. So that's also caused the growth of development. And then following the national trend, people are living longer. So we have grandparents, their children, and the grandchildren, all as adults in the community.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:02:44

So that's escalated the population as well.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:02:47

I always like to sprinkle in these podcasts, some fun facts, regarding the community, where my guest is, from or something about them. What's What's this Blues Brother connection with Leo County?

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:03:02

A lot of people know us because of that. And the main city, Joliet, which is where I live, is familiar to a lot of people from the movie, the Blues Brothers. At the old Joliet Prison, part of the Blues Brothers was filmed there. We do still film at that prison because it's now closed down as an operating prison. Okay. But a lot of people also know us from going back historically, Al Capone days at the old Collins Street prison. So the part that says in the movie, abandon all hope, ye who enter here, that has been preserved. We now have that as an historical tourist site.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:03:36

People can come. We have in August, the Blues Bash and, this bartender wears the blues brothers hat and the whole shot without the sunglasses. I'm a part of the group that works there where we have the big tourism push. And it's similar to out, in Pennsylvania, they have the prison where the Shawshank redemption was filmed. Same kind of idea. We're trying to restore it and use it as a tourist attraction and support that area immediately around it as well. By bringing people in restaurants, the tour groups, movie filming. There's a haunted house on the property and a number of other things to not only bring revenue for the city, but right in that neighborhood, which is one of the more underserved areas.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:04:19

So a lot of attention for that we have and we're also on historic route 66. So along the route in the Joliet area, you'll see Blues Brothers icons along there. And at our Joliet Historical Museum, you can have your picture with the Blues Brothers.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:04:37

That's cool. Travel and tourism is important. So if you are cruising through Illinois, you can check out a lot of, Blue's Brother stuff in in Wheel County, Illinois. So, that's that's that's pretty cool, history. And I think there's, what's the what's the what's the best food, Asin?

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:05:01

We have a little bit of everything. At one time, we had a very heavy truck farm population, a lot of immigrants and farm workers. So we have a very heavy Mexican culture there. A lot of Cuban Puerto Ricans there. We have a very strong Serbian Croatian population. So from easier internet spectrum to a more bland, to hot and spicy, We've got a range of foods there. So whatever you like, St. Patrick's Day is a big push in our area as it is in a lot of places, but we have very high Irish population.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:05:35

So any place you go in town, you can get the corned beef, cabbage, you can get carrots, and potatoes, and the whole shot with the marble rye bread. So any holiday you can think of, we've got a part of that population in town and are featuring that kind of food.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:05:50

Wow. Franklin County, we like to brag about our food scene and our restaurant scene. It's kinda Chicago. I know the greatest Chicago area. If you had any pizza, laminite, There is nothing

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:06:08

you can't get.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:06:09

Harold's Fried Chicken. I don't know.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:06:11

44, dear you. God. Whatever you might like.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:06:16

Joe and I spent some time in Will County about a year and a half ago when you had us

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:06:19

That's right. When we had our board of directors meeting there. Yeah. So you got a chance to sample some of the Joliet part. And then where we were housed was actually DuPage County. We went over to the Michael Jordan restaurant. We had seafood, a little bit of everything there. So we've got a lot of things going there.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:06:35

Are you on the tour at the electric, vehicles place? So we We

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:06:40

went to the we went to the intermodal that you talked about. You guys are shipping things all Yeah. All over the country for a while.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:06:45

BNSF Yards out there. So we do. We have a lot of that going.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:06:50

When I travel, I know I I like to eat good. I'm on the Yelp. I'm on the Yelp app trying to figure it out. Trying to figure it out. I'm I'm not I'm not nowhere as good as, commissioner John O'Grady at finding food. Whenever we

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:07:06

It shows too, Ken, you're

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:07:07

a lot thinner than He's the designated, person. He, you know, he gets to, to pick the food. Then I don't have to guess on you, permission to do. Well, let's get into the, the meat of why we are here at the at the Ledge conference. It's

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:07:24

not full.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:07:25

And it is it's a little bit of that after. It's a little bit of that after we get our meetings out the way. But, you know, advancing the agenda of 3,069 counties. And they say when you've seen 1 county, you've seen 1 county. But you, you know, you as immediate past president, you would be, you know, you're the person. You are in, NACo leadership and and and in charge of of federal advocacy efforts. Talk about your, presidency, that the time you spent, Commissioner Winfrey? And and what do you think? Was you, you wanted to be your your greatest stamp on the organization as your time,

