Get out of the way: Traffic in Georgia with Carlotta Harrell

David Martin: This is the good government show.

Carlotta Harrell: I have public safety personnel, I have teachers, I have nurses, I have individuals that work in my community but can’t afford to live in my community.

I think people sometimes are afraid of what they don’t know.

I’m retired law enforcement. I retired from Henry County. I was a police lieutenant.

So Congressman Lewis and Doctor King were close friends of my parents. Okay. And so, you know, just watching him and the things that he was able to do in Georgia. Yeah, I mean, he had a great impact.

I believe in collaboration and partnership. And I think that that is what makes good government.

David Martin: welcome to the Good Government Show. I’m Dave Martin. On this episode, we’re meeting a county commission president who is tackling two big issues head on housing and traffic. On this episode, I talk with Carlotta Herrell. She’s from Henry County, Georgia, and this is part of the larger metro Atlanta region. Part of the challenge she faces is representing a county that she says has gone from being a once rural county to, today, a more urban county.

However, it’s still a little rural. Parts of The Walking Dead were filmed in Henry County, so, you know, be careful when you’re alone in the woods. I mean, there’s no real zombies, but yeah, you know, still. Anyway, all right. Traffic. As with any growing area, it’s a concern. And we talk about that. She says there are solutions, but they involve education and working in the region for solutions that don’t just fix one problem, but address several areas.

Before Commissioner Harrell ran for office, she was a police lieutenant. And I ask her, which is harder wrestling someone bigger than you or sitting in a county commission meeting? So just listen for her answer. The other issue we talked about as a problem across the nation, housing. One way they’re tackling it is with zoning laws making it easier to build, but still maintaining the county’s character.

So listen to Henry County President of the Board of Commissioners, Carlotta Harrell, and I’ll have that coming up next.

The Good Government Show is sponsored by our Co. That means our community, our Co has found a way to make government more effective. Our Co provides the o u r platform. And this is an app that blends in-person and digital interactions to connect people with their government, their county, their town, their state. The our Co app transforms meaningful conversations into reliable data.

They can turn results into projects and programs. The community has essentially already approved. It’s sort of like a flash poll by phone, but without the call. And in real time and wherever community members are, maybe they’re at their house or their office or, whether out just talking about local issues. maybe the choice is between putting in more local busses or expanding the bike lanes.

Ourco can get you an answer immediately. With O, you are. You can engage your citizens or any group, learn what they want, and build programs and policies that advance your county, your job creators, your constituents. So visit our kokum. That’s o u r co.com and learn how they do it. And while you’re there, book a demonstration.

Welcome to the Good Government show. Thanks for coming. if you would just introduce yourself, please.

Carlotta Harrell: Yes. My name is Carlotta Harrell and I am the chairwoman of the Henry County Board of Commissioners.

David Martin: What’s happening in Henry County? What’s the big issue you’re you’re dealing with?

Carlotta Harrell: Well, as everyone, housing affordability, homelessness and traffic and transportation.

David Martin: So housing, have you had a recent influx of people moving into the county? Yes.

Carlotta Harrell: We we are a very growing, fast growing county. We’re the eighth growing, fastest growing county in the metropolitan area of Atlanta. And so our population has increased a lot.

David Martin: And has that caused people who were living there to scramble for housing?

Carlotta Harrell: I think that because of the current housing market and the pricing of housing, it has made it difficult for our workforce to find housing. And so, we do have a lot of housing that’s on the development, whether they be apartments or townhomes are subdivisions, but they’re more on the high end luxury apartments. and brownstone townhomes are those sort.

David Martin: And, what can you you’re you’re the boss here. You’re chairman of the board of commissioners. What have you been able to accomplish?

Carlotta Harrell: Well, we’re working on some things right now. We did have Georgia Tech to do a study for us on homelessness, and we are working on with several partners on housing affordability. Some of the things that we had to do. I served on Nicole’s housing Task force, and we came up with many scenarios, many different things that we could do to make housing, more workforce friendly.

So I have public safety personnel, I have teachers, I have nurses, I have individuals that work in my community but can’t afford to live in my community. So how do you address those issues and.

