The National Association of County Administrators (NACA) Incoming President Betsy Keller

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:00:00

Good morning. I'm Kenneth Wilson, County Administrator. Get ready for an exciting episode of Talk of the County. This podcast is aimed at informing, inspiring and sprinkling in a little bit of entertainment that has not changed. I'm excited this morning to be with the new president of the national association of County Administrators. Want to know what that means? It's people that run stuff. Namely people that runs the nation's 3,069 counties.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:00:57

And this lady next to me is now the president of that organization. Intro, it's all yours.

Betsy Keller [: 00:01:06

Thank you, Kenneth. So good to be with you this morning. Betsy Keller, I'm the chief administrator for El Paso County, Texas, and as of yesterday I became the president of the national association of County Administrators.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:01:23

So you run a, you know, a county that has a lot of different stuff going on. El Paso, Texas, it's an urban county, it's a border county. Therefore you understand diversity, you understand growth, you understand all of these things that county administrators face. Talk a little bit about your county. This is your opportunity to educate my podcast listeners on your county and what's unique about it. Throwing a tourism plug or two if you want to.

Betsy Keller [: 00:02:11

Sure. Thank you. So El Paso county is a beautiful county in the most further western point of Texas. We are the one of the only counties or the county in the mountain time zone where the rest of Texas is in the central time zone. So we are very far west and we are on the US Mexico border where we have a very diverse and wonderful population. We have bicultural experiences. We have the Fort Bliss army military installation right in the middle of our major city which is El Paso City, the city of El Paso, Texas. We are a population of just under 900,000 in our county.

Betsy Keller [: 00:02:57

We have border to the north with New Mexico and border to the south with Mexico. And there is so much trade and activity that goes on between our countries and with our neighboring state. And there are, we have University of Texas at El Paso. We have the only mountain range in Texas in a major city in Texas. The Rocky Mountains basically are starting in El Paso and then head north. So we have what's called the Franklin Mountains. With our Franklin county partners here, we've named some mountains for you all. But we have our mountain range there and it's just a most beautiful with wonderful weather year round, wonderful weather community.

Betsy Keller [: 00:03:46

We have also the county owns and operates a 400 acre Central park in the middle of the city. We have a lake in the middle of that park. It's a beautiful venue. We have a lot to offer. We also Have a lot of sports and sports tourism. We have the El Paso Chihuahuas minor league baseball. We have the Locomotives USL soccer league. So there's always a lot going on and we have really great shopping in El Paso.

Betsy Keller [: 00:04:17

There's a lot of cross border trade and also cross border shoppers that come up to the United States. So we offer a lot of opportunities in those areas.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:04:31

The first time I've heard this. Bessie, what is the connection with Texas and Chihuahua?

Betsy Keller [: 00:04:40

So we love, we love our little dogs. So we have the El Paso Chihuahua baseball team which the. That actually, they actually had the highest grossing sales of logoed merchandise in the minor leagues for a period of time. I don't know if they're still at the top, but they've been at the top before. But we also have the first state as you go into Mexico from the US is the state of Chihuahua. And so that's one of our again where we just. There's a fluid movement of people. The city of Juarez is in the state of Chihuahua in Mexico.

Betsy Keller [: 00:05:22

And so there's this fluid movement between our two countries. We go, I go visit and go for business frequently. We own a port of entry between the United States and Mexico. So we have a lot of relationships with those who are south of the border.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:05:43

You work a lot with you. So you had to work with your counterpart on the other side of the border, I guess, which is different than many other county administrators and managers had to deal with the fact that you all have to get along because there's so much cross traffic.

Betsy Keller [: 00:06:02

There is and there's issues, you know, there's certain things that don't know boundaries. Like during the pandemic we worked very closely with our partners in Mexico to help them with vaccinations for the maquiladoras, which are large manufacturing factories on the other side of the border. But they're really critical to our economy in El Paso. We work very closely with the elected officials in Mexico, the mayor, the state and my elected officials. We actually have a binational affairs coordinator so that we can just continue to build those relationships and sustain those relationships. In the last couple weeks we went over to meet with and tour the ports of entry and the infrastructure that we have at our port of entry in the other areas. And we met with a mayor and some of his staff while we were there.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:06:54

How did you ascend to your position? Talk a little bit about the process. Sure, everyone sees the result, but talk about the process and particularly, you know, being a woman and ascend into that position.

