Tractors, Technology, and a Red Draw in Texas with Wichita County Commissioner Barry Mahler

David Martin: This is the good government show.

Barry Mahler: Really? I’m an old school radio guy.

Now, I don’t know a farmer out there that would rather draw an insurance jag than raise a crop. It’s about raising a crop. But still, if Mother nature’s not kind and it doesn’t work, you can sleep at night. Because, you know, I’m going to get the opportunity to try this again.

Being a county commissioner means that you’re responsible for everything and in charge of very little. And sometimes that’s the way it works out.

But it’s our job to tell the story of county government, and it’s a good story, and we need to tell it.

Well, if you walk in the coffee shop and they don’t throw things at you, that’s a pretty good start. I. There are so many smart people out there that we need to be leading this country. And and I don’t know that we’ve done yet, but that.

David Martin: Welcome to the Good Government show. I’m your host, Dave Martin. On this episode, we’re heading to North Texas, to Wichita County, and I’m going to talk with Barry Mahler. He’s a Wichita County commissioner for 11 years. Barry’s been a county commissioner there, and he’s a farmer. He grows wheat and cotton and raises cattle. This is a guy who knows what it’s like to sit on a tractor in the sun, tending to your crops.

And speaking of tractors. Barry has a small collection of older tractors, but he assures me that he keeps them all well-maintained. Any of them can get out and still do the job. But he says the newer models are a lot more comfortable. I learned a lot about tractors. At first I wouldn’t have thought, you know, being here in Brooklyn that farms need modern technology.

But they do. And I’ll let Barry explain why. I got a lucky surprise when I met Commissioner Mahler. He’s an old radio guy. For some 30 years, he hosted a local farm report both on radio and TV. It’s always good to talk to a radio guy and interesting conversation with a local leader in rural Texas. We talk about farm prices, and I’ll let him explain the farm bill.

Getting back to technology, he explained that rural Texas and rural America is undergoing a similar movement. Just like back when rural counties were late and getting electricity. Well, now it’s broadband service. Coming up, my conversation with Barry Miller of Wichita County, Texas. And pay attention when we talk about the red drawer. That’s next. After this.

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Welcome to the Good Government show. I’m your host Dave Martin. I’m here with Barry Moller Barry. welcome to the show. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where you’re from, what you do.

Barry Mahler: Well, thank you. I’m from, Wichita County, Texas. We actually live in a town called Iowa Park. We’re in the northern part of Texas. kind of a tween Oklahoma City and Dallas Fort Worth, right along the Red River. And so we’re right in the edge of the rolling plains of Texas. And I’ve lived there all my life.

I farmed and ranched all my life. I’ve been heavily involved in soil and water conservation in Texas and all of the, ag movements that have come along, but got the opportunity to run for county commissioner, a little over ten years ago. And I’ve always loved politics, and it all came together. And I’ve just enjoyed serving the people of Wichita County as the precinct three commissioner in Wichita County.

David Martin: But there’s more to it than that. you do farm reports, is that correct?

Barry Mahler: Yes. I was a farm broadcaster for a number of years on radio and TV, and it really I’m an old school radio guy, and, I love radio, but but but that that one of the reasons that I, you do.

David Martin: Have a bit of a radio.

Barry Mahler: Voice. Well, okay. I thank you for that, I guess.

David Martin: Well, thanks for being here with your radio voice.

Barry Mahler: I kind of got away from that because, that industry changing tremendously, the news media deal as a whole. And at one time, there were probably a 30, 40 full time farm broadcasters in Texas, and now there’s only a few. And so I did radio. And when the radio station sold and moved, I moved to the local, CBS affiliate, the TV station and a 30 minute TV show every morning enjoyed it a lot.

I got to work with a lot of people, got to go a lot of places, meet a lot of people. I’m still involved, though. I do some, commercial, voiceover work. And I’m also a reporter for Texas Farm Bureau roundup, and I think we’re on, like, 14 radio stations in Texas. So I do a report from the Rolling Plains every week.

So that keeps me involved in the industry, and I really enjoy that.

David Martin: What’s going on with the industry? What’s going on there?

Barry Mahler: Well, agriculture’s in a really, interesting point right now. like every other industry, in the world, inflation has affected us very negatively. Our input costs have gone up exponentially, which but luckily our commodity prices have gone with it. And that’s a good thing. So that kind of balances out. But what worries me is we’re going to get those commodity prices tend to come down a lot quicker than what our input costs do, and I’m afraid we’re going to land at a level that’s not very good.

