Want A Job? Move to Ohio

David Martin: This is the good government show.

Julie Ehemann: I’m a retail pharmacist by trade.

David Martin: Okay.

Julie Ehemann: And then as an elected official, I’ve been mayor and village council member.

Studies show that we only have about 50% of our children enrolled in appropriate child care.

Getting a seat at the table is really important. but our economic development team sees that as a priority. So I think that’s exciting.

Beer. Be a real person. Be a responsible person.

Good government is when you’re going to use resources wisely to benefit your community.

They should know that we’re slow, even though we don’t want to be, because we have to be very transparent. And transparency takes time.

I’m an impatient person. I want it to be done today.

David Martin: Welcome to the big government show. I’m your host, Dave Martin. On this episode, we talk with Shelby County Commissioner Julie Ehemann. It’s our mission to highlight the ways government works and works well. So let’s meet Commissioner Ehemann. She got into politics and government in kind of a different way. She looked at what her small village council was doing and said, I can do better than that.

She ran and won. Then she became the village mayor. Now she’s been on the county commission for 13 years. She talks about how her county in central Ohio is hiring. They have an underage employment problem there, and she’ll tell you she can hook you up and maybe you could build Airstream trailers. They’re made right in her county Airstream, so that’s pretty cool.

Her current passion is creating more childcare places where parents can get care for their kids, but also opportunities for people to create more childcare facilities. And she’s working with some of those local businesses to help them create programs for their workers kids. And she’ll explain all that. Commissioner Ehemann also spearheaded a project to improve overall emergency communication between all the county’s FIRStrillionESPONDERS.

Certainly, it’s good government when all the government agencies can talk to each other, especially when it’s critical and we like that. So let’s go to Shelby County. It’s a small rural county in western central Ohio, but I’m glad to report there’s good government there. And that’s coming up after this.

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Welcome to the good government show. We have our guest from Shelby County, Ohio, if you would introduce yourself.

Julie Ehemann: Hello. My name is Julie Ehemann and I am a commissioner in Shelby County. I’ve been an elected official for 30 years and a commissioner 30 years. A 30 years, and a commissioner since 2012.

David Martin: So you before this?

Julie Ehemann: I’m a retail pharmacist by trade.

David Martin: Okay.

Julie Ehemann: And and then as an elected official, I’ve been mayor and village council member, your.

David Martin: Mayor and village council member, and now you’re county commissioner. Yes. Which job is better?

Julie Ehemann: The county commissioner. We’ve got a lot more resources. when you’re working in a small community, you just don’t have the resources. So you’re just just trying to get by every day. And. And as a county commissioner, there’s a lot more opportunities to actually do something.

David Martin: Where a Shelby County.

Julie Ehemann: Shelby County is on the west side of Ohio, we have I-75 that runs right through us. So I am 100 miles north of Cincinnati and 100 miles south of Toledo.

David Martin: Gotcha. Okay. What’s going on in Shelby County? What are the issues you’re dealing with?

Julie Ehemann: We’re we’re dealing with, low unemployment is a problem because I don’t have enough people to work in all of the manufacturing that I have in my community.

David Martin: What kind of manufacturing?

Julie Ehemann: Yeah, I have a Honda engine plant. I have the iconic Airstream motorhomes.

David Martin: Well, they make those there. Yeah. Do you have an Airstream?

Julie Ehemann: I do not have an Airstream. I’m not much a camper in that way. I like the hotel life a little bit more than camping, all right. But people people love the airstreams there. They are beautiful. They are. They are beautiful and iconic and.

David Martin: Yes.

Julie Ehemann: Yes. And so then I have.

David Martin: Is that the main or the only Airstream factory?

Julie Ehemann: That is the only Airstream factory.

David Martin: Every Airstream comes from there.

Julie Ehemann: Every Airstream comes out of Jackson Center, Ohio.

David Martin: Oh, okay.

Julie Ehemann: It’s it’s pretty.

David Martin: But inside some of the really beautiful big, beautiful ones just, you know.

Julie Ehemann: And and Airstream loves to give tours. They give daily tours to, to their facility. And they have a wonderful museum right on site so people can go through and see how the Airstream has developed over the years and, and just learn about the manufacturing of it.

David Martin: All right. But you you’ve never, had an Airstream, so. No, no. Okay. So what else other than Airstream? what else is being made?