David Martin: That that must affect your ability to get new teachers too, right.

Carlotta Harrell: Absolutely. And does it affect your ability to be able to fulfill your workforce? And so some of the things that we were able to address was change in some of our ordinances where you couldn’t build housing, we could we allow cluster housing, we allow for housing to be small and small a lot sizes, not on one acre lots.

So what we had to do was adjust our zoning and ordinances to be able to now be able to really, seriously address workforce housing in our community.

David Martin: How do you balance the problem or the challenge, I guess is a better word of creating more housing, but maintaining a standard, not allowing, real estate developers to sort of run, you know, kind of roughshod through your ordinances in your town. That must be a difficult balance.

Carlotta Harrell: It is a difficult balance. But, you know, we have expectations. And so our, building codes are very strict when it comes to building. And so there only certain types of materials that you can utilize.

David Martin: And that’s to protect citizens.

Carlotta Harrell: Right. And that is protect citizens less and to protect their investment. That’s to protect our community because we want our community as it continues to grow, to grow, to still be a thriving community that people want to live.

David Martin: What’s the feedback you’re getting?

Carlotta Harrell: You know, with anything?

David Martin: so good is it’s a bad news,

Carlotta Harrell: It’s I mean, you get good and bad feedback. You know, we were a community that was a rural community. So we went from being a rural community.

David Martin: How long ago were you a rural community?

Carlotta Harrell: I would say probably in the last five years, we have really, grown to be an urban community. So we’re not that that far. This is very new.

David Martin: Are you are you from here? Are you is this where you grew up?

Carlotta Harrell: I was born and raised in Atlanta. and so I’ve. I’ve been in my county for 35 years.

David Martin: What brought you there originally? The schools still good, schools still have. We haven’t.

Carlotta Harrell: Great schools. And so that’s what brought me to Henry County was the schools to.

David Martin: How old are your kids at the time?

Carlotta Harrell: my daughter had not started kindergarten yet, so,

David Martin: Now she’s out.

Carlotta Harrell: Of school, now she’s out of school? Yes.

David Martin: Is she a teacher in town now?

Carlotta Harrell: No, actually, she’s a nurse. Yes.

David Martin: We talked a little bit before we started, having an at our official conversation. A lot of communities are dealing with this problem. What can you do about traffic? Everyone hates to get stuck in traffic. It’s. It’s a problem in every municipality. I know Atlanta’s traditionally had bad traffic. this is something that you said you’ve been working on.

What can you really do about traffic?

Carlotta Harrell: Well, I think that it’s going to take a collaborative effort, not just in my county, but surrounding counties as well. And, we have to think differently, and we have to think, mobility and how can we move people around other than in cars? So does that mean public transit? Does that mean rail? does that mean more walking trails, bicycle trails, those types of things?

And so how do you create that connectivity? I can create connectivity in my county. But then next door to me, you know, I may have another county. So I believe that if we work together collaboratively as a state and and especially in the metropolitan area, I think that we can address, our needs and, in dealing with traffic.

David Martin: Everyone, you know, talks about getting people out of their cars, carpooling, carpooling. I, I can’t say it’s ever been a huge success, you know, certainly with environmental concerns. are we at a point where people are more open to alternative transportation?

Carlotta Harrell: maybe, you know, and then I think also another way to address traffic is how do you work with your business partners? How can you stagger at times when people go to work and get out from work? How can can people work from home? So I think it has to be a collaborative effort, both with government and business as well.

David Martin: And how are you leading that charge?

Carlotta Harrell: of course, working with our, our Atlanta or regional commission, we have 11, metropolitan counties we meet mostly.

David Martin: Are you ever on the same page?

Carlotta Harrell: Yes, absolutely. I think that that is what makes it works is just the simple fact that even though some of our challenges may be a little bit different, but a lot of our challenges are the same, and so how do we come together, work together? And, you know, just make it work out?

David Martin: What might citizens have noticed over the last few years? Has there been any improvement in traffic?

Carlotta Harrell: No.

David Martin: All right. I try to carefully word that question to you. Shabby right now. No, no. Nothing.