So that’s why the farm bill is very important to us. And one of the sessions that I’ve been here at the Naco conference is the farm Bill. And and what we can do to influence that and make sure that it is a good support structure for agriculture. So, the ag industry, is sometimes it gets hot and dry and the crops don’t grow.

Sometimes they grow very well. But, my my grandfather did it. My dad did it. So I’m a third generation and I’ve got two sons that are interested in. And even though, they’ve got outstanding careers, they still love the land. And they want to come back to the home place and build homes later on. So, you know, agriculture is one of those saying you can get into it, but if you grow into it, it’s a lot better.

David Martin: What you grow.

Barry Mahler: We raise wheat, we, run cattle, we raise cotton. We’ve got a cotton crop planted right now. It’s been extremely hot in Texas, and we can stand the heat if we have water. We’re all dry land. We’re not irrigated. So rain is important. We’ve been very fortunate to have good rains so far into early July. So we’re watching it.

and I guess we’re cautiously optimistic. But wheat, cotton and cattle are pretty well out. We do a few other things too, but that’s pretty much what grows well on the rolling plains of Texas.

David Martin: Well, I was going to ask, what does it take to grow cotton?

Barry Mahler: Well, cotton is an interesting plant. It loves heat. but it needs water when and when it’s wet. It’s having the heat. cotton is interesting. And as much as I think you can give up on it 2 or 3 times in a season and still do well if it finishes well, into the fall, and it’s such a great product and it is so much in demand around the world, the just about everything we see from, the clothes we wear to, the, the carpet on the floor, it all has a cotton component.

David Martin: Where does your cotton wind up?

Barry Mahler: My cotton goes to the yarn. They put it in the bales. Some of it goes to export, but a lot of it goes to, the, material companies that that that make that make material out of it and process it for different things. And then we harvest, we, of course, remove the seed from it. The seeds are great, all seed crops.

So we actually get the benefit of that.

David Martin: Also the shirt you’re wearing, any chances you’re at a chance at your cotton.

Barry Mahler: Absolutely. Well could be. Probably not. But it could be. I like to think it is, but but it’s a great broad product. It’s comfortable, it’s durable. And, you know, it helps, when you can really be proud of the end product of what you grow. And if you’re raising cotton, you can be proud of it. And that’s true for nearly all the ag commodities in in the United States.

David Martin: What is it about the farm bill that you’re most concerned about?

Barry Mahler: I think the big thing for us right now, and we discussed it in committee meetings this morning, is we have got to protect federal crop insurance. Federal crop insurance is so vitally important because it not only helps you recover from a disaster, but it’s a needed component in, in in securing the funding you need to operate. These banks want that assurance of federal crop insurance to loan you the money to do that.

So we think that’s one of the important things to to keep in mind.

David Martin: And how does that help individual farmers.

Barry Mahler: Well, it it allows them to operate basically without it the risk is just too much. Every time the input costs and the commodity prices go up. That’s a great thing. You raise a crop, you make good money, but if you lose a crop, the risk is exponentially. It goes up 2 or 3 times as to what the input potential is, and you can’t survive it anymore because of what it cost.

David Martin: So ultimately that affects consumers with a higher price. Yeah, it absolutely does.

Barry Mahler: And and it keeps it keeps keeps producers in business. It keeps the industry competitive. And it’s really it’s really good for everybody. And I don’t know a farmer out there that would rather draw an insurance check than raise a crop. It’s about raising a crop. But still, if Mother Nature’s not kind and it doesn’t work, you can sleep at night because, you know, I’m going to get the opportunity to try this again.

David Martin: I understand that you recently expressed some concerns about the technology in your county. What are you doing to help the citizens of your county, and how did you get involved in the technology problem?

Barry Mahler: Well, we’re in a real interesting spot in as much as the I think.

David Martin: Grant was the where do you see.

Barry Mahler: Rented? Yeah. The we’re we’re yeah, we we have Wichita Falls, which is the county seat, which is a town of population of 100. And we have pretty good technology available there. But we’ve got some rural areas out there, the smaller towns, it costs a lot for user to install broadband and the things that we need. And so many things are connected to that too.

Now, I think you find that all over rural West Texas. It’s like I would I equate it to the electrification of of rural America. when we started getting electricity and making sure everybody was going to have it, the rural people got left out, and it was the rural electrification program that came along and picked them up because they didn’t have a dense enough population using it for mile of line.