Julie Ehemann: I did say Honda engines, right? Yep. Okay. And we have Cargill, which is, soybean crushing facility. It’s the largest one east of the Mississippi. so then we’ve got a lot of auto suppliers because they, they supply Honda with, with a lot of components.

David Martin: So you have an underemployment problem.

Julie Ehemann: I have an underemployment problem. I need workforce. So, in our community, so.

David Martin: If you need a job, come to Shelby County, Ohio.

Julie Ehemann: I will hook you up immediately. Yes.

David Martin: You heard that’s what the county commissioner. Okay. At all levels.

Julie Ehemann: Oh, yeah. anything from working one of the assembly lines to engineers to robotics?

David Martin: Wow.

Julie Ehemann: It’s a it’s all needed in my community. So.

David Martin: there are a lot of folks that come, you know, our a lot of people moving into your to your county.

Julie Ehemann: We do not have a lot of people moving in. We do have a, a plus every day of people that come in and work in our community versus living in our community. we do have the largest number of persons engaged in manufacturing per capita in the state in my county.

David Martin: Is that a challenge to have an influx of people during the day when you don’t have the budget infrastructure personnel to manage?

Julie Ehemann: Yes, yes. there’s been some talk at the state level on making it so that cities can’t collect income tax from people that don’t live there, and our city would lose 50% of their income. Oh, because of all of the people that work in their community and have to pay an income tax to them.

David Martin: Right. So when I live in New York City and people live in Long Island and have to pay a New York City tax on their on their paycheck and like, well, why do I have to pay that I don’t.

Julie Ehemann: Live, yes. Because you have you we need that help in road infrastructure and water and sewer infrastructure and safety services. So that’s part of what their income helps pay for while they’re in our community.

David Martin: And we talked a little bit before we turn the mics on. And you mentioned childcare. This is issue that you’ve been working on.

Julie Ehemann: It is an issue I’m working on. studies show that we only have about 50% of our children enrolled in appropriate childcare. Yeah. So one of the exciting things that we did was partner with our local YMCA, and we converted the lower level of our county nursing home into a child care facility. Oh, and so the Y has 56 children there.

David Martin: Is it full?

Julie Ehemann: It’s not full.

David Martin: Okay.

Julie Ehemann: But we we you know, we.

David Martin: We.

Julie Ehemann: Know it’s not free. It’s not free. Childcare is not free.

David Martin: is it affordable or, you know, in some way I mean.

Julie Ehemann: We, we have they are part of a program so that if someone is low income and are eligible for subsidies, then they can use those subsidies with the YMCA. Okay. And so we do have children of all income ranges in there. But for someone who’s paying on their own, it’s about $6,700 a month for their child’s care at the Y.

David Martin: It’s been a long time since I had childcare. is that a lot? A little?

Julie Ehemann: When you compare it to urban markets, it’s less. Yeah. But you know, if you talk about a mortgage payment, just my daughter, as an example, has two children in in child care. That’s a mortgage payment.

David Martin: Okay. what are the things you’re trying to do?

Julie Ehemann: Well, I’m trying to grow the child care realm. I really want some of those industry that I talked about to, acknowledge that they might have a little less of a workforce issue if there were places for people to take their children. so I’m working on that.

David Martin: On are any of these industries do they have any childcare at the facilities yet?

Julie Ehemann: No. All right. No.

David Martin: That’s what you’re working on.

Julie Ehemann: That’s what I’m working on. That’s what I’m working on.

David Martin: Are these folks a little bit or.

Julie Ehemann: you know, getting a seat at the table is really important.

David Martin: Sure.

Julie Ehemann: but our economic development team sees that as a priority. Okay. So I think that’s exciting that that, you know, it’s at least being recognized as a problem. And and if, if I’m trying to attract people to come to my community.

David Martin: Right.

Julie Ehemann: And they have small children, they’re not going to come if I don’t have a place for their their children to be taken.

David Martin: Care big Airstreams and throw like five kids in there. So this is a solution.

Julie Ehemann: The state has all these ratios and licensing requirements. So so.

David Martin: You know, I don’t think it would work.

Julie Ehemann: like you say for five. Yes five kids it might be enough space, right. But you know there are hurdles. So so we’re we’re.