Carlotta Harrell: No. just because so, like I said before, Henry County was a rural county, so there was not a lot done with regards to road expansion, road widening. So Henry County passed its first ever T splash in 2021.

David Martin: two splash explain.

Carlotta Harrell: And so basically that is a transportation local option sales tax that residents of Henry County decided to add that one cents on to tax themselves for us to do infrastructure improvements in our roads. So one of the things that we did was we were able to partner with gDot, which is our Georgia Department of Transportation. In Henry County, we have seven state routes.

Those routes are two lane roads that a lot of the trucks, utilize, in, in their travels. And so what we’ve been able to do, with the partnership with gDot, is we’re now expanding those state routes to four lanes. we are also getting a new interchange. So we were able to get money from the federal government to do a new interchange off of 75 in our county as well.

And then we are doing a lot of our areas, intersection areas. We’re doing a lot of intersection improvements where we’re doing roundabouts, where we’re doing different ways to just be able to keep traffic moving. And so, you know, those are the things that are in transition right now. So hopefully in the next 3 to 4 years, once everything is complete, it.

And then we’re hoping that that alleviate some of the trash.

David Martin: So there is some movement on the so.

Carlotta Harrell: There is some movement. We are doing those things.

David Martin: Now you’ve probably studied this way more than I have. isn’t there a point where you can’t widen the road, make a road wider because it just it doesn’t help. It doesn’t make a difference?

Carlotta Harrell: Yeah. It is a point that you can’t widen it anymore. And so then that’s where you have to look at public transit. So, I sit on a board, the I-75 Corridor Coalition. What we’re trying to do is be able to receive funding so that we can provide transportation from Atlanta Hartsfield Airport all the way to Savannah. So we’re looking at Atlanta, Macon, Savannah.

And so we are working with all of the jurisdictions all the way from Atlanta, all the way to Savannah to try to make this happen.

David Martin: That’s a that’s a lot of core and state coordination, though.

Carlotta Harrell: It is a lot of state, local and federal coordination. but we’ve got a lot of support, from our, U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is on board with this, and he got us some funding to be able to do a study. And so we’re just trying to move forward with this infrastructure funding that’s available. We’re hoping that some of that will come to Georgia, and we’ll be able to do what we’ve been working on for the last couple of years.

David Martin: So you have a plan and you’re working the plan.

Carlotta Harrell: Yes, we.

David Martin: Are. Well, I live in Brooklyn, and I and I take the subway, and people in New York City are used to taking the subway and you to taking the bus, and you stay in this area. How do you take a community like Atlanta that’s so car based and get them out of their cars?

Carlotta Harrell: I think is education is key. And those individuals being able to to to try different things. And so, you know, we do a lot with taking different delegations to different areas, even such here as we are here in use in Austin, Texas.

David Martin: Right. We’re here at that. We’re at the Naco National Association County’s annual conference, right here in Texas.

Carlotta Harrell: Right, absolutely. And so just looking at how other communities are providing transportation and how it works and how, you know, the different Mathis with the new, green energy, how it does not impact the environment. And so if we can take more cars off the road and, be able to provide more public transit then it makes it, you can move people around more.

So I think educating people, I think people sometimes are afraid of what they don’t know.

David Martin: Absolutely. Have you picked up anything here at the conference? either this or previous conferences that you brought back to, to Henry County that have helped?

Carlotta Harrell: Absolutely. definitely. Again, working on housing, working on homelessness and just being able to network with other commissioners to see what’s working in their communities makes a difference. And you can take those things back.

David Martin: So you have a couple of commissioners you can on, on your phone is, hey, what did you guys do about this?

Carlotta Harrell: Absolutely, absolutely. Always reached out to other commissioners to see what they’re doing. It’s not about reinventing the wheel. It’s about taking something that’s work, applying it to your community to make it fit in your community. And so just being able to provide those resources and bring that back.

David Martin: Could we call that good government?

Carlotta Harrell: I think that’s good government. I think being able to work together, work across the aisles, bring back to our constituents what they’re asking. And, you know, just be transparent and honest as you lead.