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:08:17

in the leadership

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:08:20

body plays out. Running the shoe. And that's what it was, Rita. You're running the show as president. You're the official ambassador for the organization. You're everywhere across the country as the envoy for the National Association of Counties, which is really a marvelous opportunity to meet people from all over. And truly, if you've seen one county, you have seen one county. And I've seen a lot of them and every one of them is different in some way.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:08:46

So there are no rubber stamps on counties. The other thing that I really loved about being president besides meeting so many people was during my time, I got a chance to convene the housing commission, the mental health commission, and the AI commission. So all three of those things during my presidency, and those things continue on the work around mental health, around housing, the affordability, the number of units available, and then now artificial intelligence. Just a matter of fact, couple weeks ago, I was at San Jose, Silicon Valley. We were doing some more work with that committee. So beginning to put them forward on their official work toward Microsoft, Google, Amazon Web Services, Sales Force, and DocuSign. That was the other one there. So a chance to look at what's available, what's been done so far, and how those things might impact counties, what things we could possibly take advantage of that we aren't already using.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:09:47

Because what some people aren't aware of is that AI is already here. We're already using it, have been for quite some time. It's just now we're looking at generative AI differently. If you think about when you're online doing stuff and it fills in your name, your address, that's the AI piece, pulling your information out. So that's AI already at work. But the generative piece around being able to create documents, write papers, do those kinds of things is the newer piece of it. So we need to look at that and see for counties. A lot of the forms we use are repetitive and those can maybe be done, created in AI.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:10:25

And then some portions of it filled, and then that person who would have been putting all that together by hand is now free to do some other things and to make use of that. So I'm really pleased about the work that that committee is going to do going forward and the impact that's going to have on us as

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:10:41

as a body overall. AI can do great things. Counties, will have to have a tool to use AI in a responsible appropriate Actually,

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:10:54

don't have to

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:10:54

have the guardrail.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:10:55

Being able to use AI for good. Yes. For example, NACo has a children's book that AI, was all involved in, that is gonna be able to be distributed, here soon in libraries, all over the nation. Teaching kids about, counties and and and operations of counties and why counties are important.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:11:22

Exactly. And that book actually went to publish, went to print, day before yesterday. And it is, as you said, look at counties, why counties matter, what counties do. So that young people can have a chance to understand what we do as commissioners, as county executives, administrators, and what that's all about and why that's important to them. But that book was written Doctor. Seuss style completely generated by AI. The pictures, the words, everything done by AI. But the difference is the person who put that together, Matt Chase, our executive director, was controlling what he could say, what it couldn't say, what the pictures could look like, what needed to be included that might have been left out.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:12:03

So massaging it so that it was most representative of us. And that's what's gonna be needed going forward. Someone has to be the one hands on saying, wait a minute, that's a bias. We don't want that. We need it to look like this instead. Or you can't do that piece that needs to be done by a human. So that's gonna take a lot of work from us as counties coming together to say, here's what rule work, here's what wounded. This is the guidelines or guardrails we're gonna put in to make sure we stay within those boundaries.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:12:31

Great artwork in there as you point to, that was generated by AI, But there were certain biases, that had to be altered for it. Right. In there, women were put in all suit and ties, in in each instance where they were in a leadership role and that had there's still one in there, I believe.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:12:55

Yes. Still one.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:12:56

That was left in there just to show what, you know, that is how AI functions.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:13:01

Yes.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:13:01

Because it uses control. But

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:13:02

using actuarial stereotype to produce the data. So in its mind, AI and the thought process, this is what leadership looks like. So you have to be aware that there are biases there and pay attention to that when you're working with it.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:13:17

So, yeah, I'm you know, when you think about people being able to, more effectively receive services, You know, when they call in, they'd be able to get prompted to, a person or to be able to handle business quicker or effectively, AI holds its greatest promise there. But you still because it's called public service, there has to be that human element. That human element, that's gonna be overseeing everything.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:13:48

Because that's really the only way you get the service. That's what we are all here for. It's because we do the service to the residents. We may use a tool like AI to help us do that, but we in the end are the ones who actually provide the service.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:14:01

So that takes me to my next question. NACo was big on collaborations and partnerships and the sharing of best practices. Talk a little bit about, your involvement in some of the that work during your time, in NACo's leadership.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:14:23