David Martin: Trying to on time would be fun.

Julie Ehemann: We’re trying to navigate the hurdles. I’ve got an entity called for for children that is kind of a matchmaker situation. And, we used part of our Arpa funds to contract the for C for children. So they are educating, people on how to run it as a business, helping them get licensed. we’re giving them a stipend.

So if they need cots or educational materials or something like that, that through the Arpa dollars, they can get a stipend to get their business going.

David Martin: So it sounds like you’re making some progress.

Julie Ehemann: I think so, because we’ve got some we’ve got some home centers. that are moving forward. We’ve got this situation at the Y. We had another center open up, so there’s some progress. It’s slow. I’m an impatient person. I want it to be done today.

David Martin: And you work and yet you still work at government.

Julie Ehemann: You know? yeah. It’s. Yes, yes. It’s become a passion for me to to just see how I can improve my community and make things better for my residents.

David Martin: All right. What are the projects working on?

Julie Ehemann: How about emergency communications infrastructure?

David Martin: Well, you need you certainly need to be able to talk to people on the radios I want.

Julie Ehemann: Yes, a lot of the public doesn’t realize that they’re fire and EMS, and sheriff and police need to be able to talk to dispatch. And it’s a struggle if they’re in a building or if they’re in a remote part of our county. so we’re putting up five new towers, getting all new radios with this state of the art, radio system.

We’ve been working on this project for about 3 to 4 years. So it’s just coming out of our general fund money. Okay. So yeah, we’ve been we’ve been saving for it and planning for it.

David Martin: And how how is that going to when it’s done. What will you have?

Julie Ehemann: I will have five towers and I will have as I said, EMS and the police and fire, even our school systems will be able to communicate with dispatch because we’re letting we add in an extra channel so that they can opt in and have immediate communications with dispatch.

David Martin: And then I’ll be able to talk to each other.

Julie Ehemann: And they’ll all be able to talk to each other.

David Martin: Right? Because sometimes the firemen are on one frequency and the cops are on another, and they.

Julie Ehemann: And they can’t talk. You know, we’re we’ve made it so that everybody can talk to each other.

David Martin: is there one fire department? One police department?

Julie Ehemann: I have nine units. I have nine municipalities in my community.

David Martin: Okay. So what’s the biggest city?

Julie Ehemann: The biggest city is Sydney, and it’s about 20,000 people.

David Martin: Okay.

Julie Ehemann: So the entire county is a little over 48,000.

David Martin: so that’s half. And they’ll be on the same frequency.

Julie Ehemann: Well the city has it has their own system but it will match into the counties. All right. So we’ve.

David Martin: Noticed through.

Julie Ehemann: We spent a lot of time on this. You know when you’re talking about mapping and seeing where you’re at in part of the county and can I talk to this one and can they hear me? And just all sorts of testing is going on currently, right now to make sure that the new system is doing what it’s supposed to do.

So the radios are not in the hands of the, entities yet, but that is within the next month or so.

David Martin: Have you heard from the police department of the fire departments, the EMS folks to talk about the plan? And are they excited about what what’s coming next?

Julie Ehemann: You know what? Once they get their hands on that radio and they see what it’s going to do for them, they are very excited, very excited.

David Martin: Every time I look around or I look up, I see a cop standing there on his phone. How important is radio communication when everybody’s got a cell phone in their hand?

Julie Ehemann: Well, you don’t talk to the dispatcher on on that phone. You know, because they they need you on the radio, so that they can multitask at the same time, too. And if you’re at a fire scene and you’re on your phone, the other fireman doesn’t hear you, okay? But if you’re on the radio, the other firemen hear you.

This, you know, it’s broadcast through everybody. And so everybody’s communicating with each other at one one time.

David Martin: That’s the goal anyway.

Julie Ehemann: That’s the goal.

David Martin: That’s the goal. tell me about, tell me about Shelby. What brings people there?

Julie Ehemann: You know, we just have a wonderful community where, wonderful schools, great educational system for people. we’ve really been working on placemaking so that people can see, what we do have available. we’ve got a small lake and camping is, is a great opportunity there for people.

David Martin: you know, camp, you already said.

Julie Ehemann: No, I don’t care.

David Martin: I don’t care. Okay. Fair enough.