Betsy Keller [: 00:07:17

Thank You. That's a great question. So I started in city government and I worked in city government for about 12 years where I started in the city clerk's office and I worked my way up through the city clerk's office and I actually served a period of time as the acting city clerk. Then I went into human resources and I worked through human resources and became the human resources director. And after a period of time I became interested in moving to El Paso. And when I applied for a position in El Paso, I started off as the HR director. And the county did not have a county administrator. And having come from a city manager former government, I was looking for the opportunities to collaborate with my peers.

Betsy Keller [: 00:08:13

I was looking for some direction and vision. And I found that we really were missing that synergy and we were missing some of those opportunities. And I worked with the governing body then from my HR perspective, to help one of our members wanted to propose a county administrator. So I helped them with developing that job description, creating the position, and then I helped them do the first recruitment as the HR director. And everyone encouraged me to apply, but I hadn't really, I really didn't see myself there yet.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:08:48

Yeah. And then you would have applied for a position.

Betsy Keller [: 00:08:51

Right, right, right. So I didn't apply. We hired someone and they came on board and they stayed a short time and they actually recruited me into assistant county administrator. So I spent some time as assistant county administrator about six months. And then when that person left, I thought, this time I'm, I'm no longer in hr. I think I'm going to apply for it. And I actually read an article about that time. I read an article about how women hold themselves back.

Betsy Keller [: 00:09:23

They don't apply for a position unless they feel like they're 80% or better, fully ready, experienced. And I thought, but that, that often our male counterparts will take a risk and do it even if they feel like they meet 40% of the requirements. And so I thought I'm not going to, I'm not going to hold myself back and I'm going to do this for other women to see that we can apply for and try for these positions. And I applied and went through the process and here we are today.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:09:55

You got a whole. Yeah, you write about a lot of times males be missed out, figured out they willing to get in over their head and had to try to figure it out and beat out somebody for the position that might know more about what they doing. But they make a sale and they get into the spot. But you being, you know, with that Background in hr. A big part of running counties is understanding and knowing your personnel, selecting your personnel. You make a lot. You had to make a lot of personnel decisions, very important personnel decisions, because people, people are people, right? And they be people and they do so much stuff. And you got to navigate those through those waters.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:10:51

So you were, you were more prepared and being more built than what you thought coming into it.

Betsy Keller [: 00:10:57

I could not agree more. Especially I realized when I got into the position the first two years, I felt like I was doing a lot of what, HR related work. Still not. I was no longer. I made a real conscientious decision to not like let go of hr. You're no longer in hr. But what I found was it was leadership, it was people, it was connecting people, it was holding people accountable or making sure they knew what was expected of them and holding them accountable for it. To really be able to make the progress that we're making and to get the right people on board and make sure we had the leadership development that we needed for them and just really creating that sense of team and accountability to each other.

Betsy Keller [: 00:11:48

So it was a lot on my HR skills that I used in the first couple years.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:11:55

What do you like most about your current position and what keeps you up at night? And if you had a magic wand, you would make it go away. Aspect of your job you don't like?

Betsy Keller [: 00:12:11

I think what I love the most is I love the people we work for. And I mean, I love my governing body, but I really love El Pasoans, the people of El Paso County. I know everyone thinks their county is very special, and they are. But the people in El Paso county are really special and really good people. Hard working, very family oriented, very good hearted. They would give you their last dime to help you. And so I am driven and I want to do as much as we can for those people. They deserve it.

Betsy Keller [: 00:12:52

They don't. They don't even demand what they deserve, in my opinion. And so I tell our team we have to give them better than they even ask for. It's our job to deliver for them better than they even expect. And that's what drives me. I can't wait to get up every morning. I can't wait to face the challenges because I know we're doing it for the good of our residents. And then what, what gives me, what keeps me up is when we have issues that are, that sometimes seem insurmountable, that are really impacting our community.

Betsy Keller [: 00:13:35

We went through a period, for example, where we had a lot of flooding. Everyone Thinks El Paso. I mean, we are a desert. And a lot of people think you don't get floods and deserts, but you do. We have a lot of arroyos. So we've been working really hard over the last 10 years to invest in stormwater infrastructure, which is very expensive, and to go after grants to help us with that. But just to chip away at that, because we were seeing people lose their homes due to flooding. So those kinds of issues and then just being able to have the funding to do those things and to be able to help our residents and to be able to control their cost through taxation, you know, and really, economic mobility is a huge issue for us.

Betsy Keller [: 00:14:22

We need to create generational wealth for our residents. We need to be able to create those opportunities for our future generations to be able to self sustain. And so those are the kinds of things that really keep me up.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:14:38

And is your community younger community or is it older in nature?