And that’s what we’re running into in this in, in this in two. But we’re getting some help. We’ve got some companies coming and there are a lot of federal dollars that are coming that way. So I think we’re going to see the the internet infrastructure move into rural, not just rural Texas, but rural America. And that’s going to be good, because I think it will keep some people in the the lesser, less densely populated areas.

And I think it will also have some people that will come that way. They could literally do their job from, from out in the country.

David Martin: So how does a rural Texas farmer become the technology guru of your county?

Barry Mahler: Well, I wouldn’t say I’m the guru. And if you ask my kids, they will they will verify that both of my sons will tell you that, oh, dad, you messed it up again. But no, I’m learning and I’m interested in it. And I see the benefits of it. The farm equipment we run out needs the internet because the guidance systems and all the monitoring systems that we have on it relies on the internet.

So when you see a tractor combine running out in the country, it’s not out there to the fans, it’s hooked to the internet some way in order to make it function. That’s the world we live in. So, yeah, old guy like me, I’ve had to adopt. I’m coming to the table kind of slow, but I’m getting there, and I’m glad I am, because we’re a lot more productive with it.

David Martin: And you have children and grandchildren who can fix.

Barry Mahler: It for you. We absolutely do. A quick story. I was running the tractor and planner a while back, and, I had a son that was setting a meeting in San Antonio, which is many miles away from where we are, and he called me about 2:00 in the afternoon. And he says, dad said, when you get to the end of the row, he said, get out and look at that number 12 unit.

He said, it doesn’t look right on the monitor. He’s sitting in a meeting in San Antonio watching my planner monitor in the field in North Texas. And sure enough, I got out, had a little dust on the sensor, and and I thought my dad, I think he would have thought this was a tool of the devil. I’m not 100% sure, but isn’t that amazing?

He’s sitting in a meeting and he’s monitoring my planner. Actually, I think he was just checking to make sure I wasn’t taking a nap, see what the deal is. But no, that’s amazing technology. It’s helps. It makes us more efficient, and it’s going to help us moving forward. I’m glad we’ve got it. Once again, I’m a little slow to come to it.

I’m having to learn it as I go. But, hey, you got to embrace it because it’s here. Just the report we’re doing today. Yeah. Hey, is is there because of technology? So we as a as a commissioners court, as the county, we’ve got to make sure that that our county is included in those improvements, because that’s how we’re going to move forward.

David Martin: What is your fascination with old tractors?

Barry Mahler: Oh, I love old tractors. We got a pretty good.

David Martin: Why why do you love old right.

Barry Mahler: Oh, no. And I see I’m an old car guy. I grew up in the 60s and I’ve got a pretty good old restored car collection. And both of my sons participated in FFA tractor restoration competition. In fact, my youngest son won the National championship about six years ago as a senior. So we have got a good selection of some outstanding restored tractors.

I know we’ve got some some just like I grew up on, some like my dad grew up on. I just have a fascination with it. It was a neat era and you could really see the progression of the mechanics of agriculture, much like now we’re seeing the progression of the technology, and that just fascinates me. And it’s really fun to have those in a barn get them out and grab them.

Ever.

David Martin: Do you do you have them pen? Do you take them?

Barry Mahler: We’ve got them. You bad.

David Martin: Are they still working tractor?

Barry Mahler: You bet they are. They’re brand new. I mean, every bolt has been taken out of those tractors, completely restored. that tractor that my son won the national championship with was brand new. When he got through with it, it was a 43, 20 Deere, which was, that was a 72 model. So that wasn’t real.

David Martin: What’s the oldest one you have?

Barry Mahler: Oh, let’s see, we’ve got a 47 model John Deere B that my uncle owned and I was I never thought I’d get it away from my cousin, but I did and we restored it. So that’s a family heirloom. That one’s never going anywhere. We’ve got a couple of old farm models that were built in the, late 40s, early 50s.

Love those. Love the way they run.

David Martin: Do they work as well as the modern ones?

Barry Mahler: Well, the air conditioner doesn’t work. Is good, I’ll tell you that. That sure makes a difference. But the big difference in them is they’re still doing the same thing. Is that they were doing it with kind of brute horsepower and less of the finesse that we have now with the technology.

David Martin: Where are they still effective because they still do the job? Well, sure they can.

Barry Mahler: We still use them. some we’ve got some older, farm, tractors on our farm that we still use and they’re, they’re still there, but they’re not as comfortable to drive as the new ones are. I mean, you get in one of these new and it’s like sitting in your living room. And I like that.