Julie Ehemann: But but, you know, the community is growing. we don’t have a whole lot of retail, but but we’ve got nice shops and and, sporting activities.

David Martin: You have a housing issue with, with not enough housing for people to move in if they it’s.

Julie Ehemann: You know, we’ve been really trying to address that. So we’ve got some housing growth going on. It’s not enough.

David Martin: Yeah.

Julie Ehemann: But but there’s, there’s really a concentrated effort to get that housing and affordable housing. You know, for years if you had the money, sure you could go build your McMansion someplace. Right. And so we have a lot of to, to some degree, upper level housing. But we need that workforce housing and those those young families that are just getting established.

We need that workforce housing for them.

David Martin: Well, it sounds.

Julie Ehemann: Like so that’s those are those are our goals right now. Housing that’s affordable for for that segment of our population.

David Martin: Well, it sounds like you know, you’re saying you’re underemployed and you’ve got a lot of manufacturing there. I would imagine that there is a real need for, affordable housing, especially for first time homebuyers, that sort of thing.

Julie Ehemann: Yes. And there is and, you know, over the years, the state of Ohio had a lot of funding available to get rid of blight. And so we had a have a great land bank that has really addressed removing the unsightly and uninhabitable places. So our next step is to rebuild on some of those properties. And do some infill in some of those neighborhoods.

David Martin: And it’s just the goal. Is there stuff you can do in the county level that makes that happen easier, faster, smoother?

Julie Ehemann: Well, the land bank is a is a partnership basically between the county and the villages and cities. so I do sit on the land bank and we get to develop policy and target areas that we think are are going to be beneficial for the community.

David Martin: So you said you were trained as a pharmacist. What made you decide to go into, I think you said for a city council. And then, yeah, the commission.

Julie Ehemann: When my daughter was an infant, my girlfriend and I would would be walking in the evenings and we were we were talking about, oh gosh, have you did you see what they did at the, at the village council? Oh my gosh, I could do that. Good. So she’s like, we should run ad and you know, so I kind of on a whim I ran and.

David Martin: Did she run to she.

Julie Ehemann: Ran for school board. I ran for village council. She did not win, I did.

David Martin: So are you still friends?

Julie Ehemann: Yeah, we’re still friends. All right. Life is kind of taking us in different directions, but we’re still friends. Okay. so I got started with village council, and after five years, our mayor resigned, and I happened to be the president. So you’re the way council? Yeah. So the way it works if you’re president. Council. When your mayor resigned, you’re immediately the you’re immediately the mayor.

Oh. All right. And I did that for 12 years.

David Martin: So you’re obviously. Then you stood for election. Yes. Okay.

Julie Ehemann: And and then I did I did it.

David Martin: What was that like when you suddenly were the mayor? We prepared. No, no. I want to stress. No, I was not prepared.

Julie Ehemann: No, I was not prepared.

David Martin: Okay.

Julie Ehemann: But, yeah, for one thing, I’m like, I don’t want to be the mayor. You don’t have a vote. Yeah. If you do have a vote, you’re breaking a tie and you don’t win no matter what. Now you now you don’t when.

David Martin: People are going to hate you.

Julie Ehemann: But you are. But as a mayor, you have to learn to use influence. And I think that’s helpful on the county commissioner board, when there’s three of you two, because you learn how to talk to them. And.

David Martin: I’m just trying.

Julie Ehemann: To create your argument in a positive way. And, and so that’s been a lot of what I’ve had to do. And I think, I think that’s part of, being a successful elected official is being able to communicate with people and give them your, your feeling without being abrasive about it.

David Martin: And, and the leap from mayor to county commission. How did that come about?

Julie Ehemann: Well, I was feeling kind of stale as the mayor. I’m like, I just don’t see me going anywhere with this. And I was looking for greater opportunities. And at the time I was able to do it, go to my boss and say, you know what, I’d like to transition a part time pharmacist and do this other job part time.

And they were very supportive. So I, I was very lucky that way that they were supportive of me running for county commissioner.

David Martin: All right.

Julie Ehemann: And then after a couple of years, I’m like, I think I just need to do a county commissioner. So that’s what I do full time now.

David Martin: All right. As a full time job.

Julie Ehemann: As a full time job.

David Martin: When’s your next reelection?

Julie Ehemann: two years.

David Martin: All right.