Thank you. And, really, the the committees that have been convened, if you look at who's on those committees, may have been very deliberate about including people from across the country, smaller areas, more rural, larger, more urban areas, people from the north, from the south, people who have a heavy tourism industry. And I'm thinking right now about the housing committee. 1 of the co chairs was Sherry Maupin from Idaho, along with Kevin Boyce from Ohio. So if you think of those two places, Idaho with the tourism during snow times, and then Ohio, which is very commercial, you know, very urban area, Columbus especially that. And then the other members on the committee, we have people from Wisconsin, people from all over the country. So, and it's regardless of the size of your county, size of your state, your party affiliation. It's all coming together so that you can interchange the ideas, think about what needs to happen, and share your viewpoint so that we can come up with a product that best serves all of us.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:15:21

So that then NACo as an organization can advocate for that at the federal level. Same thing is true with the mental health commission. People from all over the country were a part of that. Some from a medical background, some from a social service background, some county elected officials, but all talking together about what they're seeing in their areas in terms of mental health, what needs to happen, how we serve the residents better. This is public officials. That should be to the end of it. We want to serve our residents better. That's the whole push.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:15:52

So whatever it has to do with, that's what we're after.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:15:55

I know you played a big role in in in in the growth of NACo Edge. And and that program offers a whole host of services to counties and and puts them in a place to gain efficiencies that they would not otherwise be able to, take advantage of, by leveraging the the the populations of all the counties involved. And the services range from health care to a long standing prescription drug discount program, to, procurement services, and and being able to leverage buying power, pet insurance, you name it. None is available. The High Performance Leadership Institute that, thousands of, county employees now have, been able to go through and, be able to, during a 12 week period, hear from people from all over, the United States.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:17:07

Oh, yes. That really has made a big difference. And as you said, you know, most people know that counties don't pay a lot of money, generally speaking, in full for their workers. So the way that we lure attractive, talented, knowledgeable, visionary workforce is being being able to offer them better benefits. Which allows us to use one portal on the payroll system to offer a wide variety of benefits, you can offer a young person coming in who says, oh gee, I got a choice from all these things. I got pet insurance like you said, I got this. I could take that. I could take the other, all kinds of programs.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:17:51

It's not cumbersome for the county in terms of managing it, but we allows us to offer an array of services to our existing workers and to new people coming in so that we are more attractive as an employer. So it's just, it really takes us up a notch. And if you think about the county workforce across the country, we are a bigger employer even than Walmart, if you put all of us together. So that allows us to have the number of leverage in terms of getting the best rates for whatever kinds of products there are for the insurances, for travel deals, whatever is being offered and people can pick and choose what they want. County does not have to pay for it. It is just offering it. That employee is choosing to have that themselves. But because of the discounts we can get on that, because of the numbers of people we employ, they have a better option buying it through the NACo Edge than they do going out into the open market.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:18:51

Mhmm. You you talked about all the other counties that you visited, during your time as president. How was it possible to balance the obligations, with the presidency of NACo and and and traveling to all the state associations and taking care of home, the people of Will County, Illinois.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:19:14

I have roller skates. And that's really what you have to do because there are some weeks where I, I might have gone out on Monday morning, come back on Wednesday, gone someplace on Thursday, come back on Saturday morning. Sometimes I've and very, very often I was traveling every single week, just depends on what was going on. So, and I've been all over the country, calendar. You know what you've got coming up. You know when you're traveling pretty much. And so you squeeze in as many meetings as you can when you're on the road. You have your laptop.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:19:52

You're on the Zoom. You're joining as much as you can remotely because you also have the responsibility. You ran for this office. You took it to be the president, So you have to fill that work in. Mhmm. So you have to do that as much as you possibly can. So you're gone a lot. Yes.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:20:08

You are gone a lot. And I tell anybody who says, they're thinking of running. What about it? See, it's up to you. Understand you're gonna be gone a lot, and it's gonna be necessary. You also because we are in DC, and we are building a relationship, excuse me, with the administration as a high profile advocacy agency. You will have invitations to DC on the regular too. So that means that you also may be flying in in the morning, stay for the day for meetings, flying back out at night. So that's a part of the package.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:20:40