Betsy Keller [: 00:14:44

It's a younger community. Our average age is about three years younger than the national average. And so it's a younger. It's a younger community. I do think that we'll probably start seeing some changes in that as we see that childbirth rates are going down in our community. So I think there's some risk that that will start becoming an older community. But right now we're younger than average and we have. That's another amazing thing about El Paso is we have a bilingual workfor the majority of our population is bilingual.

Betsy Keller [: 00:15:20

And in this day and age, that's so valuable. So we have a lot of companies that seek out El Paso just for that bilingual workforce.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:15:28

Who's the largest employer in El Paso, just out of curiosity?

Betsy Keller [: 00:15:33

So right now there's a couple. There's a combination. We actually have a temp agency, that's our largest employer. But we also have a lot of the military, military contractors. And then we have a lot of government employers. So the federal government operates border patrol and customs in El Paso, has a large workforce. Our city government is a large workforce. And then our school districts in the county are some of our larger workforces.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:16:06

As administrators, we've been, it seemed like the last several years talking about the price of things. Cost of living has been a major topic. Impacting food prices, the prices of clothing, the impact of tariffs or the threat of tariffs, tariffs being delayed, tariffs, you know, and I would imagine you talked about that. Importing and exporting right there. What is the cost of living like right now in El Paso? And key factors like housing. How's the housing? Stop.

Betsy Keller [: 00:16:56

Sure. We actually have been very fortunate in that we have not seen nearly the housing crises that many other counties have seen across the country. El Paso has. Our cost has definitely increased of cost of living, but our. But our housing costs have not. Have not skyrocketed. Now, what we have seen is we have seen a move from the city center to outlying areas, to our smaller municipalities, to our unincorporated areas, which is actually more expensive from an operations perspective. So centrally, there's already all the amenities and resources that they need to have access to transportation and schools and things of that nature.

Betsy Keller [: 00:17:43

But we're actually seeing a shift of the population to the outer, less urban areas of the county. And so that is driving up some of our cost. And we're seeing actually a decline in population inside the city, inside our main city. And so that's an issue that we're going to be having to tackle and think about how we address to attract people back in with affordable housing inside the city proper. But overall, the cost of housing and the cost of living in El Paso is really on. On the national average, we usually run about 14% lower than national average. We have seen an increase in home values over the last several years. We're now running.

Betsy Keller [: 00:18:30

I think our average home value this year is about 260,000. So it's pretty, pretty affordable living. One of the things I think El Paso has often been known for is that affordable living. But we're also trying to change the dynamics about that. That doesn't mean we want low wages. So we're trying to make sure we're attracting companies that have good wages and help us support a skilled workforce with those higher wages in the jobs that we're trying to attract.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:19:03

Now, you mentioned the University of El Paso. What is your interaction relationship with the university? You know, being universities can tend to suck it out of the room very easily.

Betsy Keller [: 00:19:22

So we work pretty closely with the University of Texas of El Paso. We actually have a program we work with them on with economic development, and we have multiple programs we actually work with them on. They do a lot of studies for us. They help support a lot of our economic development initiatives. But one of our biggest programs is we have an aerospace program. We run a small. We own and operate a small airport, and we have dedicated a portion of that airport to. To research and development for aerospace.

Betsy Keller [: 00:19:53

And they actually house some of their aerospace program at our airport. And so we have an ongoing relationship with them. Our airport's a little more remote, so it's a safer place to do testing. And it's not as unpopulated of an area. It's a great place to be doing research and development. We just built three large hangers, three large box hangers so that we can try to work with them to attract companies that would also benefit from the research and development that they're doing. We work with them on our criminal justice reform and studies and validating our own studies. They, they have a really robust criminal justice program.

Betsy Keller [: 00:20:36

We also have worked with them on. Right now we have that lake that I was talking about, the very large lake in the city, city in the center of our large central park. They actually have been helping us with some studies on the ecosystem in the lake. So we've built really close relationships with them collaboratively, very collaborative. And I have found some of our greatest employees through internships with the university. And so it's been really valuable. Plus my husband works there, so I have a great relationship with the university.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:21:13

That's great. How many students are at the University of Texas, El Paso? Is that wild?

Betsy Keller [: 00:21:19

I think we're at about 25 to 30,000.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:21:21

That's significant.

Betsy Keller [: 00:21:23

And there's a large number of those students who come over from Mexico and sometimes a lot of people don't know this, but just south back to. The students come over from Mexico to attend utep, but there's also a large number of American residents, about 90,000 who live in Mexico in Juarez and cross back and forth. So they may live there and work in the United States or vice versa. There's a large population of Americans who work in Mexico and those maquiladoras and other businesses down there, a lot of.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:22:00

People would not realize that they had American residency and they live in Mexico where they were.