Julie Ehemann: You ready with the presidential cycle?

David Martin: All right. Will you be running again in two years time?

Julie Ehemann: I haven’t totally decided.

David Martin: well, you do want to make the big reveal. Here are the good government show. You’re welcome to.

Julie Ehemann: I, I you know, I haven’t decided because I am losing my two commissioners here, and I think it’ll just depend on how the environment is. And and, you know, am I am I still feeling like I’m getting getting something done and I’m progressing the community?

David Martin: One of the things I’ve heard from, you know, different people is that being in government and being in politics is a lot less fun than it used to be. Do you find that.

Julie Ehemann: You know, being in pharmacy was a lot less fun? Okay, so.

David Martin: There’s there’s certainly a huge partizan divide in the country.

Julie Ehemann: Yeah. But and but at the county level we don’t get into that Partizan divide.

David Martin: You don’t.

Julie Ehemann: Know. No. I have a great team of elected officials that for the most part get along and play well in the sandbox together.

David Martin: That’s helpful.

Julie Ehemann: It’s very helpful.

David Martin: And that’s one of the things I keep hearing about county government is.

Julie Ehemann: And I think.

David Martin: It’s a little less partizan.

Julie Ehemann: But if you’re if you’re in one of those environments where it’s very partizan or you’re not getting along with your elected officials, I could see where it’s a real struggle. But I’ve just been very, very fortunate that that everybody comes to the table as a team and it’s not all in it for me.

David Martin: Okay. Well, that leads us to our questionnaire.

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Now.

We have a questionnaire here on the Good Government Show. This is going to get to the heart of what you really think of government. Are you ready? I guess so. All right, here we go. You’re on the village council. You were a mayor, and now you’re county commissioner to find good government.

Julie Ehemann: Good government is when you’re going to use resources wisely to benefit your community.

David Martin: That’s simple.

Julie Ehemann: Yeah.

David Martin: Okay.

Julie Ehemann: Yeah.

David Martin: Would anyone argue with that?

Julie Ehemann: I don’t see how they could. I mean, they they may have a different vision. Yeah, but we’re but we’re all supposed to be, looking out for all of our residents and seeing how we can build things up. So that’s that’s what it’s about. It’s about building things up. You know, I look at when I’m talking about child care, I’m looking at the children.

Are they going to be ready for kindergarten? Are they in a safe environment? I look at the moms. Are they able to have confidence that their children are going to be safe, and are they going to be able to go pursue their dreams in employment or whatever else it might be?

David Martin: How do you judge your success, or conversely, lack thereof? Yeah.

Julie Ehemann: You know, if projects come to fruition in the way that you had hoped they would, then I’ve been successful. If a wastewater treatment plant, comes in at or under budget and it’s efficient and it does what we planned for it to do, that was a success.

David Martin: Sometimes your vision has to change in the planning process. Have you found that to be true?

Julie Ehemann: You know, sometimes sometimes you get it. A slap upside the head that says.

David Martin: This.

Julie Ehemann: Isn’t gonna work. Yeah. So yeah, some sometimes you have to you have to change, you know, it’s minor adjustments. Usually it’s not like wholesale change.

David Martin: All right.

Julie Ehemann: You know. Well, if that didn’t work, let’s try this.

David Martin: Okay. How do you think people know if they’re getting good government and and if and other than, you know, the election every 4 or 5 years. Every four years. how should they hold you accountable?

Julie Ehemann: Well, I would think that they would, number one, don’t bring drama to the job. No. You know.

David Martin: We’re all right now. You bring it.

Julie Ehemann: Bring drama.

David Martin: Give us the drama. You must have high drama.

Julie Ehemann: Okay, well, say someone gets pulled over and and they’re on tape saying to the officer, do you know who I am?

David Martin: Yes.

Julie Ehemann: Okay, well, you don’t use your position to benefit yourself in that way. Okay? So that’s drama. Don’t do that. Okay.

David Martin: So, just be a person. Just be real.

Julie Ehemann: Be be a real person. Be a responsible person.

David Martin: Okay? And how should they hold you accountable?

Julie Ehemann: Well, you know, if if they would see me out creating drama, spending money inappropriately. Yeah. Then I should be held accountable. But if I’m working towards the betterment of the community and they can see the projects that we’re doing and seeing that we’re following the rules to get those projects done, you know, I’m not playing favorites with a particular, contractor or things like that.