David Martin: Well, I here on the Good Government show. We like that. So good. Yes. What is your path to get to, chair of the board of commissioners of Henry County. How did you get there?

Carlotta Harrell: So I’m retired law enforcement. I retired from Henry County. I was a police lieutenant for 20 years. in law enforcement. And, just worked in my community after retirement. worked with, several other elected officials that had served before, and I decided to run.

David Martin: How long have you been in the office?

Carlotta Harrell: This is my first term.

David Martin: Oh. It is. How’s it going?

Carlotta Harrell: you know, you have good days and bad days.

David Martin: Okay, so what’s harder? Locking up somebody bigger than you or sitting at a quitter commission meeting?

Carlotta Harrell: Sitting in a commission meeting? Yes.

David Martin: But nobody nobody tries to beat you up there. Well, at least not physically.

Carlotta Harrell: Yeah. I mean, you know, just I mean, sometimes you can’t make everyone happy and some. But you do your best.

David Martin: What’s your former, officer colleagues say now that you’re chair of the county commission?

Carlotta Harrell: A lot of, some of my work, when I was, in law enforcement and, but they’re they’re happy. They’re very happy. We have a great public safety team in Henry County, and, they’re doing amazing things. We’re doing amazing work with, our real time crime center that we created. since I’ve been the chair, we’ve hired, clinicians to write with our police officers.

So when we have people in our community that have a mental health breakdowns, they’re able to deal with it and not take those individuals to jail, get them some.

David Martin: How do they ride with them every day? Or is it just when the the call goes out.

Carlotta Harrell: Is when the call goes out? Then they are there with them to, address whatever that mental health crisis.

David Martin: Go back to your time as an officer. How helpful would that have been?

Carlotta Harrell: That would have been amazing back during that time.

David Martin: Because as I understand it, you know, going to domestic dispute arguments are kind of like one of the scarier calls you can answer, right?

Carlotta Harrell: That in traffic. So if we have had something like that back during my time in law enforcement and want to make things a lot easier.

David Martin: So how does it feel to be the one who actually kind of like, hires the police chief or the sheriff?

Carlotta Harrell: Well, our sheriff is elected, okay, but yes, I have an amazing police chief that has been with the county 28 years.

David Martin: See that? That’s sheriff, right?

Carlotta Harrell: He’s he’s police chief. So we have we have a police department, a county police department, and we have a sheriff’s department as well.

David Martin: Sheriff. Does unincorporated areas like that?

Carlotta Harrell: the sheriff does handle everything. Dealing with our core, our jail system and serving warrants and civil papers and those types of things.

David Martin: Okay. And you’re a police officer? The police department.

Carlotta Harrell: Yeah. So the police department handles all of the calls, and.

David Martin: So do you hire the police chief?

Carlotta Harrell: yes.

David Martin: This is someone you knew from before?

Carlotta Harrell: Well, he was already there, so he was there when I took office.

David Martin: And so was he. There when you were a lieutenant?

Carlotta Harrell: Yes.

David Martin: Oh. So how easy is it for that? What’s that attraction?

Carlotta Harrell: I mean, it’s great because our police chief is amazing. And so, I like his leadership, and he’s doing a great job.

David Martin: And has he? Everyone slipped and said, look, Lieutenant.

Carlotta Harrell: No, he just calls me chair.

David Martin: All right. Well, that that that’s that’s that’s a, interesting turn because you go for being, you know, Lieutenant, one of many to the chair. And now he’s ostensibly under your the flowchart.

Carlotta Harrell: Let’s say what you have to realize that when I was a lieutenant, he was he was not a he was not the chief.

David Martin: what was he?

Carlotta Harrell: I think when I was a lieutenant there, he may have been a sergeant.

David Martin: but you didn’t you didn’t supervise.

Carlotta Harrell: Supervising, and he wasn’t one of my supervisors. I’m not.

David Martin: Sheriff. What did you do as a police officer? Are you a cop on the patrol or detective or.