David Martin: I like so it’s called the Good Government Show. Tell me a good government projects that you’re working on in Wichita, Kansas.

Barry Mahler: We’re just trying to bring the best value we can to our taxpayers. As a as a county commissioner, you’re in an interesting position in Texas, and I always describe it, of being a county commissioner means that you’re responsible for everything and in charge of very little. And sometimes that’s the way it works. Yeah, we’re we’re looking at bringing value.

What how can we take our tax dollars? And we are a property tax state. Of course. And that’s how we operate the county. And we want to try to to bring the the best law enforcement, certainly the best services for our veterans and all those other people that that are involved and need some help from time to time.

We’re trying to maintain the best, safest roads we can. We’re trying to do that with the best value that we can bring the taxpayer, because we all we’re all property taxpayers too, and we want the best value you can bring. And I think that’s our overall goal is just to do that, do a good job for the folks that put you there.

David Martin: So to more people know you from your work, doing the farm reports and television or as county commissioner?

Barry Mahler: Well, maybe both. It’s been a good connection. It never hurts to people to know you when you’re running for election. But, I think both. I’ve just been fortunate to live in that community a long time. I’ve known a lot of people, and I’ve got a and there’s just a lot of quality people around there that that I, that I’m proud to call friends.

So I don’t know if you’re, if you’re ever really popular, are ever really well known, but, it is nice when somebody comes up to you in the grocery store and said, hey, I saw you on TV that day. I gotta admit, that’s fun, I enjoy that.

David Martin: Yes, yes, it is. All right. Now that that was we’ve gotten that out of the way. We’re going to get to the heart of your philosophy on government.

After you get done with this episode, hear more good government stories with our friends at How to Really Run a City. Former mayors Kasim Reed of Atlanta and Michael Nutter, a Philadelphia, 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.

Barry Mahler: Are you ready? Yeah. All right. Well, I’m I’m one of those that most of the time, the less government you got, the better off you are. And we’ve got to be very careful with overreach. We we want to.

David Martin: We’re going to get we’re going to get to that. But we’re going okay. So what is your definition. You’re you’re county commissioner. You’ve been there for ten years. What’s your definition of good government?

Barry Mahler: For me as a county commissioner is to bring service to the community that they can’t supply for themselves on an individual basis and do that in the best form that we can, the less intrusive of their lives, and hopefully for the best value.

David Martin: How do you track your success and knowing that you’re doing you’re being success?

Barry Mahler: Well, if you walk in the coffee shop and they don’t throw things at you, that’s a pretty good start. But no, I think feedback from the people and, just, I like to get out and talk to the people. I’d rather do that than anything. I mean, we’ve got we I know internally.

David Martin: How do you know if you’re being successful?

Barry Mahler: If I’m proud of what I do at the end of the day. Okay, I think I did a good job. I did what I could do, and so you know that that’s that’s kind of the way you do it. But but you also, you know, you love to hear that. How you’re doing a good job. Hang in there.

Do that. And you love a pat on the back. Everyone. So sometimes those don’t come very often when you’re an elected official. And I’m, I think less now than they did a long time ago. But still.

David Martin: If I were try to change out on the show.

Barry Mahler: Here in my heart, if I know I’m doing a good job for the people that put me in that chair, that’s their seat, not mine, then I’m. I’m pretty happy with that. Pretty comfortable.

David Martin: And how do the people know if they’re getting good government and how should they hold you accountable? How do they know that you’re doing you’re being effective?

Barry Mahler: Well, I think I would love for the people to be more involved. I always encourage people to come and talk to us, come to Commissioners Court. We’ll put you on the agenda where we can have a discussion. If you’ve got a question or problem, come. In fact, I got a text from, from a lady in the county today that’s not even in my precinct, but I know her.

And she had some questions about some road issues. I said, you let me know when you can come. We’ll get you on the agenda. We’ll discuss it. We’ll come up with something. I think that’s the best way. Communication is always too. I think all too often too many people sit back and they’ve got things on their mind and they don’t share them.

And I think being up front with your people, being in contact with them, and then when you move on to the state and federal government, I’ll tell you, when my congressman, my senator comes to town, I’m there, I’m going to go visit with him, because that’s how you stay connected. Same way with my state representative. And we want the same thing on the county level.

Come and talk to us. Come see us and we’ll work it out.