Also invitations to different things here. So as well as your other travel around this, the, country for the counties associations and different conferences, congressional briefings, that kind of thing. So it's it's a busy it's a busy year when you're actually the president, and it's not that slow really as immediate past. I've been here since Tuesday. So and I'm here since Tuesday because had invitations on for Tuesday morning or Tuesday afternoon and Tuesday night. So they'd rather than fly home on the red eye Tuesday night and then come right back on Thursday, I just stayed over. Because with Thursday morning, we started right back in again. So

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:21:22

So this is Ken's show, and I don't wanna hijack it too much. But we you know, obviously, we're here in Washington for the legislative conference for NACo. We're here for the business of counties. But I wanna for for a second, I want you know, a lot of our folks are paying attention and and we get this back home, and I know you do because we all do. We get we get the question, you know, what do counties do? What does a county commissioner all about? And and, you know, because, you know, your average, you know, you know, your average citizen, average resident, everybody seems to know what their mayor does and who their mayor is.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:21:53

Or they know what their senator does, but they don't know what we do.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:21:56

They don't know what the counties do, generally speaking. They might if they have a direct connection to some county agency or for some county service, but by and large, they don't. And and and that's, you know, that's okay. Not everybody's as entombed as we are or or as, others might. I like to refer to all of us in county government as as as we're all bunch of nerds that that do this stuff for a living. But, you know, the city has their role. The township has their role. The county has their role.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:22:24

The federal government has their role. How would you, over the course of your career, how would how have you summed up or or learned how to sum up, the role of a county commissioner, in in your time.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:22:40

And usually what I say to people, they say, what do we what do we do? I say, we're the ones who provide all the services you use. You got the health department. You've got all the different county agencies. You've got your judicial system, sheriff's police, all of that. We provide that for you. And gladly, we provide that gladly through your tax dollars at work. The assessor, the people who are coming out to collect stray dogs, all of that is happening through your county representative. So when you're thinking about you're talking mister mayor, mister mayor, mister mayor, that's all good.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:23:15

Nothing wrong with that. But at the heart of it, where you live, what you need is provided by the county, and that's really the bottom of it. We provide the day to day for people all over the county.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:23:27

Yeah. It's a it's I always describe it as a very the job that we do is is, unbelievably thankless.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:23:34

It is.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:23:35

But it's the the work we do, the work that our employees all do. It's it it touches everyone's lives day in and day out. We Ken and I, on a regular basis, have, have lunch, with the mayor of our largest city, Columbus, and, and his chief of staff. And and we we, went into a restaurant, had lunch, and everybody in the restaurant, the owner of the restaurant, everybody else in the restaurant wanted to get their picture taken with the mayor. And, and while they while they were doing all that, he says the mayor says, oh, you wanna get your picture taken with County Commissioner O'Grady as well? And they're all like, oh, oh, sure. Sure. You know? Like, as an afterthought. Oh, yeah.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:24:11

I didn't realize he was here. And so we took some pictures, and we sat down, and we're we're they chuckling about the fact that, well, as an add on, let's get a picture over to commissioner. And I said, you know, it's kinda funny. Everybody that's in the restaurant, everybody that's in the neighborhood, we touch their lives with the work that the county does day in and day out. We provide all the services that they need in their lives day in and day out. You guys pick up the trash and you send a a policeman, whatever they might be, a policeman. And if their house catches on fire, then you set a firefighter.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:24:40

And depending on

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:24:41

You do those things, and we provide everything else for them. And they don't know who we are, but they want their picture taken with you.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:24:46

Yes. Exactly. You know? And in our area, because we have all the truck traffic. People complain about the trucks, but

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:24:52

we're the

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:24:53

ones who are patching those roads. Even though city has annexed a lot of that area and is getting the revenue from it, we have the roads.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:25:00

You have the roads, but you're also the ones making sure that making certain that all the groceries are showing up on the shelves. Shelves. Yeah.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:25:06

All of that. Snow and, you know, we're in the Midwest just like Houston. We have the snow. We're the ones applying all that.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:25:12

We also knew when we ran for the office, we ran for that we were never gonna be as popular as the mayor, And that's okay. Because if we didn't, we had a run for mayor.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:25:20

Yes. It would.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:25:21

We still we still do that work.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:25:23

That's right.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:25:23

You know, we make sure their roads are cleared in the snow. We make sure they're patched. We make sure that the trucks are following the the load limits so that they can get school buses through. You know, whatever it is they need, we're really taking