Carlotta Harrell: A little bit of everything? I started off on patrol. I was prior to. Before coming to Henry County. I used to work for the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, the GBI. So I was an undercover narcotics agent, and I did that for several years. Once I Henry County, and was worked in detective was a sergeant on patrol and then lieutenant, I was a watch commander where I oversaw the the complete, shift and had, you know, personnel that worked under me was sworn in and sworn.

David Martin: What’s it like now to have sort of the full picture of everything that’s going on, not just in the police department, but in the entire county, as opposed to being a lieutenant.

Carlotta Harrell: So now you get to see the inner workings of government overall. And, you know, it’s it’s it’s different. It is different. And so but I have a great county manager that runs the day to day operations. And, you know, we make things work.

David Martin: After you get done with this episode here, more good government stories with our friends at how to Really Run a City. Former mayors Kasim Reid of Atlanta and Michael Nutter of Settle. Delphia and their co-host, journalist and author Larry Platt talk with guests and other mayors about how to really get stuff done in cities around the nation. Check them out where you’re listening now or through their nonprofit news site, The Philadelphia Citizen.

Dot org slash podcasts.

Okay, well, that was all a warm up. So now that you have got a new perspective on government, we have a list of questions we’re going to ask you. It’s our own good government show questionnaire. We’re going to get to your philosophy and what you’ve learned about government. Are you ready?

Carlotta Harrell: I’m ready.

David Martin: All right. Did you. You’re here because we spoke with Larry Johnson, the snake oil president. did he prepare you for this in any way?

Carlotta Harrell: No, he did not.

David Martin: Good, good, good. I think so. Here we go. so from your perspective now as the chair, what is good government defining.

Carlotta Harrell: Good government is being able to create good policy that works for your government. Being able to work with individuals, being able to have good, county staff that works for you, being able to work across the aisles because we have to work with our state, delegation. So being able to work across the aisles and and being able to listen to your constituents.

David Martin: How do you judge your success or lack thereof?

Carlotta Harrell: So I just my success by, you know, the things that we’ve accomplished and not just what I’ve accomplished, but what I’ve accomplished with, with a team, with with my commissioners, with my staff, with my county manager, you know, just even working, with our, other, municipalities. You have to work together. I believe in collaboration and partnership.

And I think that that is what makes good government.

David Martin: How do the people know if they’re getting good government? How should they? What would you like them to use as their yardstick?

Carlotta Harrell: Well, I think a lot of times people think that we can do things that we can’t do. And so a lot of times people looking from the outside was like, well, you know, why can’t you do this, this and this? And so there are guidelines that we have to follow. So just to give you an example of what I’m talking about, if someone owns land and their land is has a certain type of zoning, if someone doesn’t want something, say that that person is trying to reel.

What we can do is make sure that we have standards in place, but we can’t stop people from building on their land. And I think a lot of people think that I’ll just shut them down and, you know, don’t let them build these apartments on this, on, on this corner or whatever. But that is not always the case.

David Martin: We’re going to get to something like that in just a minute. But how should people know if they’re good in good government? What should they use as their yardstick for? Well, how the commissioners are doing a good job or the county’s doing a good job, what should they look for?

Carlotta Harrell: Well, I think one of the things is that, you know, attending county commission meetings, I think, also as a county commissioner are holding town halls to educate, our constituents on what’s going on, what what challenges that we face, you know, how they can help us. So just having everyone involved in the process. I think that if people understand, then they may not be so against certain things if they understand.

David Martin: So you sort of answered this question with the last two questions I’ve asked you, but what should people do if they don’t like what they’re seeing or hearing?

Carlotta Harrell: Well, if they don’t like what they’re seeing, don’t like what they’re hearing again, get involved. You know, we have, all types of boards, that individual can serve on and so serve on a board.

David Martin: Yeah, but that’s really hard to don’t have the time.

Carlotta Harrell: To get engaged. Come on, come on. I mean, is, is. I’m sure you hear that. Yeah. I mean, yeah, we hear that a lot. But still, if they don’t like what’s going on, then a lot of people, they decide to run for office themselves.

David Martin: I what you did.

Carlotta Harrell: I ran for office because I thought that I could make a difference.

David Martin: Have you made a difference?

