Nevada County Board of Supervisors' Senior Administrative Analyst, Jeffrey Thorsby, recently presented in Washington D.C. on the work of the Yuba River Public Safety Cohort initiative led by District I Supervisor Heidi Hall, former District IV Supervisor Hank Weston and current District IV Supervisor Sue Hoek at the Annual 2019 American Society for Public Administration (ASPA). ASPA is an internationally recognized conference that brings together public servants and academics across the world and United States to discuss major issues, leading research and innovative projects in public policy and administration. Specifically, Jeff presented on a proposed paper titled A case study on the role of local governance in complex multi-jurisdictional networks in wildfire mitigation public policy which examined how the Cohort employed a coalition advocacy framework to address public safety policy gaps across federal, state and local public agencies. The presentation highlighted how local elected leaders are uniquely positioned to act as policy brokers to impact changes in policy subsystems, both laterally (between community organizations and local agencies), and vertically (between state and federal authorities). The presentation was a part of a general panel topic discussion on Network Governance: Theories, Frameworks and Applications.
While in D.C., Jeff also met with Congressman Doug LaMalfa and congressional staff from Congressman Tom McClintock, Senator Kamala Harris, and Senator Dianne Feinstein to discuss major issues facing the County, as well as the County's top-priority objectives for the year. Issues discussed with Congressman Doug LaMalfa and congressional staff included wildfire, affordable housing, homelessness, mental health, broadband, challenges for economic development in rural areas, and the need for sustained funding. Coincidently, the trip occurred the same week the National Association of Counties held their annual meeting in Washington D.C., which included representatives from the California State Association of Counties that Nevada County District II Supervisor Edward Scofield currently serves as Treasurer for.