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:25:36

care of. Sure that their families are fed.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:25:38

Fed. Yeah.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:25:38

Their children are being taken care of. Their parents are for their and their grandparents are being taken care of.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:25:43

They have health care available. That's true. The hospitals operate as they should. Whatever it is.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:25:49

Their mental health needs are all being addressed. I mean, one thing after another.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:25:52

What I'm beginning to amplify is it's a matter of what counties don't do. I think it's what you should think about.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:25:58

That's right. That's probably

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:25:59

You know, we don't, you know, we don't we won't rescue your cat out of the tree. The fire department handles that. We we won't pick up your solid waste, but I am a county administrator along with serving member of the Central Ohio Solid Waste Authority. So I know about solid waste, but I'm not responsible for it getting picked up each day.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:26:22

Well, I've heard that. Even though the city negotiates in our area, negotiates the contract with and waste management happens to be our carrier to do the individual residential pickups. The contract is actually with the county because we have landfills and we negotiate with them. So we actually have arranged for that, have brought them into that area with the, we have the methane recovery plant. We have the gas, the the methane to gas plant, all of that through that contractor. So they're there because of us. We have provided that even. That's how their trash is getting recycled in a way that's beneficial to them.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:26:58

The county is doing.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:26:59

Yeah. No. I mean, the county engineer's budget is part of the county's $2,200,000,000 budget.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:27:05

Yes. It is. County.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:27:06

And we make sure that we work with, the county engineer to make sure all the roads are plowed in the unincorporated areas and all the bridges are inspected. So we are very much, linked to infrastructure in a large way at the county level.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:27:23

Oh, and like every other major urban area in in the country, we have we found ourselves with a gun violence problem. And while we, as county commissioners, don't directly, oversee, you know, anything that is that would be, necessarily impactful in terms of being able to, impact that particular conversation. We do oversee, budgetary agencies and the different organ different agencies. And for instance, the, the, the court system and, justice policy and programs and and the different agencies and and entities that all touched that that particular issue in our community. So we we convened conversations. We brought everybody together to begin having conversations between different county agencies, the court systems, and the city of Columbus to make sure that everybody was coordinating their efforts, and to see if we could not find a way to be impactful in that in that, problem in our community. And it be it's beginning to look as though it's having an impact, because we, everybody, you can't have one agency operating in this silo, another agency operating in another silo, and they have them not touching the same problem. And and have them not coordinating and talking to each other, which is what was going on at the time.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:28:52

And now they're all coordinating and talking to each other. And so it appears as though the numbers are starting to show that that they're having an effect.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:29:00

That's good. And, you know, you mentioned another thing in the course of that is that even when we are not directly responsible for something, counties do have the power to convene and to pull the units together. And through that, we still make the difference that changes residents' lives.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:29:15

Which is convenient conversations is something that I've been preaching.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:29:18

We talk about this all the time. Commissioner O'Grady and I talk about this all the time. But if it if and let you know, it could be from school safety, to addressing substance use disorders. It could be how to spend opioid settlement dollars. Whatever it is, counties are uniquely positioned to be the conveners.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:29:43

That's right.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:29:44

Yeah. County government, if there is a center or a nucleus, it it it's the county. That's right. During the pandemic, almost from day 1, commissioner O'Grady and his colleagues developed an administrative call every morning. And we went for Leaving the The Yeah. We went every single day. Hundreds of people at this peak were dialing in to hear what they needed to do. To get the latest health update.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:30:21

To get You recall that

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:30:21

we did that

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:30:22

same thing because we were here for the legislature conference, left here, went directly to the shutdown. So we did the same thing. We set up the Zoom call and the hotline, which was tied to our health department. So whether they were listening in on the call and looked at screen and got the number, or they, on a laptop, dialed to the link, they got the administrators talking about what the problem was and what was being done and where we stood. And the health department was also tied in at length because our county health department, our FEMA was a part of that call as well. All those groups tied into the same call and accessible to the residents online.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:30:59

You'll recall 4 years ago, we we had probably the largest luck, meeting we've ever had. Several 100 people in the ballroom downstairs. Right. And we had a briefing from this the, CDC, came in to tell us about this, novel coronavirus that Right. And and what was coming. And we left we all left here, flew back home, and immediately started setting up these countywide, calls, that turned into Zoom calls, and they went on for months Yes. And months. We still have, a countywide 2 countywide, calls.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:31:38