Betsy Keller [: 00:22:07

They're Americans and they live in, they live in Mexico. Yes. There's a lot of family relationships, long term family relationships. You know, people who have married into families, either United States or Mexican and, and cross back and forth for work or school.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:22:28

Right. Is your airport has a, a commercial aspect to it?

Betsy Keller [: 00:22:36

Not, not the county's airport. It's a small. We mostly use it for things like agricultural fire, things of that nature. But it is our. The county's airport is a small one. We have a major international airport in the city, but our, our county airport's a smaller, smaller airport.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:22:57

Okay. How far. Well, how far are you. You mentioned that El Paso is the only mountain time zone city in Texas. What is the relationship with Austin, the state capital, state legislature? How does Texas politics, Texas public policy impact El Paso?

Betsy Keller [: 00:23:28

It impacts us significantly. And it's, you know, we're all living. We talk about this a lot. We talk about we're in an environment where both the federal government and the state government are preempting local government control. They're really restricting local government control. And that's the case that we see a lot in Texas. So the challenges with that, especially with when you're so far from your state capitol, it's about an eight hour drive from El Paso to Austin or maybe an hour and a half, a little over an hour and a half flight. So we're, we are at a distance.

Betsy Keller [: 00:24:09

We. But there is a lot that happens there that that impacts us. Recently though, they did also we just got out of a state legislative session. They did award our, our delegation was very successful in getting El Paso county awarded a lot of funding and not directly for the county but for our region to invest in. We've been having investments in a cancer center. They're a study for a downtown deck park. Lots of investment in mental health and other things have come out of the state for El Paso, which we really greatly appreciate. The challenging issues are the capping on our ability to produce revenue, which is really a local issue.

Betsy Keller [: 00:25:00

And I would like to have seen our governing body to have the ability to make those decisions, knowing what's best for our community. But those types of issues. Another recent issue has been whether or not local governments will be required to enforce immigration. And so that's a pending issue right now. That's tied up in some legal matters in Texas where the state has passed a law that would require local governments to help with immigration. But that's again is tied up in legal matters right now. But it could come into effect, which when we already have strained resources in our law enforcement and you put additional requirements and duties on them, it can be really challenging. And it shifts a cost from a federal issue to local taxpayers.

Betsy Keller [: 00:25:57

So now it'll be those local taxpayers shouldering the cost of immigration enforcement more than they have in the past when it's been generally shouldered across a national basis.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:26:14

You know, we in our NACA Ideal Exchange talked about the impact of federal funding reductions, the loss of the American Rescue plan and the severe hangover that our nonprofit community is facing where their monies are drying up. County governments are saying we can do no more as far as providing grants that we had traditionally provided. And poverty among seniors and children is a significant issue in many of our counties across the country. What have you faced related to these factors? Is that really a factor in El Paso poverty amongst children? Is there a vibrant network of Nonprofits that you partner with.

Betsy Keller [: 00:27:24

So definitely we have a wonderful group of nonprofits that we work with that are really critical to our community and our community's stability. And unfortunately they are being impacted already by some of these cuts that we're seeing either through federal funding sources or state sources or often as federal funding being channeled through state resources and those are being reduced significantly. NACO does an excellent job collecting data about food insecurity. And when you look at that map and you see El Paso county, it's one of the most food insecure counties. And so I use just this one example. There are so many nonprofits that we rely on to help support our community and you know, from victim services, mental health services. But the one that I'm focusing on that just we saw during this conference is that food insecurity. We have one of the largest food banks in the nation and it is seeing significant cuts.

Betsy Keller [: 00:28:39

They had to lay off about a third of their workforce already.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:28:43

A third of their workforce?

Betsy Keller [: 00:28:45

Yes.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:28:45

And it's had to be laid off. And you have one of the largest food banks in the nation.

Betsy Keller [: 00:28:51

Yes. And we have important partnerships with them. They also help us run a program for our reentry where they train, we use their services, they have a training program. And our reentry participants can go and learn skills for warehousing. Forklift operators get certified. And we really appreciate the partnership where they're teaching these individuals a skill to help them reintegrate and get back on their feet, back into society. And at the same time we're helping to provide the manpower or the staffing to be able to run this massive food bank. They, they provide so much for our community and they're being impacted significantly.

Betsy Keller [: 00:29:42

And the county who's also facing funding reductions doesn't have capacity to fill these gaps. We heard this a lot yesterday and throughout the conference that counties don't have the capacity to pick up this reduction in funding that's coming. And so I feel like there is a tsunami coming. But we'll end up seeing is more demand for our general assistance services. Potentially these life needs not being met can result in so many things that cost. It's a cycle. We could see an impact to our jail population. We could see an impact for mental health demands, more of an impact on our uninsured, uncompensated health care through our county hospital.