Carlotta Harrell: I think that I have.

David Martin: So three years in, what would you like people to know about government, about Henry County and about how government works?

Carlotta Harrell: Government is hard and government has rules, regulations and guidelines that you have to follow. Things are you have laws in place for specific reasons.

David Martin: Do they make sense?

Carlotta Harrell: Some of them make sense. And some of them, don’t make sense. So some of those things that we can change from a local standpoint with ordinances and things that we as county commissioners can put in place, those are some things that we can change to make a difference. But there are state laws that also got and governed us as well.

And those things we cannot change. So that’s why they would have to go to their state legislature to get certain things changed.

David Martin: So who’s your political hero?

Carlotta Harrell: Oh, wow.

David Martin: Who inspired you to do this?

Carlotta Harrell: Probably Congressman John Lewis. So a little bit of backstory on that okay. So my parents were very involved in the civil rights movement back then. During that time. So Congressman Lewis and Doctor King were close friends of my parents. Okay. And so, you know, just watching him and the things that he was able to do in Georgia. Yeah, I mean, he had a great impact.

And so if I was going to be a leader in the political arena. Congressman John Lewis is one of those individuals that has inspired me and continues to inspire me because of the things that he was able to do when he was in office.

David Martin: All right. Now I’m coming. Henry County. I’m coming to your town. we’re we’re having a we’re having a meal. What do we have? And where are we going? What’s the what’s the what’s the great dish of Henry County?

Carlotta Harrell: Oh, wow. So we have if you’re comments a Henry recount, and you want a meal and you want some good southern cooking.

David Martin: Yes, ma’am.

Carlotta Harrell: I’m going to take you to the Green Fry Cafe in the city of Stockbridge. They got the best soulful in town.

David Martin: Now we’re talking. What are we? Good order.

Carlotta Harrell: So you can either have some oxtails, collard greens and macaroni and cheese or some fried pork chops, fried fish, cabbage, whatever it is that you want.

David Martin: None of this is good for you. But it’s all delicious.

Carlotta Harrell: And is all delicious.

David Martin: How do you get that?

Carlotta Harrell: I just, you know, it’s a small business that is in the heart of Stockbridge and, you know, I don’t get a chance to get by there every week, but I try to get there a couple of times a month because I love the food.

David Martin: All right, well, that you sold me, you said you had a career. 20 years as a police officer. Was public service running for office something you always aspired to? Were you out of the senior class?

Carlotta Harrell: Absolutely not. I played sports and school.

David Martin: What did you play?

Carlotta Harrell: So I played basketball, softball and volleyball both in high school and college. And, had always wanted to be in law enforcement. I never had any idea that I would run for public.

David Martin: Office who convince you to do it?

Carlotta Harrell: A lot of people in my community asked me to run.

David Martin: Why? What was their reason for? They must have had something they thought they must had a reason why they thought you’d be good at this. What was.

Carlotta Harrell: It? Because I, I, I was an advocate for for many things in our community. And so we wanted to make sure that,

David Martin: Are you the agitator who side of the back of the board meetings? Excuse me. I should have a point here.

Carlotta Harrell: Absolutely not. I’m not. I was not that person, but I was an advocate where I could sit down and have conversations with commissioners. and so, you know, being able to bring some resolve to issue community issues that we have.

David Martin: How’s it going?

Carlotta Harrell: It’s going good.

David Martin: Three years.

Carlotta Harrell: In three years, ain’t.

David Martin: I, that.

Carlotta Harrell: Reelection next year?

David Martin: So you’re you’re you’re I wouldn’t say glutton for punishment, but you’re on board.

Carlotta Harrell: I am on board 100%.

David Martin: All right. We this is the good government show. We always like to bring it back to good government. Give me an example of some good government project you’ve been able to get through or improve in the last three years.

Carlotta Harrell: Good government project from work perspective.

David Martin: From anything that you’ve done in the last three years where you can say, I’ve improved government in, in Henry County, here’s something I’m proud of.