One's a monthly, health, health department call. The other one's a, elected officials call that we'd still do on a monthly both of them individually on a monthly basis, but they were going on daily.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:31:50

We did too. We did it every morning. That was the first thing in the morning when we had the call. Yeah. And we had all the agencies on, and we still have FEMA still does an update. And theirs is, I believe, it's 1 month now, the call. So after we, you know, got out of that situation, backed out. But during that, we went home from here, started right in, same thing.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:32:11

Every once in a while, that will come up and we something will happen, whether it's gun violence. At the time, there was a mask man or there was a we we were requesting mask mandates from our municipal, our municipal partners, which, you know, we can't demand, but we were requesting it. There were things like that, you know, in different issues where we do what we can to try to convene the conversation. Because while we may not have any jurisdictional authority in a matter, we we, you know, we try to do what we can to be the conveners of a conversation because that's one way as as we all agree, that's one of the ways that county commissioners can can be, you know, leaders in a in a particular area even if you don't wanna have jurisdictional authority. That's right. And others can't

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:33:06

also run a nursing home. County run nursing home. So during the pandemic, our nursing homes, all of that, all our county buildings were locked down. We did not allow anybody in without the mask. And then at the very front end of it, if you just didn't have to be there, you didn't come in at all. That's right. As much as we could, we did online.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:33:26

Another example of if you see one county, you've seen one county because we don't run nursing homes in in Franklin County.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:33:32

You know? We had that one. Yeah. And it is now the the highest ranked in Illinois.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:33:39

It's a

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:33:39

5 star. We've had some others closed down there, private privatized, and there's some money issues with the standards and one thing and another.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:33:48

Counties truly take care of the birds and bees.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:33:50

Oh, absolutely. Some counties are the school district. County doesn't, but some counties do. So every county has its own unique operating way of doing business. The smaller ones take care of more things because there's just not enough people to go around. But wherever you are, counties are where the rubber meets the road.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:34:11

You had to exhume leadership. You had to you had to not you had to be unpopular sometimes.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:34:16

Oh, yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:34:18

Because there were, you know, they're wearing a mask, you know, became a political issue. Yes. And we had leaders in in communities across the country that says there's always a first on the top of the county. I so, it's my VP, darn mask. But Really? Everyone didn't say that. But since talk of the county's PGI, I I I say people would you'd say, wear your darn mask and put

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:34:48

it up. I got in a little bit of trouble. Hot water with that, but at my house because, I was quoted in the newspaper for saying, wear your darn mask. And it was quoted in the paper, and so my mother-in-law bought a mask for me that had had that printed on it. And,

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:35:06

so It was a necessary thing. People needed to do it. And I said, wear your damn mask.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:35:12

Yeah. We were rooting and almost made t shirts. They were talking about t shirts.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:35:16

That's what we had. I don't know how hard is that. Big bed. You know?

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:35:22

One of the other things that we, you know, where we were, you know, we once we stepped out, we, we we made, racism a public health crisis. It is. We adapted your resolution. Yeah. We were one of the first counties in the country. I was Cook County and a few others were so the first counties in the country you guys were as well. And and, we came here to, as a matter of fact. And and and, and a lot of other counties around the country then then followed well.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:35:49

Right. Us in Will County, Cook County, and others. And and, but when we did that, our local community, our city did it. Just after we did, the city of Columbus did it. Some of the other suburban areas and some counties around the state of Ohio then did it as well. We did other things, just very similar. What was the other thing that we named the public health health crisis as well?

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:36:11

We had called action regarding gun violence.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:36:14

Gun violence. Trade out. The city did

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:36:16

the city. Action steps because we, you know, one of the things we try to do in Franklin County, Ohio is not just talk about it but be about it. When you when you make a a declaration, you should have action steps. Yes.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:36:30

So with it. Yes.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:36:31

Tangible policy actions that you take.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:36:33

And that's that's one of

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:36:35

the thing we try to do in the in the commissioners, push county administration to, 1, take action. And 2, where's the data after you take the action so we can determine whether

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:36:49

And you need to print in the post so that you see the impact as you're moving along. Yes.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:36:54