Betsy Keller [: 00:30:31

So there's a tsunami I think that we're about to face.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:30:37

Yeah, it is going to, we all are going to have to figure this out. And it's Going to look very different than it looked before. When we look at the next five years, I'll just say we had, we got to prepare to do something different and seek positive results associated with. We're gonna go back to naca. What type of things you would like to see this organization improve upon, expand upon, gain more exposure. Talk a little bit about some of your thoughts. We've worked closely together a number of years now. We kind of, we kind of, we kind of came up together.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:31:44

I may have got there a little bit before you, but some of the same people pulled us into this organization.

Betsy Keller [: 00:31:51

So I. The national association of County Administrators has been such a valuable resource to me that I want to see us continue. And we hear the feedback. We hear that people love the idea exchanges. They love this opportunity to be with their county counterparts and hear directly from those who are experiencing very similar, facing very similar challenges. Hear who has come up with solutions. I want to make sure that we continue to keep these really robust idea exchanges going. I think we need to continue our efforts as.

Betsy Keller [: 00:32:26

Over the last, over your tenure as president over, I think our prior, our past president, Steve, we definitely have seen more and more momentum. We've been building more relationships with other affiliates so that we are partnering and supporting each other. I think we need to continue that and really help each other. At the ICMA conference, we have been partnering with the affiliates and putting panels together on issues that all of us care about and working together. I think we need to make that even more robust and we have to continue to reach out to those who can't attend conferences or who don't get as many opportunities to come to an in person idea exchange. So I really like the partnerships that we started under your presidency with NACO where we did a joint webinar together recently, we had a major topic presented by naco and then we followed that up with an idea exchange of NACA members. I think that was really valuable to our members and I think the more opportunities like that we can create.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:33:35

Yeah.

Betsy Keller [: 00:33:36

I also think that our county administrators and their staff need these opportunities to be together. I think it's good for our mental health. I know when I leave a NACA idea exchange, I feel better. Not just because of the ideas I heard, but I know that I'm not the only one facing this. It's not something just that we've done wrong or that, you know, we're trying to figure out a loan. It's something we're all in it together. And so the more opportunities we've started in the last several years, more opportunities for social gatherings during conferences of county administrators. More.

Betsy Keller [: 00:34:18

A little bit of fun. We've.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:34:19

We've embedded social events.

Betsy Keller [: 00:34:21

Me too.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:34:22

The social events were a hit. I mean, they hit right. I mean, it hit right off the bat. It was like, wow, we need to do more of this because it took us outside of the conference center and just kind of people personality opens up more when they're in a social setting. You see who the hyper competitive people are. You doing something like electric shuffleboard. You find out who likes to be the funny person in the room.

Betsy Keller [: 00:34:54

Right.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:34:54

Who think they. The funny person in the room. Anyway. They try. I'm one of them people that think they the funniest person in the room. It might not be, but I try.

Betsy Keller [: 00:35:03

But that's. We need more of that. And just an idea we discussed yesterday was the. The top golf. You know, like do a top golf outing or go have a golf tournament. Do some. Do some fun things together. So we've really been trying to work to add those to our.

Betsy Keller [: 00:35:18

Our conference offering where we can support our membership to get together outside the conference and just have real conversations, meet each other and get to just talk. Not in such a structured way that our idea exchanges are really about topics, but this really lets us get to know each other, make connections. And, you know, we couldn't do that without our sponsors. Our sponsors have made a big difference. We've really grown sponsorship sponsorships, and we.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:35:48

Have a lot of more room for growth because we. We touch almost everything depending on the county is really. Is really like. For. For me, as Franklin county administrator, I don't put out. I don't have any authority over putting out a fire. I don't have a fire department under my preview, and I don't have a public service department that picks up solid. Solid waste.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:36:18

Everything else in some way, the county touches if we're responsible for it. And the average person you see on the street would not realize that.

Betsy Keller [: 00:36:30

Absolutely. It's remarkable. What counties do. I love the data that NACO shares, like what percentage of hospitals. How many county hospitals. How many counties have a county hospital. Some of our counterparts even are responsible for the budget for school districts that just, you know, there's. There is a lot counties touch a lot that counties do.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:36:55

And so clearly in the southeast and the DMV area.

