Williams attends National Association of Counties Annual Conference

Appointed to National Position; Successfully Passes Resolution Calling on FEMA to Streamline Individual Assistance

Commissioner Frank Williams attended the National Association of Counties’ annual conference in Travis County, TX from July 21-24.

Williams served as Brunswick County’s voting delegate at the annual business session.

Ramsey County, Minnesota Commissioner Mary Jo McGuire was sworn in as President, Sonoma County, CA Supervisor James Gore was sworn in as 1st Vice President, and Wise County, TX Judge J.D. Clark was elected 2nd Vice President.

Appointed Chair of Resilient Counties Advisory Board

NaCo President Mary Jo McGuire has appointed Commissioner Williams as Chair of the NaCo Resilient Counties Advisory Board (RCAB). This board is a natural extension of Williams’ #100CountiesPrepared NCACC Presidential Initiative. From the RCAB page on the NaCo website: “Hurricanes, wildfires, economic collapse, and other disasters can be natural or man-made, acute or long-term, foreseeable or unpredictable. Preparation for and recovery from such events requires both long-term planning and immediate action. NACo works to strengthen county resiliency by building leadership capacity to identify and manage risk, and allow counties to become more flexible and responsive.”

Congratulations are also in order for Chairman Randy Thompson, who has been re-appointed as a Vice Chair of the NaCo Justice & Public Safety Steering Committee’s Homeland Security Subcommittee.

The full appointment list is available here.

Williams’ Resolution Adopted at NaCo Business Session

At the 2022 NaCo annual conference, and while Commissioner Williams was NCACC President, he introduced and passed a resolution putting Counties on record as advocating for a more streamlined FEMA individual assistance process.

Because NaCo resolutions must be re-adopted each year, he again presented the resolution to the Justice & Public Safety committee on Friday, July 21.

The committee unanimously approved the resolution, which was subsequently approved at the NaCo annual business session on Monday, July 24.

Text of Resolution: The National Association of Counties (NACo) supports efforts to create a streamlined or universal federal application for individual assistance for federal aid programs that are available in the aftermath of an emergency, which will help accelerate community recovery.

Additional Sessions, Workshops Attended

Williams also attended a number of sessions and workshops during the conference, including:

• The North Carolina caucus, where North Carolina’s 170-plus attendees met
• The Resilient Counties Advisory Board breakfast, which featured a panel on disaster housing
• The International Economic Development Task Force meeting
• A Summit on Disaster Resiliency.