So Denise and the work that she does in Will County, it's so she and I served together on the large urban county caucus, as vice chairs for years. And so Denise and I have known each other for a long time. We would sit next to each other in the steering committee meetings for years and talk like this, you know, while steering committees would go on. And so a lot of the the things that we've done in Franklin County are also things that they've done in Will County, but that's what NACo is all about. Oh, exactly. Heard me say it when I come back to Franklin County is is, you know, I love stealing great ideas from Will County and from other counties, and I love sharing our great ideas Mhmm. With the other counties around the country. Mhmm.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:37:32

You know, there's there's no there's no great idea in other counties that we're unwilling to to to steal. Right. You know, to to coin freight.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:37:41

For us. Yes. And because we have we now have the, the drug course, the veterans course, and all that. But I got that at NACo because out in Kings County in Washington, they had started doing it. And I was here and I thought, oh, that makes sense. Instead of channeling everybody through the jail, then you just turn them out like chickens on a yard and let them fend for themselves, and they cycle right back through, and you keep spending that money over and over with no improvement. We started using it. We had the drug courts, the mental health courts as a way to help people get the treatment they need.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:38:10

But I learned that here. So you take things back, you meet people and they're doing particular things around, whether it's finances, it's the drug courts, it's about the mental health or, getting health care into underserved neighborhoods, whatever it might be. By talking with other people, learning what they're doing or what they're not doing, how they're doing it, what kinds of hurdles they're running against, then you can begin to see how you can make some changes for yourself. The value is in coming together.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:38:40

Yeah. That's what I love about NACo. We we have a mental health crisis center that's under development and but due to the connections with NACo, I was able to, spend time seeing where the the best models were. And I was, physically able to go to Maricopa County. I was at another meeting and I had the opportunity to see their mental health crisis center and seeing how it, was so effective in getting people the proper care they need in crisis versus them being incarcerated unnecessarily. And that all of those things come out of. I remember you and I, those opportunities to to talk you as an elected official, me as an, appointed executive. We were in Jefferson County, Kentucky, Louisville, talking about, health disparities in ways to, tackle health disparities.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:39:37

And we had a very great conversation around the need to, realize that gun violence is a public health issue. It certainly is. And we had great conversation. But we

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:39:52

would not have had that chance to talk, had we not both been at that health care, forum that was being held there. So it's just opportunities have come by being members here and then participating in the different groups here and talking to the people here. I'd say that is the best part about NACo is having a chance to be connected and to hear from others.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:40:14

And, you know, when you get a you get enough opportunity to fellowship as well. Yes. You know, NACo has been known that, you know, have some nice receptions and and and individuals get to the work we do is so serious and so critical as we've we've been talking about here this morning. But people get the opportunity to kick back. We find out what genre music, some of the commissioners like and and and and whether they in the wine or or some other adult beverage. The Honorable Denise Winfrey, what is your favorite adult beverage?

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:40:52

2 things. I either want wine or want the bourbon and cognac. 1 of the 2. And if I gotta choose, then I'm going with the brown liquor.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:41:03

You're not you're right on either side. But Yeah.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:41:05

Side. But I do. I love the dry ones. They're really white, and I like the bourbons as you know, and the cognacs. I love that. So, but I can be happy with tequila too.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:41:16

Danna, that's a trend. Yeah. That's a trend. Happy tequila,

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:41:20

and I've been known to sip again.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:41:22

That's a that's the that's a trend now. The tequila has gained a a new popularity amongst a lot of people.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:41:30

It's not my go to, but if that's what they've got, I'm drinking. But I do I like to enjoy the community here and the fellowship and the socialization here as well. And so we have drinks together. We may play play cards together, listen to music dancing. During this conference, there's gonna be some karaoke. So there are opportunities for people to just relax and enjoy each other's presence, and then also opportunities for people to learn from each other.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:41:56

The 2nd vice president, JD, Clark, I learned that he's, in when I were in, Saint Saint Paul back in December, I learned that he's quite a karaoke, star.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:42:07

He is. I was in Texas with him for, they had their conference, and I was out there in Texas it was. And so they had a guitar jam session. So all of a sudden he moves around table and he walks forward. I didn't know that before then. And he's got his guitar there and a band is already on stage playing. He goes over, talks to them. They finished the number they're on.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:42:28

He joins them and they're working together. Then he's on the, the microphone, strumming his guitar and singing a song he wrote. Never knew that before, but would not have that opportunity to know that if we weren't participating with other counties, just like the board of directors meeting in Minnesota. I was down in Lubbock, Texas at their conference. That's how we get to know things like that about people. And he's really very good.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:42:52