Betsy Keller [: 00:37:01

So those. Those relationships and partnerships with sponsors really help make this work possible for us to do what we do at the national association of County Administrators. I'm looking forward to continuing that. I'm really looking forward to. Forward to what we can do to provide more opportunities for our members to connect.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:37:22

I. I really like how we're getting our staffs to share information, get to know each other, because our staffs are critical to what we do. We have great staff people. At least I can speak for the members of our organization. We have staff people that are just waiting to step up.

Betsy Keller [: 00:37:52

Absolutely.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:37:54

Just great. Just great people just helping on the program and just helping the agenda flow. Not to mention our agreements with ICMA and Northern Illinois University have been pivotal in helping give us that assistance. We need to elevate our work. You know, we're executive minds. You gotta be a dynamic, charismatic, confident person to do this work. But without great staff, you can't make it happen.

Betsy Keller [: 00:38:33

Casey and Paula are just dynamos. I'm so thankful we have them. It's really helped. Right. Raise the level of our organization. They are. They have been so vital to our success. And then our own staff back home, as you mentioned.

Betsy Keller [: 00:38:49

And I do like the fact that we are, you know, we. During this conference, especially when we're at naco, the national association of County Administrators has several different types of position holders. So you see everything here from a budget analyst in our idea exchange to a county executive elected, and they're just seeking information. And all of us have so much to share and so much wisdom and knowledge that sometimes I don't even think we know we have. But when you hear the questions and you think, I've done that, oh, we have a program that helps with that and we share it out with each other. We're growing our organization and we're growing our profession for the future. And I'm so proud of the national association of County Administrators for doing that work. I love when my staff is in the room and I see them stepping up to share something we've done or I see them making a note from hearing what someone else has shared that they're doing.

Betsy Keller [: 00:39:55

I know that we are setting up our communities for the future, for better futures by developing our team and being part of this organization. That is something I hope we'll continue to really encourage. Is for deputy county administrators or assistant administrators or even those who aspire to go into leadership positions in the county to really get involved and participate in naca.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:40:25

Yeah, I mean, I'm passionate about leadership development. I'm a big believer in all other things that are associated with servant leadership. I mean, I'm. I'm like an addict. I try to just get deeper and deeper and deeper in the doctrine of serving leadership, because I just believe in being able to articulate the why and the purpose and that we all are just vehicles that are moving in a direction to help people. Like you say, one of your major motivations is just the people of El Paso County. You just genuinely are motivated each and every day to make their life better.

Betsy Keller [: 00:41:27

Right? And that's. That's what I think. I. That's what I think is what draws people to this work is really, you know, I hear people who say, I want to give back to my community. That. That is what this work is about. This work is about giving back to our community. Giving.

Betsy Keller [: 00:41:46

And. And the way you can give back to your community is by multiplying, multiplying your effect. And you multiply your effect by servant leadership and by developing the next wave of leaders and by bringing more people on board with you to be an army to serve your community. And so that's. That is. That is fulfilling to me. That is life fulfilling for me. And I think so many of our.

Betsy Keller [: 00:42:12

Our counterparts, that's what we're all looking to do in this mentor career.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:42:21

That's been something that. That over the last couple of years with me, the light bulb has just gone off because I look at my own professional career in my life, and I reflect on how fortunate I was to have some of the mentors that sort of showed me the way. Sometimes it was rough the way they showed me, but it was a purpose in it, and I'm better for it today. So now I'm just on this thing where I'm saying, find a mentor. Work your way in. Only if you get to spend 30 minutes with somebody, it's an opportunity to learn something.

Betsy Keller [: 00:43:08

Absolutely.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:43:09

You might not find no formal mentorship situation, but you don't really need it. The best mentors that I've had, they've kind of led me organically. It wasn't like I sit down in front of them and they was like, oh, I'm going to be your mentor, Kenneth. It was like it. It just. It just happened. I mean, it's been formal bosses, it's been formed. It just.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:43:31

It just happened naturally. It's a relationship that just grows. When you have those deepest mentorship relationships you have, they just grow organically.

Betsy Keller [: 00:43:42

I agree. And I also think. I do think there's value in intentional. And a lot of it, though, even intentionally, is not formal. Right. So I have people in my office who I am growing and developing for their next promotion. I. You know that their.