David Martin: Will you sort of answer that? And the next question is if people feel like they’re not getting the government that they want, what do you want them to.

Barry Mahler: Do, call me or come see me? Don’t don’t air it out on Facebook. Come and discuss it with me where we can actually get something done. And, and and they do. And I think they’re getting better at it I think and more show it’s all is too easy right now to get on social media and set back and say and and complain about somebody.

But we do have a good, good group of people that will come and share with us when it comes, tax rate time. We want them to come and discuss it. We want to hear what they’ve got to say because, and we have made changes, quite regularly, as a matter of fact, when somebody has a concern.

So communication come and talk to us, come see us. And, I like to go out and look at things when somebody says, well, we got a problem out here, and I’ll say, I can do a better job if I come look at it, and then we’ll talk about it. So that’s kind of my approach.

David Martin: And do you come on the tractor or do you take sir.

Barry Mahler: Well we take the car most of the time, but I have gone on the driver. So yeah, we can do.

David Martin: Do people see you riding around town on the tractor?

Barry Mahler: Oh, every once in a while we get them out for the parades and stuff. But I’m one of the hands on guy. I like to go run the equipment. I mean, I like to get out on the road, job, run. I can run a bulldozer. I can run a motor driver. I, you know, I can run all that equipment.

I’ve done it all my life. And, so I still enjoy doing that. I think that helps me connect little getting out with the crew. And I see what they’re going through, what their challenges are. I think that helps us be better. Commissioners.

David Martin: You’ve been in Commissioner. You said for ten years, right?

Barry Mahler: A little over ten years. Many more time flies.

David Martin: What would you as a, as a, as a government insider, as a, as an elected official for the last ten years? Government is slow. Government is you said you worry about government overreach. You know, there’s a lot of moving parts to government. What would you like people to know that they probably don’t know about government?

Barry Mahler: Well, that, it’s really easy to say, oh, everybody’s a crook, everybody’s on the take. And we say that on social media from time to time and all that. But, the more involved you are, I think it goes back to the communication deal, the more you know your representative, whoever that may be, a county commissioner, a senator, you know, a congressman, whatever.

If you get to know them personally, I think you’ll know what kind of person they are and the fact that they have your best interests at heart. I live on roads that I maintain. I pay property taxes just like everybody else does. And I look around and want to make sure that my dollars are being well spent. And so I think that, just being involved and paying attention makes a big difference for all of us.

David Martin: What inspired you to get involved in politics and who’s your political hero?

Barry Mahler: Well, I love I love politics, and I’ve always been a political junkie. I’m not. I don’t care anything about movie stars. I don’t care much about athletes. But I tell you what. You let our state senator come to town, or you letter. Senator, I’m going to be there. I’ve just always been interested in it from probably in high school.

Had a good government teacher in high school. I think that got us involved and got us used to it. And I’ve just always enjoyed the give and take and watching the process work. And so I think that’s where my where my interest come.

David Martin: So who’s your political who are your political heroes.

Barry Mahler: Oh, it would probably be somebody like, maybe Ronald Reagan, somebody like that, that came from a different background and yet stepped up and did a great job. I mean, there are a bunch I mean, we’ve got a bunch of local people that I thought the world of, I guarantee you some of them are the guys I served with on the commissioners Court.

I’ve been there. I’m the oldest member on the commissioners court, so I’m been there longer than anybody. And I’ve seen every other, precinct replace it in my my, in my term. And I’ve said, I love the guys that were there. And I love the guys that are there now. We communicate well. We deal with one another well.

So I think my my, my cohorts, the guys I work with everyday are my heroes. Also.

David Martin: Do you mentor, new commissioners and new new folks to come into government?

Barry Mahler: No, they mentor me right now. Yeah we do. And we help one another. We help one another. We feel like that they’re there, four of us on our commissioners court. We all have our strengths and our areas of expertise, and we call on one another to help one another out. And we do that on a regular basis. We do it just about every day.

What do you think about this or what would you do on, you know, in this deal? And and we have a good working relationship. So yeah, there’s mentoring that goes on, but it goes both ways.

David Martin: So we are sitting here at the Naco conference in Austin, Texas. I had some Texas barbecue last night. I’m coming up to Wichita. What do we have and where are we going? What are we, what are we eating and who’s making it?

Barry Mahler: Well, first time we’re going to do it. And do you know what a red drawer is?

David Martin: I do not.