I think that’s holding me accountable.

David Martin: Okay. And if they disagree with you, what should they do? What would you like people to do?

Julie Ehemann: Call me.

David Martin: What is your number on your card? Should I get I.

Julie Ehemann: Have to, you know, seriously. You know, we we always my fellow commissioners and I always like we’re in session. Come see us make an appointment. If that doesn’t work, call us because we want to know what the issues are in our community. I have some people that say, well, you never talk to me. And I’m like, well, I if I don’t see you, I can, I don’t I don’t know what your problem is.

Right. So if we have a problem, let’s talk about it.

David Martin: you could, however, spend all your day just talking to people who are.

Julie Ehemann: Honestly claiming, honestly, I get less phone calls as a commissioner than I did as the.

David Martin: Mayor. Really? Yeah. All right, Jody, give your number out. So maybe you get a few more calls.

Julie Ehemann: You can get my email. How’s it.

David Martin: Go? I’ll leave that to you. Okay. as an elected official, you’ve been elected at different levels. What should people know about how government works?

Julie Ehemann: They should know that we’re slow, even though we don’t want to be, because we have to be very transparent. And transparency takes time. You know, when you’re going to be at the village level, when you had to read a resolution three times, unless it was an emergency, so that the community knew what you were doing. Right. You know, that takes time.

So they need to understand.

David Martin: Does it frustrate you sometimes?

Julie Ehemann: Yes. You know, when you’re doing projects and and you have to advertise for bids and you have to and you have to go through that bidding process where it’d be nice to just call up a couple of contractors and say, hey, send me some quotes so I can compare them. Yeah, but when a project’s big enough and you have to go through the bidding process, it’s long and it’s detailed and, you know, if you want to vacate an alley, you have to have hearings.

That takes time. But it’s all about being transparent to your community, and.

David Martin: You have to get a survey and you.

Julie Ehemann: Have to yeah, you have to do all of that stuff. Statements that, you know, there’s all of these, all of this paperwork that goes through it to make sure that what you’re doing is fair to the entire community.

David Martin: Well, I was going to ask, does it have to be I mean, from your from your point of view, do you think that all those, speed bumps are necessary?

Julie Ehemann: Some of them are. Yeah. Yeah. It all, as you said, it hold you accountable. If you’re going through that bidding process, the community knows. Okay. Everybody was told about the project. They didn’t try to sweep it under the rug and push it through without anybody knowing, you know, so that their buddies could get it, you know. So if you’re advertising it, let’s everybody out there know, okay, here’s an opportunity that I can get engaged in.

Okay.

David Martin: Other than your your your your fellow mom your your friend. Who inspired you, to get into government? who’s your political hero?

Julie Ehemann: You know, I have a former mayor that that was really, encouraging.

David Martin: Yeah.

Julie Ehemann: Yes. there’s just been people along the way that have really inspired me. when I was the mayor and I got to speak, at a dedication for new library, a state senator came. She. Because she was very passionate about the historical marker situation that was going on, and she took me off to the side and encouraged me to get into a women’s government leadership program.

And she basically said that at each level, she felt like she got further away from the public and understanding what the needs were. And so I’ve kind of taken that advice from her that, okay, look, you know, let’s not move up just for the sake of moving up. If what I’m doing is impactful at my community, I don’t feel the need to just look at the next step up.

I’m comfortable where I’m at because I feel like I’m being impactful to my community.

David Martin: Anyone like in the history of the Republic, you know, like that you point to or think that like there’s someone inspiring. There’s certainly a lot there is.

Julie Ehemann: And so. So how do you.

David Martin: Pick I don’t know, Russellville. I don’t know.

Julie Ehemann: How I know. How about Abraham Lincoln? Okay. Who, you know, got beat up every day. Yes. but but had a vision and and was totally immersed in making sure that the country stayed together.

David Martin: When you were growing up, did you envision a career as a politician? Did you know president? No. Well, you know. Yeah, just student council. Nothing.

Julie Ehemann: I, I, I had the worst public speaking skills in high school. Like, if my classmates from high school would actually see the work I’m doing. They a lot of them would be like, how’d that happen?

David Martin: Did you grow up in the county?