Betsy Keller [: 00:44:03

Their future. What? Like, I know that they're going to be capable to lead a whole department or a whole or, or eventually be in my job. And a lot of times it's not that we have a formal set down time for mentorship, but it's the I'll give you give, you know, let's set up time for feedback on something you're working on or even leading by example. I try like to. I often think sometimes when I'm in a tough, a tough situation and maybe in a public meeting and we're getting criticized over something, I know that how I conduct myself in that moment right there is mentorship to those who are watching. And you know, I keep in the back of my mind like I don't let anyone else dictate my behavior. I decide my behavior. And that's how I'm going to train and mentor others who are watching to see how, how did she handle this? How how did she respond? Did she let it get the best of her? And that helps me kind of keep my cool knowing that I'm role modeling for everybody else.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:45:10

So it is just, I mean that's why I'm a big fan of apprenticeships, big fan of bringing in young people from colleges and universities. Because nothing beats practical experience.

Betsy Keller [: 00:45:30

I agree.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:45:32

When you got practical experience, I try to encourage people to like, go get your master's in public administration because if you've been on the ground doing the work, it's almost not fair competing against those that went straight from undergrad into an MPA program. You got some such an advantage over individuals that haven't done the work. Right. Because in the textbook and when you've done the work, it just comes, it just comes alive because you've actually done it. Now they ask you to put it on the paper and write an essay about it.

Betsy Keller [: 00:46:08

Right? Right. My dad got this.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:46:10

It's easy.

Betsy Keller [: 00:46:11

My dad was a, was a machinist and a mechanic. And he used to tell me when I was getting my degree, he would tell me and I had already worked in local government. And he told me it's like a machinist who's done all the work. But going and getting your degree is like adding to your toolbox. You're just getting more tools in your toolbox. But the practical experience is knowing how to use those tools. And I found it was so much easier because I was already working in local government when I went to get my, when I started my degree and I found it was so much easier. And I'd often wonder how do people who not work in local government make the connection of what this means.

Betsy Keller [: 00:46:55

How are people who are working not working? Connect this to reality and practicality. So it's great. I remember when I started at the county, I had several individuals in HR who did not have a degree. And they saw that I was valuing and recruiting people with degrees. I was encouraging them to go get their degrees. And I had several who went together and got their degrees together. And I remember when we all attended their graduation from, with their, from the university, they were just, we were all so proud for them. And I've now seen them grow and develop and take on new leadership roles.

Betsy Keller [: 00:47:39

And I'm so incredibly proud of all of them. But that's. That is investing in our future of our profession.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:47:45

Yeah. I mean, it's making people better. At this point in my career, making people better is like right up there at the top of my objectives. And part of that's my. Why making people better? Watching people develop. I don't have as long as I used to, to watch the period of time people got to develop. I gotta identify some and build them up quicker that I don't have as long to watch them grow. But that is something that I really enjoy.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:48:23

You know, association work is about amplifying in elevating a particular industry or particular thing, but quite simply. And that's why I enjoy that work as well. And that is why I'm so looking forward to all that you're going to accomplish as president of our association over these next 12 months. So by the time we get to New Orleans for the 91st edition of NACO, you will have had a whole list of experiences and things you've done. And we're going to keep making this organization better for those that follow us as we go up in leadership. Because one of the things I'm really excited about is we have been able to seize the opportunities when we needed board members to go out and get new board members that are going to bring more experiences, more, more, you know, their, their credentials. We're just going to keep elevating. We're just going to keep rising.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:49:46

I just appreciate the brotherhood, the sisterhood that we have within our organization. But now I'm about to pump the brakes and talk about some things that my podcasters normally hear me talk about at the end. You know, I know you live a full personal life with grandchildren and life be life, and you have all of those things going on. Talk a little bit about Betsy. Let's drop the title. Let's talk about Betsy a little bit. Does Betsy favor The beach or the mountains? Don't say desert because that's in the backyard. So.

Betsy Keller [: 00:50:37

I love the beach and the mountains. I really love the beaches of Mexico and I love the mountains. We go up to the mountains in New Mexico quite a bit. I actually lived in the mountains when I was younger, so I like them both. And I love, I love snorkeling, so that's why I love the beach. When you get me at the beach, I'm actually in the water more than I'm on the beach. And I do love my grandkids. I have lots of, I have lots of granddaughters.

Betsy Keller [: 00:51:10

I have seven granddaughters and one grandson. And. Yes. But I have four sons, so they, they blessed me with seven granddaughters and one grandson. And I love them all and they're, they're great. So we spend time with them. My husband and I love to travel and we like to go camping and we like boating and we like, we like just exploring. We have a great time exploring.

Betsy Keller [: 00:51:38

We both also like music quite a bit, and he's very musically talented. I have to really work at it, so I try to play the piano a little bit in my spare time. Something I taught myself as an adult. I picked it up about 10 years ago. And I love reading and just, you know, being with my family. My mom, I spend a lot of time with my mom and really enjoy her and appreciate the time I have with her. And like, just, we really like being outside and outdoors. And we have four dogs, too, so that keeps me busy.