Barry Mahler: Well it’s it’s a, it’s tomato juice and beer. And we’re going to go we’re going to go to pizza in Wichita Falls. And we’re going to have the best red raw in the world. And then we’ve got some good barbecue right up the street and some really good Mexican food and chicken fried steak. You got to have a chicken fried steak if you come to our part of the country.

So, we’ll, we’ll find some places to go and we’ll have a good time.

David Martin: it sounds like an idea. Cook yourself.

Barry Mahler: Oh, I love to cook. I’m a big barbecue guy. My wife says I have way too many cookers. And I said, it’s kind of like old cars and tractors. You just need one mower. And I love to cook. I love to cook barbecue. in the wintertime, one of my favorite things to do is when my wife comes home from work, have dinner ready, and she enjoys that, too.

I love to. I love to cook for my instapot and come up with new recipes, but I love barbecue and I’ve got different grills and different things for different ages. And that really is relaxing to me to cook. And and it’s a thrill to see somebody enjoy it. That’s what really matters.

David Martin: So yeah, you’ve had, quite a varied career. You’re basically you started as a farmer, you got into, television, you still do voiceover ads, and you’ve been a county commissioner for ten years. Was this something you always aspired to? You. You said you were, you know, political from way back. Did you were your class president? Is it something you always had in your mind?

Yeah.

Barry Mahler: You know, once again, I guess I could always see me running for office because I just loved the process. I didn’t know that there would ever really be an opportunity, because I had a pretty good sized farming operation going, and we’re working on that. And then I was doing my TV and radio things. I didn’t know what it would that would work out, but it just fell into place.

The timing came along as I said, the radio and TV industry changed a bunch from what it was, and and I had this opportunity to run for office, and that was something I always aspired to. And I love a good campaign, love a good debate. And it just I don’t really just fell together.

David Martin: And I didn’t want to be president as a kid.

Barry Mahler: Now, I don’t think I really wanted to be president. There are so many smart people out there that we need to be leading this country. And and I don’t know that we’ve done yet, but.

David Martin: you say you’re not it, but I.

Barry Mahler: Know that’s that’s above. That’s above where I am. And especially at this point right now, I just love what I do. I love the people I work with, I love the people I work for, and I enjoy going every day and getting into the discussions and all that we have at the courthouse. I love watching county government work.

It works.

David Martin: It works. Tell me something that works in your county that you’ve had a hand in.

Barry Mahler: Oh, upgrading, this goes almost back to the technology deal, upgrading some of the things we were doing and our road and bridge department, upgrading with better technology and better equipment. we’ve begun again to find some real efficiencies there. just having an open door policy where we welcome anybody in the courthouse to come in and discuss anything they want to at any time, I think has, has been, has been good.

And we’ve just we you know, the big thing is you probably wouldn’t anything I had to do with we’ve just had some really good people step up to serve and, and I’ve enjoyed, being around all

David Martin: Commissioner Mueller of Wichita Falls, Texas. Thank you for stopping by. great conversation and, nice to talk to you. A solid broadcaster, I guess.

Barry Mahler: Broadcaster? You bet. Nice to see you. Appreciate what you do. it’s our job to tell the story of county government, and it’s a it’s a good story, and we need to tell it. Thank you very.

David Martin: Much. Thanks for stopping by.

Barry Mahler: Thank you. I appreciate it.

David Martin: I want to tell you what our friends at the LHD Academy of Science are doing. The City 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 is the same. You also have to ask the same questions, different results, but same data points.

LHD 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 a 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.

Just being involved in paying attention makes a big difference for all of us. Those are Commissioner Barry Mueller’s words and good words for all of us to remember. Getting involved get you a better government. I do like his take on elected office, responsible for everything in charge. Very little. guess that means he has to do the work and make sure those in charge get things done smoothly.

Two other things stood out to me. I guess Barry’s doing okay because, well, people don’t throw things at him. He walks into the diner and that’s got to be good for everybody. And I like when he said, if you have a problem, don’t air it on on Facebook, come talk to me. It was a good talk with Barry Mahler.

Always good to hear from rural America. but about that red drawer beer and tomato juice. Yeah, I know the expression. Don’t knock it. You tried it, but, yeah. Not sure about this red drawer saying chicken fried steak. That sounds better. And I like a man who needs one more cooker. Well, that’s our show. Please like us and share this with your friends or viewers right here where you’re listening.

And check out our website. Good government show.com for extras. Make sure you tell everybody about what we’re doing here on The Good Government Show, and join us again for another episode right here. We’re listening now 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.