You can read personality through music. At least it gives you insights to individuals through music. Yes. Because when I see, you know, commissioner Denise Winfrey, I think about the queen of soul, Marie. That's my girl. Respect. That's what I say when I see you when you walk into the room.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:43:10

That's what I think. Is my walk on music is that and I had the chance to share that with the president because I was talking about what that meant to me before I introduced him. So and I couldn't see him from where I was standing on the podium, but I was told from the people in the back that as I'm talking about what that means, he's going, yeah. Yeah. That's right. That's right. So he comes out, you know, after I've talked about that and introduced him. But, I just, I love music.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:43:38

And I'm a person who music is playing, and it doesn't really matter what kind it is. I'm gonna start tapping. I might start snapping my fingers. The other Tuesday, I was at the White House and the band there is really exceptional. They were playing medley of Motown hits. They were rocking the house.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:43:58

And so I

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:43:59

couldn't stop. That was just rhythm. And when I first came in downstairs in the, there's a little corner where there's usually a trio sitting, they're playing Stevie Wonder. And I thought like, wow, this

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:44:12

is good. This is good.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:44:12

I can hardly go the rest of the way in. Then I got upstairs where the reception was and the band was really going to town. They had the guitars going. They had a choir with them. It's just wonderful. So it's just great to be able to enjoy music.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:44:28

There's been so many cool people I have met during my time in May going. I I always take note of the walkout music. I mean, when some of the walkout music, you know. You know. No one if you didn't know Mako, you wouldn't know someone would have too short hair. They walk out of you. Yeah.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:44:45

Every time. So yes. That's how you did.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:44:50

Now no one would ever

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:44:55

Yeah. We wouldn't have thought that.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:44:57

We got we got country western, rap, r and d, NACo is all the melting pot of music.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:45:04

I've heard every time. Next year, when we're in Tampa, in Hillsborough County, we may hear California. Yeah. Knows how to party.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:45:15

It's James Moore. James Moore.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:45:17

Yeah. So, you know, you get it you get it all in. You get it all in.

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:45:21

James Gore from Sonoma County. I went to the I went to the White House a couple of years ago. He had on camouflage wing wingtip shoes. That's right. Wingtip shoes

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:45:29

of the camouflage. For the holiday party. Yeah. Yes. That's what it was. And he did. So He's a big guy. Just like the counties, they're all unique.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:45:38

Yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:45:39

I we could talk all day, and I'm I'm not about, about we've done these podcasts for some time now, and I kinda get going and they give me the sign to say, it's time to wrap it up. But I got one last, question. You've traveled so much. Getting back to this whole thing to travel. Are you, beach or mountains? Your favorite place to be. Beaches or mountains. Beaches or mountains.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:46:10

When I was in South Carolina, I said, I look pounds. That was gorgeous. You woke up. My room was facing the ocean. It's gorgeous, beautiful beaches. Utah was really pretty. I think if I just gotta go though, it's probably gonna be the beaches, but the mountains have been really gorgeous. I've been, out west in, you know, California, Utah, Nevada, beautiful areas out there.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:46:39

New Mexico, really pretty. We've got some gorgeous places and then up in Maine even, you know, we've got some beautiful places to see in this country. And so I would encourage people to get out, see what's here. You know, if you can't go everywhere, if you can't cross the ocean, then get in a car and drive around. But we've got a lot more than what's in your backyard. A lot more to see, a lot more to learn, a lot more to do. So get out there and mix in, mingle, and have fun with it.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:47:14

Alright. You heard it from, the media past president, Denise Winfrey. Get out. Do something. Get in the car. Ride. If you can't fly, drive. Just, get out and do something.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:47:28

Will County, Illinois is

Commissioner John O'Grady [: 00:47:29

only about 6 hour drive from Columbus.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:47:31

That's right.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:47:32

So that's right.

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:47:32

I have driven it before.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:47:34

It's been great conversating, with you commissioner and, here with Commissioner O'Brady. So we are going to, wrap up this episode of Talk of the County, and I will lead with my parting word. Be yourself because ain't nobody else got time to do

Commissioner Denise Winfrey [: 00:47:51

it. And I'll lead for Sly. Thank you for letting me do it myself.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:47:59

Alright. It's a wrap.