Betsy Keller [: 00:52:19

Yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:52:20

Yeah, but that's, that's a lot going on.

Betsy Keller [: 00:52:24

That's a little bit about me.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:52:26

You got, you have all the many things going on in the workplace, and then you got this dynamic, exciting life. I'm going to ask a brand new question, Talk of the county first.

Betsy Keller [: 00:52:38

Okay.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:52:40

And I'm going to ask this question because I, I love automobiles. Always have. Just. So now this question is coming from that. And this question is sort of a beach versus mountain side question. If you give Betsy a choice of between two vehicles, Corvette convertible or Suburban, which one do you pick?

Betsy Keller [: 00:53:12

Oh, that's an easy one. The Corvette convertible. I'm a, I'm a car person, too, and I love those sports cars.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:53:20

I thought you might have picked suburban, you know, the dog and everything.

Betsy Keller [: 00:53:27

I love those fast cars.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:53:30

Yeah, I'm, I'm personally. This is a, this is a talk of the county first with this question. I'm, I'm Corvette all day, every day. I figure out how to move everybody else around later.

Betsy Keller [: 00:53:41

What color? Yeah, what color Corvette?

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:53:43

Red. I used to be black, but there's reasons why I've changed the red now. Now, now I'm partial towards red.

Betsy Keller [: 00:53:51

I like yellow. I like a real bright yellow or a red yellow.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:53:57

Beautiful, bright yellow. Yellow. Yellow with a black convertible top that's always been popping. So what is it? And as we wrap up, what is it that would surprise those in our organization about Betsy that we wouldn't predict?

Betsy Keller [: 00:54:20

Okay, so I'm going to share something with you that ties to the cars I've been a drag racer for. Well, since I was probably before I had a driver's license, I was into drag racing. And I have a 1969 Chevy El Camino that's actually a race car. I don't race anymore. I haven't raced in several years. But I grew up in a drag racing family. We traveled across the country for drag races. My dad worked for the drag race associations.

Betsy Keller [: 00:54:52

And so drag racing is like in my blood. So that's why the question was so easy and so most people would not know that about me. Yes. The faster the better.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:55:04

Fast and furious. Bessie.

Betsy Keller [: 00:55:06

Yes, sir.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:55:07

We need a picture of that El Camino because I know El Caminos. We need a picture of that El Camino for the promo for this podcast.

Betsy Keller [: 00:55:16

I'll get you a racing cap.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:55:19

See, people don't realize that we people too.

Betsy Keller [: 00:55:22

Right.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:55:23

You know, we knew it like, you know, these weird people just happen to have a love for county government, you know, you drag racing. So that's, that's the. Yes. What color?

Betsy Keller [: 00:55:40

Green.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:55:41

Green? Oh, yeah, that's, that's, that's what's up right there. It's got the dual exhaust on there.

Betsy Keller [: 00:55:48

It's actually. Oh, yeah. It has headers. It's. It was amazing. Car had nitrous. It was pretty. Yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:55:57

Not the tanks.

Betsy Keller [: 00:55:58

Yeah. So it's pretty, Pretty impressive.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:56:02

Okay. See, I learned something new today. Drag racing, that's what I watched a lot of whole race culture. They had like a drag strip where they just, like, you see, they line the two up and smoke and they just pump out.

Betsy Keller [: 00:56:19

That gets my heart racing. Yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:56:21

Chevy Novas and yes, birds.

Betsy Keller [: 00:56:23

And my brother had a Nova. Yes.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:56:26

Nova Super Sport.

Betsy Keller [: 00:56:28

Yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:56:28

Jacked up in the back.

Betsy Keller [: 00:56:30

Oh, yeah. Big slicks. Yes.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:56:33

That takes me back. It takes me back. Yeah, that was, that, that was, that was before the, the, the, the Nissans and the Civics. Drag racing. Like, now you see the street racing. So this has been a. We gotta wrap this up hour comes up quick. I know you.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:56:56

You are a very, extremely busy person here at the national association of Counties. These conferences. Boy, you. You don't get to stop. You gotta constantly be on the move, meeting with people, talking with people, networking. So all of that. But I want to. Again, I can't say enough positive things about our relationship.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:57:22

And I'm so looking forward to your presidency. And I'm here to help in any way I can. So as we wrap this up here at Naco, the 90th edition, this has been a county administrator edition. So as I, Kenneth Wilson, county administrator, wrapped this up, I'm closing it out, as I always do. Do you? Because nobody else has time to thank.