Carlotta Harrell: Okay, so I would have to lead with our public safety. I think that we have done an amazing job with our public safety, being able to make sure that they have all the equipment to do their job. One of the things when I first came on board was that we had police officers riding around and police cars that were falling apart.

We were able to take some of the Arpa funds that we received and purchase police cars, purchased fire equipment that we needed. It was so many needs that our public safety had, and we were able to give them that equipment, being able to give them the salaries and so being able to invest in our public safety so we could keep our community safe.

And to me, that is one of the one things that I know that I can hang my hat on.

David Martin: Did you get one of the new police cars and go, wow, I wish I’d have this car?

Carlotta Harrell: No, I don’t have a new police car. But, you know, I wanted to make sure all of my men and women had what I had the equipment they need to be able to do their job.

David Martin: But did you sit down and go, wow, this is nice. Where were these five years ago?

Carlotta Harrell: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. They are nice.

David Martin: All right. Carlotta Harrell, chair of the board of commissioners for Henry County, Georgia, outside of Atlanta. Thank you so much for stopping by and keep, providing good government. Good luck with traffic.

Carlotta Harrell: Thank you so much.

David Martin: Do you ride a bike?

Carlotta Harrell: Yes I do.

David Martin: How often?

Carlotta Harrell: Every chance I get.

David Martin: Yeah. Have you ever had your bike to work? Now set an example.

Carlotta Harrell: I don’t have bicycle lanes. I might get run over.

David Martin: Well, now you got something. Do the work on bike lights. All right. I’ve come down to Henry County in a couple of years. We’re to go. We’re going to ride bikes. Okay.

Carlotta Harrell: All right. We will.

David Martin: Thank you so much for stopping by. Thank you. I want to tell you what our friends at the LA Academy of Science are doing. The LHC Academy is a national association for local health department data collectors. Through the Academy of Science, County health directors are coming together to measure their county health issues the same way. Here’s the problem.

There are over 3000 counties in the U.S. and they all count differently. We live in a data driven world. We need all the public health data to be counted the same. Let’s say you want to see if your community is overweight or vaping, or in other ways, less healthy than your neighboring counties. To determine this, you’ll need to measure these problems the same.

You also have to ask the same questions, different results, but same data points. LHC Academy is working with a National Center for Disease Control, creating a standard to count and collect data. The same way you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, they create the process and make sure everyone is looking at the information the same way. This means a county in Connecticut can compare their data with a county in California, it’s apples to apples.

Now with the Academy, counties and other governments are pooling resources and sharing data and creating a huge database library. That means lower costs, more accurate results, and better information for everyone. Sound like the government, right? If this sounds like something you want to get for your county or your city, check them out at LA Academy of science.org. That’s LHD Academy of science.org.

What is it the county government does? That’s the question county commissioners get asked the most. And the simple answer is everything on the good government show. We’re so lucky to have talked with so many county commissioners and other county officials that have shown us how effective county government is. County government dates back to get this 1634, making it one of the oldest forms of government in the United States.

Think about it. Roads. Highways. Hospitals. Schools. Recycling, law enforcement. Water, sewers, and most of the county. Those services are maintained by the county. That’s county government. The National Association of Counties represents all 3069 counties across the USA. Naco helps county government work better together through things like sharing best practices. When county government works well, well, that’s just good government.

What I like most about Carlotta Hills approach to good government was working together, collaborating with local government, not just locally but around the region and it must be fun to once be a police officer and a police lieutenant and now president of the county commissioner, and in some ways, your old boss’s boss. Anyway, that’s our show. Please like us and share this with your friends and review us right here where you’re listening, and check out our website.

Good government show.com for extras. Help us keep telling stories of good government in action everywhere. Join us again for another episode right here. I’m Dave Martin and this is a good government show.

The Good Government Show is a Valley Park production Jim Ludlow, Dave Martin, that’s me and David Snyder are the executive producers. Our show is edited and produced by Jason Stershic. Please subscribe then share us and like us and reviews. That’s the best way to make sure we’re able to keep telling these stories of our government working for all of us.

Then listen to the next episode of The Good Government Show.

**This transcription was created using digital tools and has not been edited by a live person. We apologize for any discrepancies or errors.