Julie Ehemann: I grew up in an adjoining county. So there’s there’s just enough distance, you know, I’m there. I can go back home, see my mom. Really easy, okay. But there’s just enough distance so that a lot of people do.

David Martin: You write to people from, you know, that you grew up with, they’re like, oh, I’m a county commissioner. You’re what? does that happen?

Julie Ehemann: Not really, but.

David Martin: All right, so you told me that you’re 100 miles away from Cincinnati. I went to Cincinnati once, and I had Cincinnati chili. Okay. Are you a Cincinnati chili fan now? Do you get.

Julie Ehemann: It? I make my own chili. Yeah, and it’s how my mom made it.

David Martin: All right. I mean, is sincerely chili. If you don’t know, it’s chili. Is chili over spaghetti?

Julie Ehemann: Right.

David Martin: But one way to do.

Julie Ehemann: It, that’s that’s 100 miles south of me.

David Martin: It doesn’t that doesn’t get north, you know? Okay, so what is the, what is the what do we like this dish.

Julie Ehemann: We like to fried chicken and pork tenderloin sandwiches.

David Martin: Seriously, you can’t go wrong with deep fried chicken.

Julie Ehemann: Not at all. No, not at all. Fried chicken and pork tenderloin sandwiches.

David Martin: Explain a pork tenderloin sandwich.

Julie Ehemann: well, the loin is rolled so that it’s pretty flat. Okay. And then it’s breaded, and then it’s deep fried.

David Martin: All right.

Julie Ehemann: More deep fried, more deep fry, which I don’t eat a whole lot of fried food, but that is just. That is just Shelby County. Okay. All right. That is just Shelby County.

David Martin: So if I’m coming to Shelby County, that’s where have a deep fried pork sandwiches. Yeah. All right. Yeah, I yes I could, I could do that. I know you’ve talked about a few of them. We are the good government show, so we like to bring it back to a good government project. Tell me about a good government project that you’ve been involved in over the last few years.

That was, you know, a good success.

Julie Ehemann: You put me on the spot.

David Martin: Now, that’s what we do here.

Julie Ehemann: Yeah. All right. I mean, the child, the child care. I’m. I’m going to say that was one of the greatest days of my life. When we cut the ribbon for that.

David Martin: Okay?

Julie Ehemann: Because I really felt like I’m helping impact families directly.

David Martin: Sure.

Julie Ehemann: You know, a lot, a lot of what government is, is protecting your resources and taking care of the infrastructure at the county level. Okay. So, over the years, we’ve invested money, necessary money into our jail, and we’ve been, we’ve invested money into a transitional treatment situation where persons are leaving our jail.

David Martin: So you keep forgetting about good government projects? Yeah.

Julie Ehemann: You know.

David Martin: You’re pretty good at this.

Julie Ehemann: The star house is. It stands for the sheriff’s treatment and Recovery. And individuals that have addiction issues that have kind of got them under control while they’re in jail. And now they’re stepping out and they don’t have good resources. They move in over into the star house and they continue their treatment, with their addictions and the required to get a job.

And they learn financial responsibilities and they’re getting all their counseling while they’re there, and they’re building their resources so that they’re getting their fines paid off, they’re getting their driver’s license. And so then they’re going to find safe, affordable housing for themselves or their families if they’re reuniting with their families. And then they move out of the star house and become producing, producing members of our community.

David Martin: Okay.

Julie Ehemann: And that’s that’s another goal.

David Martin: All right. Well, Julie, Julie, omen. Shelby County Commissioner, thank you so much for stopping by. And, it’s great to have you.

Julie Ehemann: Thank you for having me.

David Martin: 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 a government, right? If this sounds like something you want to get for your county or your city, check them out at the Academy of science.org. That’s la 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.

Commissioner Ehemann says you have to use your resources wisely to benefit the community. That’s her simple definition of good government. You know what that works when there’s not enough money to go around and there’s never enough money to go around. Watching where the money goes and how it’s spent is crucial to creating good government. And we like that here in the Good Government show.

So that’s my conversation with Shelby County Commissioner Julie Ehemann, first a mom, then a village councilwoman, then a mayor, and now a county commissioner. Thanks for listening to another example of how government does work for all of us. So please like us and share this with your friends and review us right here where you’re listening, and check out our website, The 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 the 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 review us. 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.